Just stop using it!

[Stiga]

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.

I have a copy of PSP 7 and it still works. Many of its functions are more intuitive than PS

 

[JohnBdigital]

I got rid of Adobe Lightroom a couple of years ago and thanks to Darktable I didn't and don't miss it at all!!
With Darktable I get excellent raw and jpeg (and others) development and management.

 

[Mike_d]

I used to use LR6, Photoshop Elements, and Premiere Elements. I finally subscribed to the Photography Plan to get the full PS. I wanted to learn more editing than LR could handle and it was getting harder and harder to adapt the Youtube tutorial videos using PS to PsE. It seems like very little online tutorials use PsE. Even if that weren't an issue, I'd have needed to subscribe when I got the R6 since I shoot raw. I wasn't going to let an old version of LR chain me to an old camera forever, nor did I want to spend time converting everything to DNG first. For $10/mo, it's a pretty good deal.

What is NOT a good deal in my opinion, is spending another $20/mo per app or $60?m/mo for the entire suite. So instead of upgrading Premiere Elements or subscribing to Premiere Pro, I got the free version of DaVinci Resolve. Wow. It blows Premiere Elements out of the water and replaces several CC apps. So they'll get my $10/mo but they won't get $20 more and they now won't get $100 every 2-3 of years for Premiere Elements.

 

[West Coast Birder]

I just use the Adobe photographer's package for $10/mo. I use LR 99% of the time with occasional forays into PS for things like focus stacking. I have no need for the more expensive packages, online storage, etc.

Obviously, my decision so far has been entirely based on its utility to me and not on any moral or ethical considerations. I confess that issue about Adobe active pushing AI and what impact that may have on the working professional is not something that I have thought about too much to date. I have to process that and determine how that may affect my decision to stay with Adobe products. At this time, the energy barrier for me to migrate my work to another platform is too great and I have other priorities.

However, I have, in other cases, voted with my feet for moral considerations. For example, I use Tidal as my music platform instead of Spotify. Spotify is the market leader in the online streaming scene but it pays artists peanuts compared to Tidal. I don't want to patronize a business that screws the artists and I am willing to live with whatever minor disadvantages Tidal has over Spotify. At some point, I may do the same calculation with Adobe.

 

[aeon]

I’ve been an Adobe user since 1985, bought Illustrator in 1987, and have been using Photoshop for 35 years.

The Creative Suite is essential to what I do, and most of that is not photography-related.

The subscription model is what it is. It allows me to make money, and it more than pays for itself each month.

Cheers,
Ian

 

[Nature's Spectrum]

For those of you that are using something outside of Adobe, what do you use for cataloging, keywording, etc. One of the features I would miss the most is being able to easily keyword (due to the hierarchal keyword) and the database/search features in Lightroom Classic? I'm sure there are other raw developers that work just as well and better in some aspects. I don't see any that handle the cataloging end well.

Do you rely on folder structure or something else?

 

[Greyswan]

For those of you that are using something outside of Adobe, what do you use for cataloging, keywording, etc. One of the features I would miss the most is being able to easily keyword (due to the hierarchal keyword) and the database/search features in Lightroom Classic? I'm sure there are other raw developers that work just as well and better in some aspects. I don't see any that handle the cataloging end well.

Do you rely on folder structure or something else?

I use a folder structure, not really keywording unless it's for a pro project. You can easily search by keyword on any computer but I mostly just lump my subjects into categories and don't bother renaming the files, ie, folder named by subject. Shorebirds/sanderlings for example. I don't change the filenames unless it's a finished edit, but it goes into the same folder as the original.

When I worked in graphics the project name was the main folder, but then we got into the revisions which was a nightmare with people who never bothered dating their revisions. I still preferred the folder structure to keep all relevant files in one place, no matter how old or who made the files.

For product photography I had a spreadsheet of the SKU codes with product descriptions included, then would shoot products in the same sequence as the spreadsheet list, tick them off as I shot, and after shooting I would use the list to rename the Raws with the SKU code numbers. Then edits were done with SKU code names already attached.

 

[Greyswan]

I stopped at PS6, which works just fine on my Alienware desktop.
I have no problem with a company making a profit, but Adobe is getting too greedy for my taste, not to mention their new EULA states that they will own anything you upload to the cloud. Which is a big nope from me. And since Adobe is now cloud-based fro editing, that's how they are grabbing rights to your images. I don't need some bean counter using my images in a worldwide campaign and paying me nothing for it. Yes, I realise that would never happen with my images, but I also think that if they do use anyone's images in a campaign that makes them huge profits, that the originators of those images should be paid a fair price for them.

That is the crux of the hate towards Adobe, that they are grabbing rights to ALL images that you edit in Adobe. You all ok with that? I'm not.

