Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 Review

Corel Paintshop Pro 2020 is a photo editor that's designed for photo enthusiasts who want to edit, make quick adjustments and manage their photo collection all within one piece of software. The Corel team regularly update the photo editing software, bringing new tools and features annually to the software. Plus, the team have kept Corel Paintshop Pro 2020 subscription-free; something many photographers will appreciate when Adobe is still sticking with its subscription-style format. 

We'll walk you through what's new before we put the new features to the test to find out if Corel Paintshop Pro 2020 is a piece of software photographers should be investing in. 

Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 Features 

On test, we have the Ultimate version of Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 which comes bundled with 5 add-ons: AfterShot 3, Painter Essentials 6, PhotoMirage Express, Parallels Toolbox and GRFX Studio, but you can also just get Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 without the extras should you so wish. You can also access brushes, textures, backgrounds and more, both free of charge or for a small fee depending what you choose, within the software.

What's New?

As well as general fixes, Corel has introduced new tools, RAW camera support, Layer Style options and a new area, for photographers who want to apply quick edits, called the 'Photography Workspace' which is also touch-ready for those working on devices with this function built-in. 

What's New At A Glance:

• Touch-Ready Photography Workspace
• SmartClone
• Refine Brush
• Creative Content
• Copy & Paste Layer Styles
• RAW Camera Support

As well as adding new features, Corel has also updated features that are already built-in and have improved the Depth of Field precision. 

What's Improved At A Glance:

• Text tool overhaul - rendering, editing, inputting, wrap
• Faster pic-to-painting function
• Better Depth of Field precision
• Latest stylus and graphics tablet support

Quite a lot of what's new/improved has actually come from user feedback which is pretty cool, too. 

Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 Ease Of Use & Performance

We're mainly going to focus on the new and improved features of PaintShop Pro but you can find more detail on the software and its overall performance in our previous review. 

When you first open Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 up, you get a welcome screen where you can access the different workspaces (Photography, Essentials and Complete), see what's new, learn, look at images or purchase templates to use in the software. It's a useful hub that's easy to navigate and keeps things all in one place. 

If you've used Corel PaintShop Pro before, you'll notice there's a new workspace for quick photo edits but don't let the title 'Photography Workspace' fool you as it's not an area many photographers will be using as it's incredibly basic. The Instagram generation may like it as there are quick options for applying filters and basic, but simple to apply, edits but for most, it's probably oversimplified and you're going to want to use the 'Complete' editing space instead. We're also sorry to say that the interface looks dated and not as slick as the other workspaces available either. However, if you're just starting on the photo editing learning path and just want to use a few basic tools (brightness, white balance, sharpening etc.), you probably will find the 'Photography' workspace useful (even if the interface isn't the most attractive). It's also touch-friendly and supports Ultra HD as well as 4K monitors. 

The 'Complete' workspace has a much better interface that looks more modern and is packed with tools. This is where you'll find the new SmartClone tool and Refine Brush. Plus, you can copy and paste layer styles now, too which is a really useful feature. 

The SmartClone tool is a content-aware cloning tool that you can use to blend two images together to add texture/create composites, or, like the Clone Brush, you can use it to repair/cover unwanted parts of one photo with a selection from another area of the same photograph. Most won't use it to repair other areas of the photo as the normal Clone Brush does this adequately but for creative compositions where you want to blend parts of an image with another, we can see why it would be a useful tool as, when mastered, it can quicken selections and make blending easier.

Different selection tools are available but the free-hand one is probably the most useful (but also a bit tricky to master accuracy with) and you also have different blend options with 'Blend' producing the best results as it automatically matches the tones of your new background. If you want to, you can save your selection as a SmartClone image to use again, of which, you can resize/rotate your selection. Although, it's a bit annoying that you have to go to the toolbar, make a change, then go back onto your image to see how your selection now looks. It would be really useful to be able to use your mouse wheel to adjust the size of the selection as this would speed workflow up. 

Carrying on with the selection tool theme, the Refine Brush is a useful tool when you're making selections with tricky edges which could be fur, hair or even fine detail in a landscape such as cloud edges or leaves. Before using the Refine Brush tool, you need to make a selection with any of the selection tools available then from the Tools Options palette, click the 'Refine Brush' button. You can use various brush tools/sliders in this window to adjust your selection so it's more accurate. It's actually a really useful tool that's also easy to use so tricky selections shouldn't be too much of a problem. 

The coolest of all of the new features, in our opinion, is the new 'Copy & Paste Layer Styles' function which, as the name suggests, gives you the ability to replicate a style from one layer to another. Now, instead of having to manually input details you can, with one click, copy and paste the data from one layer to another which speeds workflow up considerably. 

To help your creativity further, you'll also find new brushes, colour palettes, gradients, patterns and picture tubes which are basically stamps you can click and drag around the edges of images (or wherever you like). The picture tubes will definitely not be to everyone's liking but if you're creating fun posters, you might find some of the effects work well to create frames with. More colour palettes mean it's even easier to select colours that complement each and the introduction of more brushes, gradients and patterns just means you have even more tools to apply creative adjustments with. Plus, RAW camera support is now available.

The Text Tool is probably not a tool many photographers will use but just in case you do, it's had a bit of an overhaul so it's quicker and more responsive. When using it, you can actually see the speed improvements which will get a thumbs up from those who use it regularly. 

Another tool that's had a few tweaks that you are more likely to use is the Depth of Field precision tool which you can now apply a 5x5 grid to, from the Crop toolbar, to help make more precise edits. The tool is easy to use, too, as all you need to do is adjust the size/blur sliders to increase/decrease the effect.

The final improvement to an already built-in plugin is the Pic-to-Painting option which also sees speed improvements. You can access the plugin from the Effects menu (you may have to download and install it but it's free) and then you can turn your photos into digital art, replicating the work of famous artists. Again, it won't be a plugin for everyone but some will find it fun to use. 

Overall, PaintShop Pro 2020 is responsive and quick in use with us just experiencing the odd bit of lag but it was nothing major.

Value for Money

Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 Ultimate, with access to 5 other add-ons, is priced at £89.99 but if you just want to download and use Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 without the add-ons, you can for £69.99.  

As this is a one-off fee, not subscription-based like Adobe's offerings, it's actually really good value for money. Other alternatives include Adobe Photoshop Elements which can still be accessed without a Creative Cloud membership, however, it doesn't offer the advanced options PaintShop Pro 2019 does. There's also Affinity Photo (less expensive than PaintShop Pro), DxO PhotoLab (slightly more expensive than PaintShop Pro) and Fotophire (also less expensive than PaintShop Pro) all of which scored well in our reviews. There are also free options available but you won't find anywhere near as many features, options and controls built-in. 

Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 Verdict

Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 is still easy to use and as it's subscription-free, it will appeal to those who don't want to be tied into an on-going pay monthly system. Corel also works hard to continue to bring speed improvements and it's good to see they listen to their audience when it comes to making decisions on what to introduce and improve. However, not all photographers will find the updates useful and the new Photography workspace isn't an area we see many, apart from novices, using. Plus, it's not the sleekest looking interface we've seen. The new 'Copy & Paste Layer Styles' function is pretty cool and we're sure the smaller adjustments will be something that current users will be happy to see. 

Overall, Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 is inexpensive, subscription-free, easy to use and has plenty of tools to help you perfect your photos - Recommended.

Overall, Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 is inexpensive, subscription-free, easy to use and has plenty of tools to help you perfect your photos - Recommended.

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