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I've been on Linux so long I've only ever used Gimp.

Nice! I might give it a shot, though I'm probably going to try get Affinity running on Mint so I can dump windows altogether.

I'd be interested to hear how you find Affinity. I just heard about it a few days ago. At first glance, it looks to me like their 'Photo' product would be the drop in replacement for Photoshop, and the 'Designer' product would compete more with Illustrator? Looks like they're making the most of the recent Adobe scandal.. offering 50% off, across the board!

I've been using it for around a week, and yeah, it's exactly as you describe - both programs are effective replacements for PS and AI, they open and export to the native Adobe formats, and the UI and shortcuts are largely the same. So far, Affinity Photo files are about 25% the size of a PSD once I convert an existing file and opening/exporting files seems a lot faster. Aside from some different shortcut keys and the way the transform tools work, functions largely seem the same. I need some more time to see how Designer handles printing, but I'm pretty happy with both replacements so far. When I did try GIMP for a little bit, the functioning was a big change from how PS tends to work, so it would take a lot more getting used to with my workflows, whereas Affinity is much more similar. In fact, I think I prefer how affinity handles moving and manipulating assets. Adobe has me trapped in my plan, if I cancel immediately they want $450+ because they decided to switch it to an annual-based plan even though I pay monthly, and I don't have the patience or time to fight with them. Managed to secure the next two months with no charge when going through the cancellation process, so if anyone else is looking to do the same, they seem to have a number of offers to minimize the fees.

Aside - I chuckle how stupid companies can be. I've been using Adobe for over 2 decades and I don't really have any complaints with their stuff, but I will always direct my money away from any company pulling some shit.

I will probably check out Photoshop alts when I eventually get a (long overdue) new laptop. Didn't know this was an option for GIMP. Was thinking of just using photopea. 👍

Honorable mention: Krita

Trying to dump Lightroom as well. Doesn’t seem as easy.

I've since experimented with Affinity Photo 2. It's a great choice. Probably the least learning curve, if you're coming directly from Photoshop.

I've since experimented with Affinity Photo 2. It's a great choice. Probably the least learning curve, if you're coming directly from Photoshop.

A nice alternative to Lightroom is Luminar Neo. It's a bit of an adjustment but I'm enjoying it. Others are Darktable, RawTherapee and Capture One but I haven't tried any of those yet. Luminar is paid but I believe RawTherapee is free.

Yep have heard of all of those and I’ve tried Darktable. Different workflow and quite a learning curve plus a somewhat basic and clumsy DAM. I think I simply prefer Lightroom Classic’s DAM over all the others, some of which don’t even have one or don’t really work well.

It is a one time payment, but it's not the slavery subscription model. I've loved the Affinity products for years. Great choice.

Try Photomator and Pixelmator Pro if you are on mac.

I am but I don’t use Apple Photos as a media manager/DAM. Might revisit this though.

You don't have to anymore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB38zqiIFWQ When this came out I made a switch, no regrets so far.

Oooh interesting! 👍🏼