Photoshop - The Program Photographers Love To Hate

I've been using Adobe Photoshop since I was 14. I could only afford Photoshop 7 at the time. It was pretty expensive even though it wasn't the most recent version.

I've tried to get involved on a few other forums before I came here, and this forum is probably the most photoshop friendly.

For this reason, I'm hoping to win some hearts and minds here as I think Photoshop gets a bad rep and unfairly.

Here's some of what I'm seeing:

- Other forums said $9.99 was a rip-off for Photoshop. Looking back on how much I was paying prior to the subscription model - I am saving money.

- People are saying that there isn't enough difference between versions. This simply isn't a fact either, since CS6 there's been a number of core releases and a total of around 30 new versions. (Check their release history).

- People say it can't process RAW. Not true, there is a way to do it.

- Lots of other things not based on fact.

Photoshop has become something people love to hate... It's more affordable than ever, more powerful than ever. 

Surely if Photoshop still cost close to a thousand dollars people would be even more pissed off? 

People conveniently forget that Photoshop Actions save HOURS every time you edit. That batch watermarking, raw > jpeg conversion and much more are all there.

SO what's the real issue?

There's a number of things.

1. Other programs have popped up. At my last count, there are around 45 different competing photo editing "apps". They're all taking a swipe at Photoshop. Their affiliates have a vested interest in changing the narrative. It's easier to fool someone than convince them they've been fooled after all.

2. Photoshop is kind of complicated, and it can/will make you feel stupid as a beginner. It's easy to turn that fragility against the program rather than accept we can't all learn something the second we get started.

3. Adobe cannibalized Photoshop with Lightroom (to accommodate point 2) and then bundled them together for a single price which makes 0 sense and so people feel they're paying for something they don't want regardless of which you choose.

There are some other good programs out there...

But to give Photoshop criticism for the reasons I've stated IS unfair.

A lot of Photographers I've met would rather blindly hate it then just give it a chance. It's a lot easier to learn than it was in the late 90s and early 00s. Same as anything, there's a tutorial for everything nowadays.

I think Photoshop remains king and for my business it does everything I need. It's much more than just a photo editing suite because I can create business cards, flyers and more. Not all programs can do this as well. I know if I was a beginner I would prefer to pay $9.99 and get really good at one program than pay for multiple and learn them all from scratch.

TL;DR Use what you want but don't unfairly bash a program that could really help someone.

I went away, many years ago, from the adobe subscription
model after I found applications to replace those I used in
the CS6 MC I owned — and sold since then.

Incidentally, I found products that fit my production needs 
very well.

Well, I like it.  The only time I struggled with my indifferent opinion of it, was when I first started and was a little frustrated with the learning curve.   IMO $9.99 isn't bad price, when you factor in everything you are getting.