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

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 They’ve currently withdrawn their price hike, for the moment.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!

Photolemur 3.0 Preorder – Discount available for a Limited Time

PHOTOLEMUR 3 PREORDERPhotolemur has announced Version 3.o at very special pricing!

Here’s the Pre-Order and regular pricing:

  1. New users can purchase Photolemur 3.0 Family at a special pre-order price of $49
  2. A collection of bonuses will also be included in every purchase.
  3. Pre-order bonuses:
  4. The Shotkit EBook
  5. The 2018 Gear Guide
  6. $300 Off a multi-day (3+ day) Iceland Photo Tours

Photolemur 3.0 Regular Pricing:

Photolemur – the most astounding AI Automatic Photo Enhancer is now offering the following upgrades in Version 3.0:

  • Automatic Face Enhancement with skin retouching and teeth whitening
  • Smart Eye Enlargement
  • Adding Styles to photos ( Blog )
  • New menu for opacity settings
  • Quick access menu for face enhancement, lens correction and eye enlargement
  • Apply settings from one image to all images in batch
  • SmugMug Export (for Mac version)
  • Performance and stability boost
  • AND, it can be used as a stand-alone product, OR as a Photoshop Plugin, as part of your workflow!

Great product – Great Deal! Check it out!

 

Update released for MacPhun Luminar

Luminar is a new universal all-in-one photo app designed to tackle anyone’s photography needs, ranging from correcting challenging image problems to artful stylizing. Sporting a totally unique user interface that adapts to your needs and skills, tons of one-click presets for instant results and a vast number of image processing filters and tools, Luminar may be the last photo software you ever buy. It’s photo editing, reimagined for all of us. Experience it today at www.macphun.com .

There are more choices of cameras than ever before, and more ways to enjoy photos. Luminar comes at a time when current software tools are simply not keeping up with the versatility to satisfy the needs of everyone or evolving to be more complicated.

As a result, Macphun has invented a new scalable, adaptive user interface and mated it to a set of tools that truly provides ease of editing photos on your Mac across the entire span of customers, from Smartphone users to Pros.

  • ?  New photographers and mobile shooters who don’t often use their Mac for editing will appreciate a simple approach using one-click presets and universal tools like cropping, noise reduction, and image healing.
  • ?  Casual photographers may start with those same presets, but will soon “graduate” to using Luminar’s purpose-built workspaces that offer uniquely tailored tools which achieve great results quickly.
  • ?  For passionate enthusiasts and professionals, workspaces and the full gamut of editing tools such as brushes, layers, blending modes, texture overlays, an editing history menu and much more herald a new generation of advanced photo editing possibilities.

  Retail price

MacPhun Luminar is currently still a Mac product, but don’t forget – the Windows version is in PUBLIC BETA, NOW! Please check it out here.

And, For Those Who Just Want a Great Photo Without the Hard Work

Photolemur 2.0 is changing FROM a subscription based app, TO a Direct License app! How often does THAT happen?!

And they have an offer going for the licenses – Until August 10th. Purchase through This Link

The prices for Licenses are:

Single License – $30

Family License (activation on 5 devices) – $35 (usually $50, with 30% discount)

Seriously – this app is Easy Breezy – and POWERFUL!

Check out this demo:

MacPhun Luminar for WINDOWS Now in Free Public Beta!

The terrific Photo Editing App and Photoshop plugin is now available for Windows OPEN Beta test!

Luminar makes complex photo editing easy and joyful.

Download the Public Beta NOW, and find out how much you can DO! *

 

Luminar is a powerful all-in-one photo editor with over 300 tools on hand designed to tackle anyone’s photography needs, from correcting challenging image problems to artful stylizing. Users can adapt their workspace to match their image processing experience, and move up to more advanced modes as they learn. Luminar works non-destructively and aims to take the “work” out of a photo editing “workflow” for photographers worldwide.

Luminar for Mac was released in November 2016, with the latest update on July 15, 2017.
In April, only 5 months after its launch, Luminar for Mac won the prestigious TIPA award for Best Imaging Software 2017. For more details about full featured Mac version visit macphun.com/luminar . Experience the public beta of Luminar for Windows today at macphun.com/pc .

