Corel Paintshop Pro Review

What makes Corel Paintshop Pro a good photo editing software?

From the highly respected Corel, the Paintshop Pro is a photo editing program that is full-featured and pro-quality. Even users who have very high demands from picture editing software will find very little to complain about with this wonderful software.   Therefore, if you are looking for a decently priced image editor that will nearly go head to head with the more pricey ones, Corel Paintshop Pro should be high on your list.

This software combines the ease of use required by newbies and the advanced tools needed by experts to come up with a powerful photo editing solution.

There is a dedicated Adjust, Edit and Manage tab in the program making the user interface very easy to use and understand. Within these tabs, there are options and toolbars geared towards achieving the desired function. 

The Adjust tab allows you to quickly conclude basic editing tasks like adjusting brightness, colors and contrast. You can also crop and adjust photos here.  Under the Manage tab, you can find a plethora of special effects.  These include portrait, landscape, film style, user defined and artistic effects.  The Edit tab is for you if you want to drive your editing even further. Here, you will find the Magic wand and the Smart Selection Brush which allows you to edit irregularly shaped objects. You can also find layers, tilting, freehand drawing tools and shapes.

The script recorder feature is a laudable addition to this software. With the script recorder you can record your editing actions thereby cutting down on the time spent on editing pictures. For instance, if you want to edit 20 pictures by cropping them to size, adjusting brightness and correcting the color, you only need to do this for the first one, record the script and apply it to the rest.  Regular photo editors know the length of time spent on repetitive actions. The script eliminates this.

Using the Corel Paintshop Pro, you can enjoy using your third party plugins. This is very important because it removes the need to re-purchase any plugins you may already own or be concerned about compatibility.

Regarding organization, the software has a 5-star ranking system and you can easily add keywords and tags too.  Sharing your photos is also very easy and there are interesting features added to make the process fun such as face detection and tagging of individuals in the picture, photo mapping etc.  Import and output is properly optimized as virtually all formats are supported.

Why choose Corel Paintshop Pro as your photo editing software?

• Reasonably priced
• Easy to use
• The script recorder
• 5-star ranking system
• Respectable brand

System Requirements

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP with latest service packs installed (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
• Processor: Intel or AMD 1.5 Ghz processor with SSE2 supported (multi-core processer recommended)
• Memory: 2 GB RAM (4 GB or higher recommended)
• Space: 1 GB hard disk space (2 GB recommended)
• Resolution: 1024 x 768 resolution with 16-bit color display (1366 x 768 resolution with 24-bit or higher color display recommended)
• Graphic card: DirectX 9 or higher compatible audio card with latest driver

Supported File Formats

The software supports a wide range of formats including: AI, BMP, CAL, CALS, CGM, CLP, CMX, CT, CUR, CUT, DCX, DIB, DRW, EMF, EPS, GIF, HDP, HGL, HPG, IFF, IMG, J2C, J2K, JIF, JP2, JPC, JPE, JPEG, JPG, JPS, JPX, MAC, MPO, MRW, MSP, PBM, PCD, PCT, PCX, PDF, PGL, PGM, PIC, PICT, PNG, PNS, PPM, PS, PSD, PSP (PSP image files), RAS, RAW, RIF, RLE, SCT, SVG, SVGZ, TGA, TIF, UFO, WBM, WBMP, WDP, WEBP, WMF, WPG.

It also supports RAW files from more than 350 camera models and the extensions include: 3FR, ARW, CR2, CRW, DCR, DNG, ERF, K25, KDC, MEF, MOS, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RW2, SR2, SRF, X3F.