There are plenty of programs out there that can do similar things. Gimp, and Paint.net immediatly come to mind. But I learned how to do what I do on Photoshop. It made sense as I learned it while getting a degree in Photography and Photoshop is what the professionals use.
I learned Photoshop way back on version 4. It's hard to follow version numbers as they switched to 'CS' versions and are now on CC versions. But if you follow each iteration, Photoshop CC is version 14. But they've already had a 'major' update to Photoshop CC, so we might as well consider it version 15.
Anywho, while in school I had state of the art Macintosh computers and the full version of Photoshop to work with. I downloaded a hacked copy of it for my home pc, but it ran like absolute shit. I think that was back on my Pentium 166 with 8Mb of ram (Megabytes.. not Gigabytes!). After graduation Adobe kept putting out new versions and actually made them run on Windows fairly well. For the longest time I ran with Photoshop 7 (the last 'numbered' version). When I went to get a new hacked version I eventually got CS5. But the hack was... well it was bad. It actually handicapped several features in the program so I 'downgraded' to CS3. The hack that I got was actually the entire Creative Suite and included Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Pro, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, Soundbooth, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Encore.
UPDATE: Installed
I eagerly installed all of the software figuring that I would eventually play with all of them. I used Dreamweaver a bit as I was still working with web design back then, and I tried (and failed) to really learn Flash. But other than that, I didn't use any of those programs.
Now I've mentioned that I had hacked versions. That's because just as Photoshop is designed for professionals, it's priced for professionals. Depending on the version it would go for between $500 and $2000. I love Photoshop, but there is just no WAY that I could even consider paying that much for software. Even when working as a photographer, we couldn't afford that.
Well... times are different in two ways. First... I CAN afford that. For software that lets my creative mind fly, I can see spending upwards of $2000. It would be worth it and even make up for the fact that I've been stealing their software for decades now. Second... it doesn't cost that much any longer. Adobe recently went from single time purchasing to subscriptions services. You don't 'buy' Photoshop any longer.
The price to get Photoshop CC is now $19.99. A month. Oddly enough you can get the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography subscription that includes both Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC for $9.99 a month. This lower cost version doesn't include access to the Creative Market, has only 2GB of online storage vs 20GB of online storage, and doesn't include a free "ProSite" website. As I don't use any of those services now, I can't see paying $10 more a month for them.
Now, before I talk myself into this let me say that I hate subscription services. There are things where paying monthly makes sense. Video services like Netflix give you new content each and every month. Yes, paying for this subscription gets you updates when they come out. There pprobablywon't be another 'big' update or version. Instead you'll get constant 'small' updates. If you jump on the subscription bandwagon at that time, you just automatically get the newer stuff. But constantly paying for updates seems silly to me. I have been using Photoshop CS3 for YEARS without missing any of the new features. Before that I used Photoshop 7 for many MANY years, again without wishing that I had a newer version. Almost every single thing I do with Photoshop now, I could just as easily do with Photoshop 7.
In general, I'd just rather pay a large lump sum, get the newest version and then later pay for either the new updates or even just pony up the large amount of money for the new version. That's just not an option any longer. It's not how Adobe serves Photoshop any longer.
If I'm fully honest, this would still be cheaper for me in the long run. $10 a month? To pay the $999 that the last 'full' version cost would take me eight years at $10 a month. That's at least two or three full versions of Photoshop that I'd have to skip. Another way to look at it is this... what do I currently pay $10 a month for, and how does it's value stack up to Photoshop?
- I pay $15 a month as a sustaining member of my local NPR station. I listen to that radio station going to and and sometimes from work. That's about 40 hours a week. I think it's a good value.
- I pay $27 a month for soda at work. At the end of each day I stop by the vending machine and get a bottle of Mountain Dew for the trip home. Yes, I could save money by buying it in bulk, but it's not nearly as convenient as getting it from the machine. I consider it a good value.
- I pay about $10 a month for Netflix. I watch both movies and older television series on it. It really varies per month, but I'd say I average about 30 hours a month. I consider it a good value.
Most of my other monthly bills (Fiona, Insurance, Student Loans, Gasoline...) are WAY more expensive than $10 a month. So... Photoshop would be one of the least expensive monthly bills of mine. In fact, I probably wouldn't really 'notice' the money being spent. It would just be part of my bi-weekly bill payments which now vary between $800 and $1500.