Why did we make Luminar?

Today, there are more choices of cameras than ever before, and more ways to enjoy photos. Luminar comes at a time when current software tools are simply not keeping up with the versatility to satisfy the needs of everyone, or they are evolving to be too complicated to learn and use.

As a result, Macphun has invented a new scalable, adaptive user interface and mated it to a set of tools that truly provides ease of editing photos on your PC across the entire span of customers, from beginners to pros.

  •   Newbie photographers who don’t often use their PC for editing will appreciate a simple approach using one-click presets.
  •   Casual photographers mastering their first digital cameras may start with those same presets, but will soon “graduate” to using Luminar’s uniquely tailored tools which achieve great results quickly.
  •   For passionate enthusiasts and professionals, the full gamut of editing tools such as brushes, layers, editing history menu and much more herald a new generation of advanced photo editing possibilities.

Target audience:

Casual shooters, enthusiasts and professional photographers

Typical types of photography:

  •   Landscape / Nature
  •   Architecture
  •   Street / Urbex
  •   Portraits
  •   Artistic & Black & White
  •   Dramatic composites
  •   Photographic correctionsCompatibility:Language support

? English

Image formats

  •   PNG
  •   JPG
  •   TFF 8-bit and 16-bit
  •   GIF
  •   Popular RAW formats
  •   .CR2, .NEF, .ORF, .RAF, .ERF, .ARW, .RW2, .PEF and moreRecommended System Requirements:
  •   Windows 10
  •   CPU: Core i5 2.2 or equal
  •   RAM: 8 Gb or more
  •   GPU: 1Gb or more
  •   SDD drive with 20+ Gb free

Top 10 Features

  •   Scalable, adaptive user interface
  •   Over 50 one-click presets
  •   Over 40 image enhancement filters
  •   Accent AI Filter, powered by an artificial intelligence technology
  •   Extensive brushes
  •   Selective masking
  •   Custom Texture overlays
  •   History panel
  •   RAW file conversion
  •   Non-destructive editing

User Interface / Performance

  •   Innovative adaptive user interface, based on user needs and skill
  •   Editing history menu for fail-safe editing
  •   Advanced high-quality real-time image processing engine
  •   Clean, modern user interface design
  •   3000% Zoom level
  •   Histogram preview
  •   Quick compare toggle
  •   Side by side comparison
  •   Full Screen preview mode
  •   Choice of background colors
  •   Online help

Editing

  •   Over 50 categorized built-in one-click presets, with large real-time preview
  •   A variety (40+) of image processing filters for different looks (each filter has customadjustments), each with a custom amount slider:
    •   Accent AI Filter
    •   Adjustable Gradient
    •   Advanced Contrast
    •   B&W Conversion
    •   Bi-Color Toning
    •   Brightness / Contrast
    • Channel Mixer
    •   Clarity
    •   Color Balance
    •   Color Contrast
    •   Color Temperature
    •   Cross Processing
    •   Curves
    •   Dehaze
    •   Details Enhancer
    •   Dramatic
    •   Exposure
    •   Fog
    •   Foliage Enhancer
    •   Golden Hour
    •   Grain
    •   High Key
    •   Highlights / Shadows
    •   HSL
    •   Image Radiance
    •   Microstructure
    •   Orton Effect
    •   Photo Filter
    •   Polarizing Filter
    •   Remove Color Cast
    •   Saturation / Vibrance
    •   Sharpening
    •   Soft Focus
    •   Soft Glow
    •   Split Color Warmth
    •   Split Toning
    •   Structure
    •   Texture Overlay
    •   Tone
    •   Top & Bottom Lighting
    •   Vignette
  •   Layers
  •   Masking brushes
  •   Gradient Masking
  •   Separate masking for Layers
  •   Crop Tool

(Adjustment or Texture)

  •   Native RAW file support, including DNG
  •   Runs as Standalone software
  •   Open/Export to JPEG file format

*NOTE: 

  • Beta version is not the final version and features are subject to change
  • Current beta version does not include all of the features/tools that the final release version will
  • Final version will be released late 2017

MacPhun is releasing 2nd major update to Luminar – Luminar: Neptune

Luminar Neptune has been available as a free update to all current users since June 15th – but NEW users can buy this for as low as $49 for owners of MacPhun software, or $59 for new MacPhun Users (using coupon code SGANS_DISC) – Offer available until Sunday, June 25th!

