I love Photoshop, but at the same time, there are other programs out there that are just as good. Being the magnificently cheap bastard I am, and because I only do graphics recreationally, I have turned to the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program). It's perhaps slightly less powerful than Photoshop, but for the average user, you wouldn't notice much of a difference, except in price. the GIMP is open source, meaning you pay absolutely nothing for it. It's the way I do things now.