It still just bothers me though. I'd be supporting a system that wants to move to subscription service. MS Office does this with Office 365. You don't pay $219 for the "Home and Office" version of MS Office, you pay $99 a year ($8.25 a month) instead. Sounds like a good deal right? Well... through a state employee discount I only paid $20 for my Office 13. What happens when Microsoft takes Office entirely to a subscription service? Would they still offer those steep discounts to large employers?
I just don't want to support a business model that moves from large prices and available discounts, to a subscription model that 'locks' in the price forever.
But.
It's Photoshop.
I love Photoshop.
I've stolen Photoshop for years and years and want to have a legitimate copy.
Photoshop is the only piece of software on my computer that I didn't pay for. I paid for Windows, Office, all of my current games. I've even paid for all my music for years now (although I didn't toss out all of my older stolen pieces of music). Hell.. I pay for porn now. So why wouldn't I pay for Photoshop.
Yeah.. it was mostly a foregone conclusion. I'll eventually buy and install Photoshop CC. Probably this weekend.
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UPDATE 11/23/14
I purchased the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography bundle last night and installed them this morning. The bundle includes Photoshop CC 2014 and Lightroom 5.7.
My first impression of the new photoshop... it's default layout is very dark. You can change this up in the preferences, but I'm going to leave it in it's 'dark' mode for a while and see if it affects me. It also has each image window open it's own task bar 'program'. If I have three images open, it will have four places on the task bar (one for photoshop itself and one for each image). That could get annoying as I'll often have upwards of 10 images open at the same time.
Some of the tools have been moved around, but so far I've been able to find everything. I had to search for the color picker tool though and it was annoying to 'pause' my work flow. I'm sure I'll get used to that.
I'm not sure how much I'll use Lightroom. It's a nice enough program and I certainly have a collection big enough to warrant some sort of program, but the majority of the images I work on (and therefore would want image organization for) are files for this and my Caitlyn blog. I'd really rather not those images end up in some program that I open up with other people around.
Oh... one other big difference. The good feeling I get while opening up Photoshop now. There's now little pang of guilt or whispered voice saying 'thief' in my mind.
I ended up going for the annual subscription. I'd rather pay $130 (they have taxes!) once a year rather than $10 a month (probably more as they'd undoubtedly include taxes in that too!). If it's a once a month bill I could always cancel it and then re-up it. As it's already paid for a year, I don't have that temptation. The only 'issue' is the time of year that re-upping it will be. This is the time of year I plan on Christmas shopping and now every year I'll start $130 in the hole.
Ah well... I like it and I like myself for doing this.
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UPDATE 11/23/14
I purchased the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography bundle last night and installed them this morning. The bundle includes Photoshop CC 2014 and Lightroom 5.7.
My first impression of the new photoshop... it's default layout is very dark. You can change this up in the preferences, but I'm going to leave it in it's 'dark' mode for a while and see if it affects me. It also has each image window open it's own task bar 'program'. If I have three images open, it will have four places on the task bar (one for photoshop itself and one for each image). That could get annoying as I'll often have upwards of 10 images open at the same time.
Some of the tools have been moved around, but so far I've been able to find everything. I had to search for the color picker tool though and it was annoying to 'pause' my work flow. I'm sure I'll get used to that.
I'm not sure how much I'll use Lightroom. It's a nice enough program and I certainly have a collection big enough to warrant some sort of program, but the majority of the images I work on (and therefore would want image organization for) are files for this and my Caitlyn blog. I'd really rather not those images end up in some program that I open up with other people around.
Oh... one other big difference. The good feeling I get while opening up Photoshop now. There's now little pang of guilt or whispered voice saying 'thief' in my mind.
I ended up going for the annual subscription. I'd rather pay $130 (they have taxes!) once a year rather than $10 a month (probably more as they'd undoubtedly include taxes in that too!). If it's a once a month bill I could always cancel it and then re-up it. As it's already paid for a year, I don't have that temptation. The only 'issue' is the time of year that re-upping it will be. This is the time of year I plan on Christmas shopping and now every year I'll start $130 in the hole.
Ah well... I like it and I like myself for doing this.
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