Just stop using it!

[Stiga]

Even though it is a UK journal, I don't usually read the Amateur Photographer but I saw this title line in Google News: Photographers, It’s time to boycott Adobe. It's a good read and put a smile on my face.

So, are you going to make a New Year resolution to stop using Photoshop/Lightroom? Ten years ago, I probably would have but I am far to old a dog to change now.

 

[Mr Chodes]

No, still using CS4. You've just made me feel a little smug about that!

 

[marcial4]

already did that 4 years ago and I didn't look back!.

 

[Kenny]

Interesting read. I have Photoshop Elements and only upgrade when it stops supporting my operating system. I rarely see any improvement over the previous issue and begrudge the change ( change is never good ). I see now that they have changed the pricing system for the new version that will have no real improvements for me. I will look for an alternative when my OS no longer supports my 2024 version.

 

[Nick5]

If I stopped using Lightroom Classic, I would stop being here.
I was a hold out about eight years ago with subscription. Finally “Gave in” as new useful features were only available in the subscription as I was on Lightroom 6 which cost about 135 or so.
So for the cost of one lunch per month, I’m in my “Lightroom Lounge” five nights a week, or more, and continuing here every morning during “Coffee Time”
Cable, internet, food….
Travel and Photography……..
Life’s pleasures are not free.

 

[the durkarian]

Well his main gripe seems to be about the fact that Adobe incorporates AI into its software. He then goes on to advocate that people should ditch Adobe in favour of Affinity Photo, which also uses AI to edit images.

AI is a fact of life.


EDIT: What I said above is incorrect. Affinity Photo does NOT use AI. (I must learn to read)

 

[ShutterbugsstationStan]

Even though it is a UK journal, I don't usually read the Amateur Photographer but I saw this title line in Google News: Photographers, It’s time to boycott Adobe. It's a good read and put a smile on my face.

So, are you going to make a New Year resolution to stop using Photoshop/Lightroom? Ten years ago, I probably would have but I am far to old a dog to change now.

I never started using it. Too pricey and other editing software works just fine without busting the bank!

 

[SYS]

Still using CS4 and LR5...

 

[paddler4]

AI is likely to have a lot of negative effects, fake images being just one of many. But canceling a $10 Adobe subscription isn't going to change this. AI is unstoppable now. And as the Dukarian pointed out, Adobe isn't alone in incorporating AI into their editing products. Many of the vendors are.

I find that some of the AI-based tools in LR and Photoshop are very helpful. For example, I use the subject-selection tool frequently in both programs. Saves me lots of time and gives me cleaner results. The AI-based photo restoration "neural filter" is quite useful for fixing scans of some old photographs, but you need a human to evaluate its use. The ability to quickly remove unwanted elements, e.g., light posts or wires, is a huge time-saver. I consider $120/year is a reasonable price for this and all of the other advances that Adobe packages into the software with new releases. It's a small part of what it costs to keep this hobby going.

Adobe, like almost all producers of software that isn't open source, is a business. Someone has to pay their programmers. I find the complaints about this similar to the people who complain that newspapers want to be paid for their content. Who is going to pay the reporters' rent if readers don't pay?

 

[Wilt]

Still using LR6.1 because newer versions do nothing additional that I want/need, so no reason to pay monthly for something I do not need/want...free of paying $10 per month for just under 10 years! . And I have no inherent need/desire to abandon my dSLR for mirrorless, it does everthing I need it to do, so the same old RAW convertor suits me just fine.
Only briefly used Photoshop, back when they were still including free versions of it in other products, like scanners.

 

[joayne]

Bought CS6 just as Adobe started going to subscription. I've found workarounds for Bridge (Thank You SkedAddled) I just keep on.
I've been using PS since 1999, I don't think I'll stop just yet...

 

[Nature's Spectrum]

I appreciate the tools in the subscription Lr classic. The biggest hurdle for me would be replacing the library structure/database. I did recently buy Dxo photolab8 and Topaz photo AI. I use them sporadically at this point but preparing for the day I may exit Adobe. Currently I don't see a significant reason to.

