Text in photos

[Joedlh]

Adobe Photoshop has/had a neat tool where you could add text to a photo and make all sorts of cool enhancements. I'm still using Photoshop CS 5 for this. My season's greeting photo in another thread is an example. I recently upgraded my GPU to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. Photoshop notified me that it can't work with its advanced features. But it's not crippled. Still, it suggests that my days of using the text enhancements of my dated version of Photoshop are numbered. I will not ever move over to the subscription version of current Photoshop, which I continue to perceive as a cash grab for non-commercial users. Does anyone know of post-processing software that has an equivalent text offering? I currently use Phase One Capture One Pro and sometimes Canon's Digital Photo Profesional (mostly for focus-stacking). Thanks.

 

[GammyKnee]

I think Affinity Photo could suit your needs well. I've had it installed alongside PS5 for 2-3 years now, at first swapping between them according to the task in hand, but Photo has improved so much (and I've become so used to it) that I haven't even launched PS in the last year. I haven't used the text features particularly but here's a link to the relevant section in the online help - have a read and see if it would tick your boxes:

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Text/artText.html?title=Artistic text

BTW Affinity Photo's focus stacking is very good; I use it routinely when I'm doing product photography work and it's never let me down, even when pronounced focus breathing is evident in the shots I'm stacking.

I do get the odd crash with AP, but this generally only happens when closing a file - I've never once lost work from a crash.

 

[Nordlys]

Photo Filtre suits me amply for the few times I need such a function.

 

[mcoren]

For just adding text, in terms of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), one option that comes to mind is GIMP. It can work with many file types including PSD (not raw though), and it adds text in its own layer, which can be flattened to export a JPEG.

There's also darktable. I've never used it, but I think it tries to be an open source alternative to the Adobe apps.

If your needs are more "lightweight", there's always the manual process of exporting a JPEG and adding it to a blank LibreOffice drawing or presentation document. Then you can add a text box there. I don't know if you can save a LibreOffice drawing back into a JPEG, but you can certainly make a screen capture once you've added your text. I've done this to add annotations for reports and newsletters.

 

[gjl711]

Adobe Photoshop has/had a neat tool where you could add text to a photo and make all sorts of cool enhancements. I'm still using Photoshop CS 5 for this. My season's greeting photo in another thread is an example. I recently upgraded my GPU to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. Photoshop notified me that it can't work with its advanced features. But it's not crippled. Still, it suggests that my days of using the text enhancements of my dated version of Photoshop are numbered. I will not ever move over to the subscription version of current Photoshop, which I continue to perceive as a cash grab for non-commercial users. Does anyone know of post-processing software that has an equivalent text offering? I currently use Phase One Capture One Pro and sometimes Canon's Digital Photo Profesional (mostly for focus-stacking). Thanks.

Just curious why older software wont work on newer hardware. Usually hardware if pretty backwards compatible. I'm wondering if it's Adobe just trying to put the fear of incompatibility in yer hear on the off chance you upgrade to their sub-package.

 

[Joedlh]

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.

 

[ChuckMiller]

Can you direct Photoshop to use the GPU inside your CPU rather than your 3060?

 

[gjl711]

I'm wondering, after re-reading the OP, that the warning is not targeted towards the card, but is Photoshop telling you that the version of PS you are using cannot use some of the new features of the card. That makes sense, but it still should work just as it did before you upgraded, only much faster.

 

[Joedlh]

I'm wondering, after re-reading the OP, that the warning is not targeted towards the card, but is Photoshop telling you that the version of PS you are using cannot use some of the new features of the card. That makes sense, but it still should work just as it did before you upgraded, only much faster.

That was indeed the issue. I left out the technical part. Photoshop continued to work. But I was worried that the next time I update my GPU, I would get a message from my very old Photoshop along the lines of "What in the world is that?"

 

[gjl711]

That was indeed the issue. I left out the technical part. Photoshop continued to work. But I was worried that the next time I update my GPU, I would get a message from my very old Photoshop along the lines of "What in the world is that?"

Na, Adobe isn't that smart. I'd just keep using what works for you until it doesn't.

 

[Kuma5]

II recall it is as gjl711 mentions that the program may not be able to utilize the GPU features fully. You should not have any issues.
PS Elements has a variety of text effects that may be close enough to what is in PS. Nice to be able to warp, adjust drop shadows and colors as well as add textures, etc.