I checked my Adobe account yesterday, and it seems that if I cancel I will have Photoshop until mid-November. The plan I’m on, Photoshop and Lightroom for $15 a month, is discontinued, which means I won’t be able to get these programs again for such a price.

I’m not sure what exactly nudged me to get rid of Photoshop again, but there are plenty of good reasons. I keep saying that for the price, which adds up to about $180 a year, I really don’t use a lot of what Photoshop offers. I also don’t touch Lightroom anymore. Of course, Adobe being a shady company that has its claws deep in my Mac, constantly monitoring my traffic, is its own thing. So I started thinking more in-depth about how I use Photoshop these days.

On my Mac, I usually touch up Photos, about once a week (when I have time). This usually includes cropping, levels/curves adjustments, and some additional color adjustments and contrast. I sometimes add some more “intelligent” features like depth of field for bokeh and generative fill to get rid of unwanted elements. In the past, I also used Photoshop for some transformation adjustments and even further back in my past for some web design elements, but for the most part, I don’t do that anymore (and when I do, there are other tools for that on my Linux desktop). One “feature” in Photoshop that helps is its layers and the options to turn them off and on, thus being able to introduce different changes to the photos without saving and ruining it.

What about RAW? Yes, I used to do a lot of that for a couple of years after I got my camera. My Synology still has a large collection of RAW files. But for the most part, these just collect dust. Most of the photos there that I didn’t work on and exported to JPG are probably not going to be exported in the future. And if I’m being honest with myself, I almost don’t use my camera, unless I go on a vacation. This might change, but for the most part, the iPhone really takes good photos, unless I want to use a big telephoto lens for birds and such, and I don’t do this these days. I have less time, and when I need a break, it usually ends up being a walk or a jog.

Considering all the above, I think the Photos app on the Mac can take care of 70-80 percent of my needs. The Crop, level adjustments, vignette, and even the Bokeh effect (which is added with the iPhone when I take a portrait photo) are easily available. Meanwhile, Photos on the Mac (as in, the actual app called Photos) underwent some changes, most notably the Clean Up section that was added to macOS 15 at some point, and it does a pretty good job and cleaning up photos.

Take a look at both photos below. First, the original, taken with my iPhone, then the one I edited in Photos. Not too bad, right?

Auto-generated description: A potted aloe plant and a small cactus are positioned on a windowsill next to a dark-colored couch.

📷

A spiky green aloe in a brown clay pot sits on a windowsill next to a window, with outdoor foliage visible in the background.

There are a few things I miss in Photos.

First, layers. These add an option of mixing more than one photo together, and allow more exact editing, since you can control what’s introduced in each layer. Then, the smart selection features in Photoshop are excellent, and I would like to be able to add masks and select my main object. Finally, I do like the warp options in Photoshop. They can help out when you want to mold something more into shape. I could use some AI techniques there, but this means using a different program on a different computer, and it’s often overkill for something quick like changing how big a plate looks in a photo.

I’m taking some recommendations I got from folks in Micro.blog into consideration, for now Acorn and Nitro. Meanwhile, my own research is leaning toward Pixelmator Pro, which seems to have good selection features like the one I mentioned above. As I was writing this post, I discovered that Pixelmator Pro was acquired by Apple (nope, I didn’t know/remember that!), so now I’m not sure if buying this program as a standalone even makes sense. For image creation and working more with illustration, I tend to use my Linux Desktop, where I have Krita (which is excellent) and GIMP if I need to. For photos and RAW, if I ever have the itch again, there’s, of course, the excellent Darkroom, which I’ve used for a while. I left Darkroom for lack of documentation, but now that I have more experience, I think I can give it a try again, especially if my camera sees more action. These, combined with some AI assistance, can really help. But that’s a different use case altogether.

All in all, I think I will be happy without Adobe. There are good options out there.