 

[LCPete]

I ditched Adobe a few years ago I’ve mentioned before that I discovered that Affinity photo was actually better for what I needed to do anyway and at the time money was tight and needed to cut back on spending so stopped the subscription, it helped that at the time Affinity was half price
At the moment as far as I know Affinity doesn’t use AI although they have apparently released a beta that uses machine learning, whatever that is for a new selection tool

 

[Butts]

Bought CS6 just as Adobe started going to subscription. I've found workarounds for Bridge (Thank You SkedAddled) I just keep on.
I've been using PS since 1999, I don't think I'll stop just yet...

CS6.1 for me also, and have not had any issues on any platform so far. I may have to bite the bullet soon ish, once I finally move to mirrorless, but in no rush as all my 1 series DSLR's still work and are supported.

 

[DavidWatts]

Used it for a few years back in the early 2000's (version I don't remember the number) but it was wonderful. I had the entire Adobe Creative Suite back then with PS as one part of it. Mostly bought by the non-profit I worked for when needing InDesign for newsletters and other printed projects. And at the same time I was also using an older Paint Shop Pro v7.4, which in some ways was superior to PS. Thus, I never was exposed to the subscription nightmare that recent Adobe customers have experienced. Nowadays I have been learning and using Pixelmator Pro. The Paint Shop Pro still functions within a Windows XP machine.

 

[Scott M]

I dumped Adobe when Lightroom went to a subscription model. Been using DxO PhotoLab ever since, and don't miss LR at all.

 

[Lyn2011]

I have Photoshop Elements 8, it came with my scanner years ago. As long as it works I'll keep it and use it. But I don't want subscriptions, because when I stop with a subscription there is no software left, not even the old version.
And I don't like Adobe, they are in a lot of things. I borrowed a book from the library and had to make an account at Adobe. I cancelled the book. They are a business, OK, but they make a very high amount of profit.

 

[davidedric]

Why should I stop using Lightroom?
It's an excellent program, very affordable, and keeps improving. The new masking is a real time saver.
Much of my photography is wildlife, and generatve fill or whatever is of very little interest to me.
I also have Photoshop as part of the package, but never open it.
I also use PhotoLab for its raw conversion and noise reduction.

How did Adobe become a pantomime villain, so that everyone boos and hisses when the name gets mentioned?

Incidentally, if you stop paying your Lightroom subscription, you are not left with nothing. Your photos are still there, completely accessible. What you lose is the ability to make further edits.

 

[Capn Jack]

They are a business, OK, but they make a very high amount of profit.

What's wrong with making profit?

 

[paddler4]

They are a business, OK, but they make a very high amount of profit.

So do most successful businesses. That's why they are in business.

Price is set by demand, to oversimplify. As long as a lot of us find the quality of their products worth the price they charge, they will continue to succeed.

I agree with davidric: I can't understand why people spend so much time online flogging Adobe. If you don't like their products enough to pay $10/month, buy something else, or make do with a freebie like Gimp. I think people should save their moral outrage for things that really matter and deserve it. There is certainly no shortage of good targets these days, although they don't have much of anything to do with photography.

I find the photographer's package more than worth the $10. Unlike davidric, I use photoshop, but less every year as Lightroom classic becomes ever more powerful as an editor. I find some of the new features they have introduced since going to a subscription model to be very helpful. E.g., the AI-based subject selection has saved me countless hours, and it often does a much cleaner job than I would do by hand. The continually improving healing/cloning/removal tools have also saved me a lot of time and, in some cases, done considerably better than I would have done by hand. And there are less obvious examples. One is the curves tool in Lightroom classic, which now allows you to change contrast and other aspects of tonality without affecting saturation. Used to be that you had to move the image to Photoshop and either use a luminosity blend mode or switch to L*a*b mode to do that, and without it, images needing strong contrast enhancement ended up oversaturated. Somebody has to pay the people who are creating, testing, and refining all of that code.