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Adobe Hikes the Price of it’s Photography Plan – Some alternatives

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Edit (5/8/19): Adobe appears to have succumbed to the pressure. They’ve currently withdrawn their price hike, for the moment.

On May 2nd, Petapixel posted a story about Adobe increasing the price of it’s Photography Plan from $9.99/mo to $19.99/mo. Doubling it’s price!

As you all know, I’m an Adobe person. I love the Adobe ecosystem, it’s offerings, and it’s power. Photoshop was my first “Adobe baby”, when I started using it at Version 2.5 (before layers were invented, let alone, editable text!). I am an Adobe Certified Instructor for Photoshop and an Adobe Community Professional.

However, I don’t know if this price increase is a great idea for Adobe, unless they’re comfortable losing their Photography customers. YES, paying into the subscription plan will keep you up to date on ALL the new features of Photoshop and Lightroom as they come up. YES, Photoshop is still the most powerful image editor out there, especially for people who want to create composites and compositions, include the ability to create video (and work with video clips), and work in 3D in their image editor. It has many graphic features not employed by it’s competitors in the image editing space. However, for those who are strictly focused on their photography, who want power and don’t care about Photoshop’s powerful design capabilities, their 3D, and their video options (and more), there are some AMAZINGLY POWERFUL Alternatives:

ON1 Photo Raw is about to release their 2019.5 version of their incredibly powerful image editing software. This software has functions that replace much of Lightroom, and Photoshop allowing Presets, Filters, Color Look-Up Tables, POWERFUL AI lead masking, retouching, layers, HDR, Panorama,World Class image resizing and more. On1 Photo Raw allows for:

  • Image organization and Editing
  • Working with any file type you throw at it: RAW, jpg, psd, png, and more
  • Installation on up to 5 computers, Mac or Windows
  • No Importing!
  • Direct migration from Lightroom (so you don’t lose the work you’ve done)
  • Tons of tutorials

On1 Photo Raw costs $63.99 (for upgrade), $79.99 Full Version, or $129.99 (including On1 Plus Pro – amazing support, free presets, and more). And you OWN the license – NO SUBSCRIPTION. Buy 2019.2 today, and you’ll receive the upgrade to 2019.5 for free, when it comes out.

Skylum is offering a Discount to their Luminar 3.1 application until May 14th.

Luminar 3.1 offers:

  • AI Image Enhancement (one click enhancements)
  • A Full-Featured Organizer and Editor (with keywording, labeling, rating and more)
  • Powerful Presets to use as they are, or to edit
  • Layers, Blends, Filters (50+), Masks
  • AI Sky Enhancer
  • AI Foliage Enhancer
  • Erase Unwanted Objects
  • Powerful Noise Reduction
  • Non-Destructive Photo Editing
  • Workspaces
  • Activation on up to 5 Computers – Windows or Mac

And, if you order before May 14th, you get a great discount, Plus “Photography 101” Video Course at a SERIOUS discount!

$60 Full Price ($50, with discount code: SGANS_DISC) – regular price $70
$69 including Photography 101 Video Course ($59, with discount code: SGANS_DISC) – regular price $169!
$129 including Aurora HDR and Photography 101 Video Course ($119, with discount code: SGANS_DISC) – regular price $268!

Again, you OWN the license – no subscriptions!

Affinity Photo is also a powerful alternative for Photoshop. And serif.com has created a strong ecosystem of their own – offering an Illustrator and an InDesign alternative as well. Affinity Photo can be purchased at $69.99 (Canadian dollars)

And for those of you who like to work with Donation-ware (FREE, but requesting donations), please take a look at GIMP – a powerful, cross-platform image editor at https://www.gimp.org

If you feel I left your favorite out of this list, please say something in the comments!

Skylum Luminar update 1.2.0 JUPITER – released today with a GREAT deal!

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Skylum Logo Luminar Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, Skylum (previously MacPhun) Software released a new update to their amazing photo editor, Luminar (this version called Jupiter).
Of course, Luminar can be used as a Photoshop Plugin, but it’s also positioned to work as a Lightroom/Photoshop replacement for photo editing (all this, WITHOUT a subscription fee!)