New Feature Highlights: Luminar Neptune:

  • Accent – AI-filter – Uses artificial intelligence to create stunning images with a single slider movement, tapping into the power of dozens of filters.
  • Quick & Awesome workspace – A workspace consisting of the Accent AI, Saturation & Vibrance and Clarity filters. Great for achieving fast results in a fun and easy way.
  • Plug-in integration with Creative Kit and Aurora HDR 2017 – Seamlessly access Macphun’s other photo editing tools you own with Luminar as the host application
  • Brush, Gradient and Radial Gradient tools – Dramatically faster performance yields smoother selective editing.
  • Vignette filter – Addition of Vignette Styles, Place Center and Pre- and Post-Crop modes deliver even more flexibility to this popular photo finishing tool.
  • Memory management – Increased overall performance for large files and 5+ simultaneous open images.
  • User Interface changes – Extensive improvements to in-app animation and mode transitions make for a more pleasing editing experience.
  • Crop tool update – Added the ability to specify custom crop ratios.
  • Local history – Provision for reviewing separate history while in Transform, Denoise, Clone & Stamp modes helps optimize editing.

You Get:

  • Luminar, The Supercharged photo editor for Mac that adapts to your skill level. ($69 Value)

  • Photography Fundamentals Video Training – In this series, you’ll learn all about the essential concepts of photography from professional photographer and educator Richard Harrington. ($99 Value)

  • The Grand Landscape eBook by Ian Plant – In this eBook, Ian Plant shows you how to make great landscape photos in no time, helping your work to stand out from the rest. ($19 Value)

  • 2 Luminar Preset packs – ($45 Value)

  • Over 500 Overlays – ($49 Value

  • The Black and White Landscape & Candid Portrait eBooks from Andrew Gibson ($28 Value)

ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 – New Features & Performance Updates – Now Available

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON1, Inc. announced ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5, the latest update to their all-in-one photo organizer, editor, raw processor and effects app for macOS® and Microsoft® Windows®. Version 2017.5 adds powerful new features optimized for performance and ease of use.

ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 Enhancements Include:

 

  • LENS CORRECTION – The new Lens Correction pane will automatically detect supported lenses and reduce distortion, chromatic aberration and peripheral fall-off
  • COMPARE MODE– Select a series of photos (up to 15) and zoom and pan each of them all at the same time
  • DETAILS PANE – Sharpening and Noise Reduction are improved and have been merged into a new Details Pane in Develop for global corrections tailored for raw photos giving better results in both areas
  • IMPROVED SEARCH – Search using a variety of metadata fields and decide if the search must match all or any of the search criteria
  • CLONE STAMP – The powerful clone stamp retouching tool from Layers is now inside Develop and Effects as part of the non-destructive workflow
  • STACKING PRESETS– The Insert Preset command is now available to stack presets in Effects
  • IMPROVED PRESET MANAGEMENT – Delete and rename preset categories as well as export categories for sharing and back-up
  • LIGHTROOM® MIGRATION ASSISTANT­– Migrate photos, their metadata and collections from Lightroom to ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5
  • CAMERA UPDATES – Apple iPad Pro 9.7, Canon EOS T7i/ 800D / Kiss X9i, Canon EOS M6, Canon EOS 77D / 9000D, Fuji X100F (compressed), Huawei Mate 9, Panasonic LX10, Olympus Pen F, Panasonic DC-ZS70 / TZ90, Pentax KP, Olympus E-PL3, Sony?NEX5n, and Sony Alpha ILCE 9
  • UPDATES AND BUG FIXES ­– Several more performance upgrades and bug fixes including reduced memory footprint, increased stability and fixed user-reported issues

 

Price and Availability
ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 is available today with an introductory price of $99.99, regularly $119.99. Previous owners of ON1 Photo (or Perfect Photo Suite) can upgrade for just $79.99, regularly $99.99. For a limited time, ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 is bundled with some excellent training materials. Four ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 Master Courses by industry leading educator Matt Kloskowski and Director of Product Dan Harlacher are free with purchase. Also included is activation via user account for up to five computers. A full-functioning 30-day free trial is also available for download from the ON1 website.

About ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5

The NEW all-in-one photo organizer, editor, raw processor, and effects app is just what photographers have been waiting for. It includes the best new and must-have ON1 editing features and tools for opening, viewing, and editing photos in an instant. The next generation of ON1 Photo works as a standalone photo editor, a plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop® & Lightroom®, or a host app for other editing apps.

 

ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 also supports the key online storage services, including Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft’s OneDrive. ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 works on both macOS and Microsoft Windows. Version 2017.5 also supports Adobe® Photoshop® CC or CS6, Lightroom® CC/6, 5, Photoshop Elements® 15, 14 and 13.

 

ON1 Isn’t Done Yet
There are still more free updates coming to ON1 Photo RAW 2017.5 this summer. Prioritizing user feedback is a top priority for the company. ON1 President Craig Keudell states, “We can’t be successful unless we listen to the photography community.  Our main goal and something people rarely see from other companies, is the transparency with the way we develop our products. Several features and improvements in this release are the result of feedback from the ON1 community.” Today, ON1 users can go to the ON1 Photo Project and submit ideas and feature requests. Every submission is reviewed and the more votes each idea or submission gets, the higher the likelihood it will get added into development of the app.

 

About ON1

ON1 was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It is a privately held company consisting of a team of professional photographers, photography enthusiasts and software experts who share a passion for photography.

 

For over ten years, ON1 has delivered upon the ON1 promise of saving photographers time and frustration editing their photos so they can spend more time behind the camera. The ON1 promise includes the belief customers should have complete control of their photography software.  From the feature set, training topics important to them, the workflow they choose (plug-in or standalone app), the preferred computing platform or cloud service, or even how they purchase their software (subscription or a perpetual license). With ON1, the customer is in complete control of their photography experience today, tomorrow and well into the future.

MacPhun Luminar May Creativity Offer!

Luminar + Creativity Mega Preset Pack, Essential Pro Secrets for Unleashing your Creativity eBook, Ultimate Posing Card Collection, Overlays Variety Pack and first 3,000 customers will also receive a collection of Light and Bokeh Overlays for $69. Total value of $250.

You Get:

  • Luminar, The Supercharged photo editor for Mac that adapts to your skill level.
  • Creativity Mega Preset Pack – 26 beautiful presets from Presetpro to create stunning looks in Luminar
  • Essential Pro Secrets for Unleashing your Creativity ebook by Ian Plant – Creative lessons and techniques for how to make your photos match the depth of your passion
  • Ultimate Posing Card Collection – Hundreds of ideas for boudoir, family, indoor, newborn, wedding photography and more
  • Overlays Variety Pack – Sky, snow, rainbow, leaf, and fireworks overlays to create a unique look in your images
  • ADDITTIONAL BONUS FOR FIRST 3,000 CUSTOMERS – Light and Bokeh Overlays

Pricing as low as s $49 for Macphun users when they use coupon code MCUP-SP-40
or
$59 for non Macphun users that use coupon code MCUP-SP-40.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MacPhun Luminar – Winner of TIPA Award for Best Imaging Software of 2017 – Deal for 2 days!

Best Imaging Software of 2017
Luminar has won dozens of awards since it’s launch only 5 months ago, but what’s more important: it has won the hearts of people who love photography.
Whether you shoot for fun, or photography is your full-time business; whether you want basic tools or need more comprehensive editing power, Luminar has it all.

Special Offer Ends in 2 days!

Luminar

Included:
Luminar for Mac +Kelby One Bonuses Bundle – $59
The most powerful all-in-one photo editor for Mac.
Plus, signature presets from Scott Kelby and 1-month KelbyOne membership.

Requires Mac OS 10.10.5 or above