It seems as if we’re in the midst of a photo editing revolution. Adobe Photoshop is still the king of the hill, and probably will be for a long time, but now many alternatives do just as good a job or better in some areas. What prompted this?
I think a huge factor is Adobe’s decision to switch to a subscription model several years ago. It began as an experiment that blossomed throughout nearly every Adobe product (I think Photoshop Elements is the lone holdout), and it’s been successful for the company. However, it still rankles a lot of people who preferred to pay one fee every few years, and not be yoked to a monthly or yearly recurring charge. I still hear from folks who won’t go back to Adobe on that principle alone.
That has presented opportunity for developers like Serif, whose Affinity Photo is a star alternative. At DPReview today, I review this image-editing contender, which costs a flat $50. It has a lot going for it, and my quibbles are more philosophical than specific. Go check it out here: Review: Affinity Photo 1.5.2 for desktop.
Here’s a before-and-after view of a portrait I edited using Affinity Photo:
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