Pricing as follows:

Current users of Luminar may upgrade for $49 ($39 with coupon code SGANS_DISC)
New users can purchase Luminar 2018 for $69 ($59 with coupon code SGANS_DISC)

BONUSES Included in this offer:

  • Luminar 2018: the most powerful and technologically advanced photo editor for Mac & Windows (worth $69) – Luminar 2018 is a fast, versatile, and intuitive image editor, which can take your workflow from RAW file to fully finished image without needing to use any other image editor.

  • The Complete Landscape Photography Guide ebook from Photzy (worth $50) – An outstanding guide written by professional photographer and writer Kent DuFault. This ebook has something for everyone, with 237 pages packed full of information and assignments that will transform your landscape photography.

  • Aerial Photography & Video with Matt Granger (worth $79) – World-renowned photographer, Matt Granger will share planning, shooting and editing aerial stills and video. Matt will also demonstrate editing with Luminar 2018 on his still aerial images..

  • Photography Tutorial by Daniel Kordan (worth $29) – Extensive tutorial with a full workflow demonstration by expert landscape photographer Daniel Kordan. This tutorial includes shooting and post-processing images in Luminar 2018.

  • 119 Dramatic & Romantic Sky overlays (worth $29) – This is an amazing addition to your photo editing workflow, and will help give boring skies that ‘wow!’ factor.

  • Splitsville Presets By Brian Matiash (worth $15) – Add a professional polish to your images with these cool presets.

We have a TON of new and updated features in this one:

Speed improvements to get more done in less time

Skylum has dramatically increased the speed of editing across all areas of Luminar. Now images open faster, filters apply quicker, and the entire application is more responsive.

  • Most users will see snappier sliders as they’ve gained performance boosts of 3-25x for easier adjustments.
  • Luminar better uses the operating system for faster performance, with many operations seeing significant boosts.

Luminar Jupiter also got numerous interface and user experience improvements based on users’ feedback for an improved editing experience. The new version has several “under-the-hood” enhancements to add stability as well as to improve performance when editing even the largest of images.

Better RAW conversion

  • Better exposure calculation. Refined initial brightness setting for RAW files produces a perfect match to how a camera saw the scene.
  • Cleaner gradients. Improved de-mosaic process for even cleaner image conversion, i.e. smooth transitions in areas like skies and shadows for accurate color and less noise.
  • Fewer halos.If an image has high contrast areas, the improved Defringe option will help with backlit areas or strong contrast.
  • More cameras, better compatibility. Now even more RAW formats can be edited natively with the RAW Develop filter. Plus, a large set of existing camera modules have been refined for even better RAW conversion.
  • Reduced chromatic aberration. If a lens shows color artifacts in high contrast or backlit areas, the new Auto Chromatic aberration removal option will help to get rid of green and cyan shifts.

Automatic lens distortion removal

Getting the perfect shot is now easier than ever. The RAW Develop filter analyzes an image and its metadata to calculate an Automatic Lens Distortion fix that can be applied in one-click. This is a perfect tool to get rid of wide angle distortion and get truer perspective lines and more attractive portraits.

Advanced support for DCP Profiles

Luminar recognizes the industry standard DNG Camera Profile, or “DCP” files, that users may already have on their computers (or have purchased from third parties) to ensure accurate and consistent colors. Users will also be able to use DCP profiles from DNG files. This feature is currently available for Mac and will be available soon for Windows.

Essential New Features for Windows Users

The Skylum team has put a lot of effort into making the Windows experience be world-class and significantly faster. In fact, the PC version now matches the Mac version for all core features with Batch Processing, Free Transform and Flip and Rotate tools.

Here are some Windows-specific additions

  • NEW: BATCH PROCESSING. The powerful Batch Processing workflow saves time and effort.
  • NEW: EASY TRANSFORMATIONS. To easily transform the shape of an image, the Free Transform tool can scale and position an object as needed. Plus users can easily Flip and Rotate an image using the Image menu commands.
  • Better cloning. Users can quickly call up the Clone & Stamp module by pressing Ctrl + J. Softness, opacity, and size of the brush can also now be modified.
  • Cleaner zooms. Accelerated zooming now delivers a cleaner image at all sizes. Images appear sharper when the zoom is beyond 100% for detail work. Plus the new version provides a cleaner preview when zoomed out to see the whole image.
  • Preview mode.To check out a photo free from any distractions users can now use Full Screen Preview – a great way to really study an image in detail.
  • Localization support.It’s even easier to use Luminar in a different language. The localizations have been improved for greater accuracy and can now be changed from the File menu in Windows version.
  • Better masking controls. Users can create masks more easily when painting masks. Holding down the spacebar and dragging with the cursor, pans and moves the image when masking.
  • Improved workflow with other applications.When using Luminar as a plugin with other applications, color profiles are properly included. This change also improves image exporting with attached profiles.
  • Shared workspaces.Users can now share their custom workspaces.