 

[West Coast Birder]

I stopped at PS6, which works just fine on my Alienware desktop.
I have no problem with a company making a profit, but Adobe is getting too greedy for my taste, not to mention their new EULA states that they will own anything you upload to the cloud. Which is a big nope from me. And since Adobe is now cloud-based fro editing, that's how they are grabbing rights to your images. I don't need some bean counter using my images in a worldwide campaign and paying me nothing for it. Yes, I realise that would never happen with my images, but I also think that if they do use anyone's images in a campaign that makes them huge profits, that the originators of those images should be paid a fair price for them.

That is the crux of the hate towards Adobe, that they are grabbing rights to ALL images that you edit in Adobe. You all ok with that? I'm not.

I just use Adobe Lightroom classic. The raw images stay on my hard drive, as do the processed jpgs. I have no interest in using their cloud service.

 

[Sogs]

I stopped at PS6, which works just fine on my Alienware desktop.
I have no problem with a company making a profit, but Adobe is getting too greedy for my taste, not to mention their new EULA states that they will own anything you upload to the cloud. Which is a big nope from me. And since Adobe is now cloud-based fro editing, that's how they are grabbing rights to your images. I don't need some bean counter using my images in a worldwide campaign and paying me nothing for it. Yes, I realise that would never happen with my images, but I also think that if they do use anyone's images in a campaign that makes them huge profits, that the originators of those images should be paid a fair price for them.

That is the crux of the hate towards Adobe, that they are grabbing rights to ALL images that you edit in Adobe. You all ok with that? I'm not.

In Adobe's General Terms of Use:

Section 2.2 means:​

No one but you owns your content, but we need access to your content as necessary to operate Adobe applications and services. We limit our access to very specific purposes.
We review content that is on our servers to screen for certain types of illegal content (such as child sexual abuse material), or other abusive content or behavior (for example, patterns of activity that indicate spam or phishing). We start this process with an automated machine-driven review, but if our automated systems or another user flags an issue, a person may review the content to confirm if it is illegal or abusive.

A quote from the US Copyright Office: Generally, the author and initial copyright owner of a photograph is the person who “shoots” or “takes” the photo. One limited exception to this rule is when a photograph is created as a “work made for hire.” A work made for hire occurs when a photographer creates works as part of their scope of employment (like at a publication), or when there is an express agreement between a photographer and commissioning party to create a work for a specific, statute-identified purpose.

EULA refers to use of the software. Can you point to where you think they own your photos?

 

[Greyswan]

In Adobe's General Terms of Use:

Section 2.2 means:​

No one but you owns your content, but we need access to your content as necessary to operate Adobe applications and services. We limit our access to very specific purposes.
We review content that is on our servers to screen for certain types of illegal content (such as child sexual abuse material), or other abusive content or behavior (for example, patterns of activity that indicate spam or phishing). We start this process with an automated machine-driven review, but if our automated systems or another user flags an issue, a person may review the content to confirm if it is illegal or abusive.

A quote from the US Copyright Office: Generally, the author and initial copyright owner of a photograph is the person who “shoots” or “takes” the photo. One limited exception to this rule is when a photograph is created as a “work made for hire.” A work made for hire occurs when a photographer creates works as part of their scope of employment (like at a publication), or when there is an express agreement between a photographer and commissioning party to create a work for a specific, statute-identified purpose.

EULA refers to use of the software. Can you point to where you think they own your photos?

Yes, it was suddenly changed after the uproar when people first noticed that clause. They backpedalled pretty quickly.

However, I will no longer trust Adobe, since they pulled this stunt. They're also, I believe, doing the same with Adobe Acrobat, with regard to online content. Not sure if that's been backpedalled yet either. They are no longer the only game in town, which was what led them to take advantage in the first place.

The other problem with the cloud version is simply that they may pull verification in the middle of a project, so I would never risk not having my programs and files on my own computer.

 

[paddler4]

Yes, it was suddenly changed after the uproar when people first noticed that clause. They backpedalled pretty quickly.

However, I will no longer trust Adobe, since they pulled this stunt. They're also, I believe, doing the same with Adobe Acrobat, with regard to online content. Not sure if that's been backpedalled yet either. They are no longer the only game in town, which was what led them to take advantage in the first place.

The other problem with the cloud version is simply that they may pull verification in the middle of a project, so I would never risk not having my programs and files on my own computer.

So don't use the cloud version. I do all of my editing with LR and Photoshop locally, other than the times that the software calls the server for a function that can't be stored in local code.

 

[Nature's Spectrum]

I use a folder structure, not really keywording unless it's for a pro project. You can easily search by keyword on any computer but I mostly just lump my subjects into categories and don't bother renaming the files, ie, folder named by subject. Shorebirds/sanderlings for example. I don't change the filenames unless it's a finished edit, but it goes into the same folder as the original.

When I worked in graphics the project name was the main folder, but then we got into the revisions which was a nightmare with people who never bothered dating their revisions. I still preferred the folder structure to keep all relevant files in one place, no matter how old or who made the files.

For product photography I had a spreadsheet of the SKU codes with product descriptions included, then would shoot products in the same sequence as the spreadsheet list, tick them off as I shot, and after shooting I would use the list to rename the Raws with the SKU code numbers. Then edits were done with SKU code names already attached.

