Adobe made some pretty big announcements this week and I wanted to write some quick thoughts about questions I’ve been getting.
Q. What Did Adobe Announce?
A. They announced some pricing increases as well as releasing a new version of Photoshop (not a Beta) that has AI Powered Generative Fill built in. You can read more here (Click Here).
Q. Is my $9.99 / month Photoshop and Lightroom Photography plan going up?
A. Nope. Right now that is not part of the price increases they announced. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. I full expected that plan’s price to get raised years ago. It was first released back in 2013. I thought it was cheap back then. It hasn’t seen a price increase in 10 years and I don’t really know how. There is nothing from 2013 that hasn’t seen a HUGE price increase compared to today. Looks like the conspiracy rumors of the old “bait and switch” Adobe was pulling on you still haven’t come true. But I’m sure there’s some people holding out on that thought 😉
Q. What about this “credit” system the article mentions about using the AI features?
A. It’s a bit early to tell, but it looks like if you choose to use the AI Fill features in Photoshop or other Adobe apps, there is a Fast option and a slower options. You will get a certain amount of credits for free for the Fast option. Once those credits run out, you’ll have two options.
1) Use a slow option for free… Or…
2) Buy more credits for the fast option.
You will NOT be required to purchase anything though. It is voluntary if you plan on using more credits than you are given.
Personally, I think the system is great. Adobe will… must… and need to increase the price of the photography plan at some point. I don’t think I’ll be writing this post in 2033 and we’ll all still be paying $9.99 a month. However, the credit system is perfect. You have a bunch of people complaining that they don’t want all of this AI stuff. So it’s great. Don’t use it and you don’t get charged. And if you’re some one that wants to use it more… it obviously costs Adobe more… so you should pay more. Sounds like a win/win right now, but who knows how it’ll shake out. As we know… some one will always complain about something 😉
Q. But I don’t want anything to do with any of this AI stuff. Is there a Photoshop I can download that doesn’t have it?
A. There is not a separate version of Photoshop without AI. But just like any other feature in any other program, in the world you have a choice. You can choose to use it. Or you can choose to not use it. If you don’t want any AI stuff, then simply don’t use it. It’s just that simple. 🙂
Q. What is new in Photoshop?
A. Mostly the Generative AI feature that was in Beta is now out of beta and in the full version of Photoshop. It looks like they’ve improved the already great Remove Tool as well.
Q. How do I get the Updates?
A. Through your Creative Cloud updater app like all updates (or some of you have auto updates turned on). The new version is Photoshop 2024 (behind the scenes and in the app it’s referred to as V 25). You may have to restart your Updater app, or even your computer if you don’t see the updates available. And as always, ALL UPDATE QUESTIONS AND TROUBLESHOOTING ISSUES SHOULD GO STRAIGHT TO ADOBE. PLEASE DO NOT POST THEM HERE IN THE COMMENTS.
Q. How can I learn more about the updates?
A. I have a new “Real World Photoshop AI” course that covers real world ways to take advantage of and use Photoshop’s AI features. Click here to find out more.
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
hi
Ref adobe pricing I pay the £8.99 a month for photoshop and Lightroom I would willingly
Pay an extra &5.00 a month to use AI if I didn’t want to use AI leave the pricing as it is but you don’t
Get AI.
And I’m sure most people in the world would love pricing to stay where it is. Unfortunately that doesn’t work for most companies. Every single thing that company pays for is more expensive today than it was 10 years ago when they came out with the 9.99 price. So how do prices not go up at some point? They will and they have to. Making some one pay extra for AI features doesn’t do the trick, especially when even most of that is free like it is today.
I heard the ‘cloud’ feature would be ending next year? What about that?
Hi. If you do some research you’ll find it’s a “cloud” file syncing feature that isn’t part of anything to do with Lightroom or any of your photos. Basically, it’s a feature that very few people reading this even used or knew was there.
Why aren’t the 3d programs included with the all programs package? It seems ridiculous to me to have to pay extra for them.
Thanks, Matt. I’m not sure I want to use this AI stuff. I prefer to be more expert in using the small amount of features in Photoshop that I use in my photography. I’m glad the €9.99 per month has not changed.
I have a question on how to update the size of a full frame cropped image to print to a standard -print size of say 10 bt 8.
Adobe offers the BEST software in the world, with a very poor, non-existing customer service. I no longer bother contacting them for anything. From years ago I have 4-5 page long chat conversations saved, in which I asked a simple question, explaining it well & in the end they were not able to assist me. They were just trying to upsell me to stuff that I clearly didn’t need, pushing it 4-5 times until I asked them not to mention it again. This was under TECH support.
I am glad that they don’t increase the monthly base price now – maybe if customer tech service was helpful, I wouldn’t mind a slight increase. I also would prefer to own all my software.
The optional nature of using AI is correct – I applaud Adobe for that. We also don’t need to worry about how they are making
ends meet. Their quarterly revenue nears $5B.
Interesting you say that. I get a lot of questions I have to refer people to Adobe on and they often report back they were helped pretty fast. You may not have experienced that, but I only write this because I don’t want others to read it and think it’s the norm. As with any customer support, from ANY company in the world… some of it is good and some of it isn’t. But I’d encourage anyone reading this to try and I bet they’ll be surprised at how good it is.
I called Adobe within the last month for support and I had an EXCELLENT experience with the Tech Support guy I had for my Photoshop issues! It was NOT a chat, it was via phone!
As Matt says… It depends who you get! ~Roz Fruchtman
It’s uneven. But if you do have an actual bug, then it’s pretty sure they will not get back to you. I’m a 60 year software developer veteran and am pretty good at problem isolation. SO, if I am having trouble using some feature, I get a quick response. If I tell them, “this image on Google Drive triggers a bug”, I get crickets. I don’t understand and I’ve stopped trying.
Any rumours about Lightroom Classic major update coming soon?
Adobe Max is next month. That is typically when new updates come.
Will PS25 Generative AI match the original image resolution or will be paying in November for 1024x1024px fills?
thanks