Adobe Phobia in Remission

Yes – I admit to having suffered a certain level of Adobephobia. I flat refused to pay a monthly subscription to the package when there were lots of alternatives out the for a one-off cost. Trouble is, you begin to realise it’s never a one-off cost!!!

I happily used Photoshop elements 2014 for a fair while – well – since 2014, in fact, and I was perfectly happy to pay the one-off price. It did what I needed it to do in terms of layer work and I was content. It had all the blend modes I needed and seemed to handle it all quite well – but as happens with these things, they kept issuing an update each year and not much less than the price of the Adobe CC basic package.

So, I downloaded Topaz Studio – which is free. Woohooo. But of course, you then need to pay for the add-ons, plug-ins and various extras available. But, I weathered it because Topaz has some fabulous creative options and I do so like a bit of creative editing.

I also bought Affinity Photo by Serif a couple of years back but I found that each time I wanted to find out how to do something, I had to read the Photoshop instructions and then work out how to translate that to Affinity. Sorry, Serif, but the teaching is quite limited for your product!

By now, I was using Lightroom 6, Topaz, Affinity and PSE14 so my photographs were becoming quite well travelled without ever yet having left my computer. Bounce over here to do this, then over there to do that etc etc. In the meantime, the cost of all of these little things was adding up to more than a sub would cost me.

Epiphany!

Time for a change!!

So – the bullet has been bitten and I have signed up for my subscription to the basic package with Adobe. So, I have Lightroom CC (I’m using the Classic version), Photoshop CC, Bridge and lots of little things around that including Paper Texture Pro which is a free add-on. Wow. What a change. I can do most of what I want to do right there in PS now without having to go here for this and there for that. I’ve put it through its paces re layers and nothing seems too tricky to pick up so far.

Result!! Took some time and money to get there though – and my opinion so far has to be that while PS may not be the best out there, there are so many tutorials and books to help you learn that it makes it worth sticking to the popular in this case.

Shame on me 🙂

I have a few days off now to go and lurk in the woodlands of Sherwood Forest and its surroundings but on my return, I hope I can give a better idea of how I’m getting on – or not, as the case may be.

Author – Sue Woollard – Capers with a Camera