Yeah that's my big sticking point. There just isnt a viable alternative to Lr Classic on the library side of things. I utilize it heavily and until there is a better option (that doesn't require more steps work, I need to stick with Adobe. I use other Adobe products as well, so I have the whole suite subscription. I do find it frustrating that you can't pick and choose a few individual apps and not end up at more than the total package.

 

[Wilt]

Yes, it was suddenly changed after the uproar when people first noticed that clause. They backpedalled pretty quickly.

However, I will no longer trust Adobe, since they pulled this stunt. They're also, I believe, doing the same with Adobe Acrobat, with regard to online content. Not sure if that's been backpedalled yet either. They are no longer the only game in town, which was what led them to take advantage in the first place.​

The other problem with the cloud version is simply that they may pull verification in the middle of a project, so I would never risk not having my programs and files on my own computer.

Adobe's Controversial AI Policy Faces Fierce Backlash

A few small changes to Adobe's terms of service just sparked a massive backlash from creators.

www.marketingaiinstitute.com

​

Excerpt from link...​

​

"The controversy began when Adobe updated its terms of service and required users to agree to give the company access to their content via "automated and manual methods" in order to keep using its software.​

​

"The Verge explains:​

​

"Specifically, the notification said Adobe had 'clarified that we may access your content through both automated and manual methods' within its TOS, directing users to a section that says 'techniques such as machine learning' may be used to analyze content to improve services, software, and user experiences. The update went viral after creatives took Adobe’s vague language to mean that it would use their work to train Firefly — the company’s generative AI model — or access sensitive projects that might be under NDA."​

Adobe quickly backtracked, releasing a blog post calling the controversy a "misunderstanding." The company clarified it doesn't train AI models on customer content or assume ownership of users' work."​

​

https://www.pcmag.com/news/adobe-changing-terms-of-use-again-after-backlash

 

[Scott M]

For those of you that are using something outside of Adobe, what do you use for cataloging, keywording, etc. One of the features I would miss the most is being able to easily keyword (due to the hierarchal keyword) and the database/search features in Lightroom Classic? I'm sure there are other raw developers that work just as well and better in some aspects. I don't see any that handle the cataloging end well.

Do you rely on folder structure or something else?

I have always used a folder structure to organize my photos -- even when I was a Lightroom user. I never used the keywords feature of LR, so I do not miss any of the functionality you mention since moving on to DxO PhotoLab.

 

[Nature's Spectrum]

Since we have been on the topic, I did a little internet research yesterday evening. There are quite a few DAM management solutions out there, one of them being Excire which as far as I can tell might be the best for photography. It also comes as a plugin to LrC. Why have the plugin? The search options use what is analyzed in actual images to find similar images. It also auto-keywords (which is probably useful to some extent) as well as other functionality. In addition, it is supposedly much faster than LrC at that sort of thing. I'm going to get the plugin version and try it out from within LrC.

Now, none of this stuff is free, so I'm adding $180 cost (perpetual license), to a subscription that effectively costs $120. If the performance is better and it gives me better functionality I'll use it. Assuming it works well, it should free me up quite a bit more in case I want to try something outside of LrC for editing.

 

[Capn Jack]

Adobe's Controversial AI Policy Faces Fierce Backlash

A few small changes to Adobe's terms of service just sparked a massive backlash from creators.

www.marketingaiinstitute.com

​

Excerpt from link...​

​

"The controversy began when Adobe updated its terms of service and required users to agree to give the company access to their content via "automated and manual methods" in order to keep using its software.​

​

"The Verge explains:​

​

"Specifically, the notification said Adobe had 'clarified that we may access your content through both automated and manual methods' within its TOS, directing users to a section that says 'techniques such as machine learning' may be used to analyze content to improve services, software, and user experiences. The update went viral after creatives took Adobe’s vague language to mean that it would use their work to train Firefly — the company’s generative AI model — or access sensitive projects that might be under NDA."​

Adobe quickly backtracked, releasing a blog post calling the controversy a "misunderstanding." The company clarified it doesn't train AI models on customer content or assume ownership of users' work."​

​

https://www.pcmag.com/news/adobe-changing-terms-of-use-again-after-backlash

And that's one way they stay profitable. They try new things, and if those things annoy the user, they back off quickly ("backtracked") and it really becomes a non-issue. Like most other companies, they try to maximize their profit. This probably also means using cost/demand models to set pricing to maximize profit.

 

[Capn Jack]

There are quite a few DAM management solutions

What's "DAM", other than a structure to hold water?

 

[Nature's Spectrum]

What's "DAM", other than a structure to hold water?

Digital Asset Management

 

[Snooze]

I've started using Darktable instead of Lightroom, mainly because Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 next year and I'm considering changing to Linux as having several laptops in the house that are not compatible with windows 11 it would too expensive to replace them all.
So far I've been quite impressed with it although its not so easy to use as Lightroom.
I have managed to get my copy of Photoshop CS6 running on my Linux laptop though.