If you’ve been waiting for a great time to buy or upgrade your version of Luminar – THIS IS IT!

Here are some before and after images, made in Luminar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adobe Pricing Goes Up Soon – but you can avoid it

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As many of you on the Adobe Creative Cloud Plan know (through an email you may have received), the price is going to increase on April 16th, 2018, however you won’t see that increase until your current plan renews.

Now, firstly – this increase is only going to affect the All Apps and Single-App plans (not the CC Photography plan, or the Student/Teacher Editions), and it’s not a huge amount – in fact, it’s only about a 5% increase, and the only increase since the Creative Cloud was introduced in 2012.

Yet, many people are going to be unhappy about this change – so, my friend at ProDesignTools.com has found Adobe’s solution to the problem!

Read his article all the way through – the information is at the bottom (spoiler alert: Adobe won’t raise the rate if you prepay the year!)

Check out the story – thank Mr. ProDesignTools, and come back here and let me know what you think!

MacOS High Sierra (OS 10.13) Compatibility FAQ for Adobe Creative Cloud

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As many of you know, I’m not a fan of upgrading my operating system for a great deal of time after the release of any new ones. Currently, I’m using Sierra 10.12.6, and will be continuing to hold off on upgrades. However, some people have either upgraded already, or have bought new equipment that comes with the new OS already installed.

For users of Adobe Creative Cloud products (as well as several other developer’s products), High Sierra has introduced quite a few bugs that need to be resolved.

Fortunately, Adobe has a page about compatibility issues with several of their products, with some workarounds and temporary fixes, until they resolve the problem with a CC update.

To view the list, please visit https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/macos-high-sierra-compatibility.html

Having Trouble Exporting to Hi Rez PNG with Illustrator CC2018?

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This is a known issue. For those of us who used Export>PNG for high rez output, this seems to be broken in the new release of Illustrator CC2018. This seems to only affect people who chose to “Import Previous Settings and Preferences” when upgrading.

Fortunately, Adobe has published a work-around to resolve this issue!
Take a look at this article, to see their answer:
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-export-issues.html

How to retain old versions of Adobe CC Software when upgrading to CC2018

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I just got back from the AMAZING Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas, NV. Perhaps you caught some of my social posts on the events!

This MAX introduced a bunch of new device apps and updates, as well as desktop apps. BUT, it’s very important for some people to retain their older versions, when upgrading their apps. The default behavior is to overwrite previous version with the new version – for instance, if you install the new Photoshop CC, you’ll be overwriting Photoshop CC2017 with Photoshop CC2018!

If that’s okay with you, great! But, if you’re like me, and prefer to wait until bug fixes are in, but still want to see (and get used to) some  of the amazing new features in the new version.

Here, I’m going to add a set of images to ensure you see WHERE to adjust your choices so you can ensure to keep your OLD version while also installing the new version. Don’t forget to comment, if you have any questions! Or, ask on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/aym4training

Or, on our Twitter feed at @aym4training

  1. When you open the Creative Cloud app, either from your Menu Bar on a Mac, or your Task Bar on a Windows machine, you’ll see a list of applications that’re installed on your computer, and the option to update those that have new versions available. Note: in previous versions of the Creative Cloud apps, my “previous versions” were listed as a separate section of the updaters, but now, they’re all listed by app)
  2. In this case, I’ll be updating my Adobe Illustrator application. When you click the Update  button, you’ll get a window that looks like this – at Which Point, you’ll want to EXPAND THE ADVANCED OPTIONS SECTION! NOTE: If you want to retain your older version DO NOT select the Update button yet!
  3. In the Advanced section, be sure to UNCHECK the “Remove old versions” button (on by default)!
  4. At this point, you can select the Update button. Your NEW version of the software will be installed, and it will leave your older version installed as well. Personally, I like to import my previous settings and preferences from previous versions, and tweak them in the individual apps to accommodate any changes, but that’s a matter of personal preference.

