Plunge Taken

Well, after more months of here-and-there playing with Lightroom and On1 Photo Raw, On1 came out with the 2020 version and along with other enhancements, in this one they added a direct ability to upload photos to SmugMug sites. So that was all it took to finish the deal for me. After some testing of this new version, I finally took the plunge today and cancelled my Adobe subscription plan. 

It's interesting how hard that was to do! Not technically hard, just emotionally. Like so many others, I had complained in the past about having to pay a subscription fee to use Adobe's products, but when it came time to cut the cord I found myself more hesitant than expected. I think it was the comfort of knowing I was using the industry gold standard, always updated, and so well developed as a product. 

So today I'm off that wagon and out on my own with Photo Raw as my only image editing tool. I've always like the app and used it here and there, so it's certainly not unfamiliar. And On1 has an ever-growing following, with lots of great content on YouTube and of course, their own support and help guides. So it's certainly not like going completely dark. 

I'll post some updates as get to know the app better and adjust my workflow and image management for this app. I'm excited and looking forward to this next chapter in the hobby! 

Next Step from LR

After a hiatus for all kinds of other activities, I'm back to spending some time getting my photos organized and updated. Now that On1 has their 2019.5 release out, the features are better than ever. While this LR alternative still lacks the ability to publish directly to SmugMug (the awesome host for alwpics.com), they're starting to hint that could be in the works.
So today I'm using the On1 Lightroom plugin to migrate my edits in LR to Photo Raw 2019. After that, I'll be playing with the app for a while before I make the final decision to stop using LR.
I have to say at this stage that it's pretty likely I'll make the switch, especially because I really don't use Photoshop (the other half of the subscription with Adobe) anyway. Other than resetting the workflow I use to back up my images to my SmugMug site, using Photo Raw looks like it'll be a joy and very similar to using LR. I'll write another post about how it goes soon.
Also just a note about Lightroom: I've really liked using it. Adobe is, of course, the most experienced developer of photo imaging software and still the most widely used by creative pros for a lot of good reasons. For part-time enthusiasts like me though, the subscription and forced links to Adobe servers are not worth it. Having a lower-cost, perfectly suitable alternative is just fine.