After decades of storing and editing my photos using Adobe software I am now close to retiring from working with Creative Cloud (CC). Yet the Adobe CC licensing model makes it impossible for me recommend the software…
Once a creative professional retires, loosing their income from creative work, the licensing fees are nowhere near justifiable. One can argue, and Adobe certainly do, that the model makes sense when all this powerful top-end software – and the capabilities it gives the user – justify the cost and enhance the ability to earn a living from exercising creative skills to the max. However, without an income even the most basic plans (approx. £10/month) become hard to justify.
Consider my biggest problem… After decades of using Lightroom I have a massive library of photographs carefully organised, tagged, and enhanced with Adobe’s non-destructive adjustment tools. Naturally over the years this massive library mixes professional and personal work. It would be hard after all not to make use of the tools in Lightroom to process a few brilliant photographic memories from holidays, life-events, etc. That is, the tools aren’t just good for making professional images that bit better for use in published work, they can help make every/any image better.
So, now that I approach retirement that photo library full of tens of thousands of memories will become useless to me unless I make a tough choice. Either, I take on the gigantic task of migrating the library away from Adobe software to something less powerful (and free from recurring license fees) like Apple’s Photos app; or I accept and pay Adobe’s simplest “Photography” (Lightroom and Photoshop) license at £20/month or their Lightroom only license at £10/month.
It’s a no-brainer! The choice is stark – £120/year for the rest of my life is a big discretionary spend, especially when contrasted against a “free” (inc. with macOS) option like Apple’s Photos app.
Therefore I cannot recommend Adobe software to anyone who thinks they may have any kind of a life after their days working in creative industries, i.e. everyone! I wish I’d never started using Adobe software to manage and process my photography assets. 🙁