Hopefully, this will save some of you the pain of encountering some of the inevitable bugs associated with upgrading, or will allow you to work in your older versions of the applications you use, so you may collaboratively share files with others who may not have updated yet.

Please remember to comment here, or on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/aym4training/ or my Twitter feed @aym4training if you need assistance, or clarification.

 

 

Adobe MAX This Week!

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This week, Adobe is having it’s Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas, NV. I’ll be working as a Teaching Assistant for several classes, and according to the conference schedule, anticipate being kept VERY busy for the week! I’m looking forward to it, very much – and anticipate I’ll be “paying” for the worthwhile time with some exhaustion for the entire following week!

For those of you trying to reach me this week, either via the blog, our Facebook page ((2) AYM 4 Training – Home), our Twitter Account (AYM 4 Training (@aym4training) | Twitter)

I do hope that some or many of my students and colleagues will be attending this event, and if so, please seek me out – I’d love to see you! I’ve been assigned to TA the classes named
B342 – Photoshop Magic: Making Brushes to Speed Up Your Workflow, and B341 – Photoshop+After Effects = Awesomeness (multiple bookings of each in my schedule). I’ll also be attending other classes with some of my favorite speakers/writers and Adobe Evangelists.

I hope to see you at the conference, if you can make it, and I’ll do my best to respond to questions and such, as time allows. Have a great week!

 

Adobe Creates the Pen Tool Game

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For my students who need to practice the Pen Tool, Adobe’s created an adorable online game to practice it’s usage. The pen tool is important in Adobe Illustrator (of course), but also in Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, InDesign, Animate… there’s a version of it in almost every Adobe App!

Check out the game here: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/illustrator/how-to/pen-tool-game.html

AURORA HDR 2018 Coming soon for Mac and Windows!

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Aurora HDR 2018 will be available for pre-order on September 12nd, and released on September 28th. Sign up HERE to be notified when Pre-Order opens!

About Aurora HDR:

Aurora HDR is not just a tool for merging bracketed images, it also provides numerous tools and countless options to create perfect HDR photos for every taste – from one-click presets and advanced tone-mapping, to layers, noise reduction and powerful luminosity masking controls.

Aurora HDR’s Key Features:

  • Total HDR editing experience with the most complete set of tools available.
  • Fast, powerful RAW processing engine.
  • Tone-mapping algorithm to achieve both realistic and dramatic HDR images.
  • Over 70 presets that give photos an amazing HDR look in just one click.
  • Luminosity masking that automatically makes advanced selections within HDR images based on the Zone System.
  • Unique layer system that supports blend modes, custom textures and using original exposures as source images.
  • Image Radiance, brushes, masks, lighting, vignettes and much more help users achieve their artistic vision
  • Highly versatile batch processing
  • Works as a standalone app, or a plug-in to Photoshop and Lightroom

A sneak peek into what’s new in Aurora HDR 2018:

  • Lens Correction Tool – The new Lens correction filter easily fixes all kinds of lens distortion, from barrel to pincushion, to chromatic aberration and vignetting.
  • New User Interface – Redesigned from scratch, the modern and responsive user interface brings a powerful, yet joyful experience to HDR photo editing.
  • Cross-platform version – Aurora HDR 2018 will be available both for Mac and PC users. Files are interchangeable and mixed-computer households can share the same product key.
  • Speed Improvements – Up to 4x improvement in RAW image processing, and up to 200% faster merging and masking performance means that Aurora HDR 2018 is dramatically faster than the last version.

Availability:

Aurora HDR 2018 will be availabe for pre-order on September 12, and released on September 28.

Pricing:

Mixed-computer households can share the same product key for Mac and PC that can be activated on 5 devices.

Pre-order:

  • Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $49
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 at a special pre-order price of $89
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

Retail price:

  • $59 for current Aurora HDR users
  • $99 for new users

 

MacPhun Luminar’s Flash Sale Ends Tonight

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Luminar 72 Hour Sale: Best Price Ever! $20 OFF!!!

As mentioned in a prior post, MacPhun’s Luminar is having a Flash Sale – making this the BEST opportunity to purchase Luminar at a discounted price.

If you buy Luminar today – your pricing will be as follows:

$49 instead of $69 – for all first-time purchasers
$39 instead of $59 – for anyone who currently owns a Macphun product