Affinity and Screw Adobe

Last year, I bought a camera. I’ve talked about this a bit in the past, so I won’t rehash it, but it’s been sitting and collecting dust.

The most I’ve used the camera was to tape my wife’s Jazzercise audition videos. I think I’ve just felt discouraged by my first few attempts at photography, and I just don’t have the motivation to do much with it.

The camera was purchased to dabble with video, not pictures, but I thought the best way to learn some basics would be to start with still photos. I took a small online photography class and tried to soak up as much information as I could, but something really stood in my way: Adobe.

Had I known I was going to use the camera for still photos, I would have bought a film camera, because I am not a fan of editing. I’m actually quite perplexed by this part of photography. I guess, in my eyes, you are capturing the moment in front of you, but when you start adjusting colors, hues, and what not, you are creating an image of what you wish was in front of you. It feels rather inauthentic and a bit deceptive, and I’ve never been a huge fan of that.

Besides not loving the concept of editing, Adobe is stupid ridiculous. I’m sure some folks who are reading this have used it for years, and it feels like second nature, but for a beginner it’s incredibly intimidating and confusing. Some of my online classes offered some basic tutorials in Lightroom and Photoshop, but of course, they had been updated or the video used Lightroom Classic vs. Lightroom and all of that just made it even worse. I grew up using Paint Shop Pro for stuff. I just wanted something a bit simpler and more intuitive.

Over the past month, I’ve been thinking a lot about my camera. Every day on Mastodon, I see wonderful photos from a huge collective of bloggers such as Lou, JC, William, and others and it makes me want to get out there and try again. But, every time I think about it, the idea of taking photos sounds fun, editing photos sounds incredibly tedious and boring.

Then last week, the whole Adobe AI debacle happened, and it felt even more pointless. I should note, I stupidly signed up for an Adobe membership. I didn’t realize I’d be locked in for a year, so I’ve been paying them $20 for basically nothing. I know for some people that is not a big deal but I don’t do that ever. It’s rare for me to do a subscription let alone one I don’t use.

[I decided to publish this today after the news that the Department of Justice is suing Adobe over their deceptive practices.]

I kept seeing Adobe alternatives being suggested and I had looked at a few of them in the past, but I wasn’t prepared to make another investment into software while I was paying Adobe. But I kept reading reviews and I figured once August hit, I’d cancel my Adobe and if I still felt compelled to take some pictures, I’d try out a new app.

Well, while researching this, I ran across Affinity’s website, and I found they were taking advantage of Adobe’s screw up and marked their apps fifty percent off. So, for less than $45, a one-time fee, I could have both their apps on my iPad and MacBook. I was sold, and I broke my no-spending for the month to take advantage of this limited time offer.

I got home, put on a tutorial video for beginners. After those twenty minutes, I felt like I had a much better grasp on how to edit with Affinity than I ever did with Adobe. I pulled up a few pictures and started editing, and what do you know, I really made my pictures look a bit better than they were.

I’m still not convinced photography is a hobby for me, but I’m definitely more interested now that I know I can edit without having to pull up tutorial after tutorial to make some basic changes. Who knows, maybe I’ll ever get motivated enough to put a new battery in the camera and head outside.