That’s likely because Gimp stopped being good years ago and has a barely a fraction of the capabilities of photoshop. Not because it’s free. It’s basically photoshop circa 2012.
I say this as an Adobe hater. I moved my department off premiere and into resolve. I can’t stand Adobe.
I was using a relatively old version of Photoshop around about 2016/2017 and back then at least I was so much happier using gimp, it felt easier and more intuitive even with what I considered to be the more advanced features. I’m guessing photoshop got a lot better then?
It’s not even just that it got better, it’s that a lot of tools and QoL stuff is bog standard in industry tools these days. Like there are free/open source video editors out there, but the features they are missing are not just nice to have - they have become expected in finished projects. Stuff That took hours in 2016/2017 in Gimp/PS takes minutes with the click of a button now, and I’m not even talking about AI tools which as much as Lemmy rightfully hates them are friggin incredible in the video and photography worlds. Especially if you want to clean up bad audio, but I digress.
Basically the gap between these tools is now a canyon. It wasn’t quite as wide back then, but these hobbyist/small group projects can’t keep up with the big industry players so it’s just going to keep widening. Specifically when it comes to video/photo editing. Audio to some degree as well but those projects tend to be better supported and in higher demand in some ways. Also audio doesn’t shift at the rapid pace that video/photography does
If you are doing very quick, simple work then gimp is fine. But the moment you want it to become a hobby or more you start feeling the restrictions very quickly. Simply being able to adjust your exposure/contrast/colors and move things around a bit isn’t going to cut it
My brother and I both do some hobby digital design, and I get clowned on hard as fuck for using Gimp instead of Photoshop.
That’s likely because Gimp stopped being good years ago and has a barely a fraction of the capabilities of photoshop. Not because it’s free. It’s basically photoshop circa 2012.
I say this as an Adobe hater. I moved my department off premiere and into resolve. I can’t stand Adobe.
I was using a relatively old version of Photoshop around about 2016/2017 and back then at least I was so much happier using gimp, it felt easier and more intuitive even with what I considered to be the more advanced features. I’m guessing photoshop got a lot better then?
It’s not even just that it got better, it’s that a lot of tools and QoL stuff is bog standard in industry tools these days. Like there are free/open source video editors out there, but the features they are missing are not just nice to have - they have become expected in finished projects. Stuff That took hours in 2016/2017 in Gimp/PS takes minutes with the click of a button now, and I’m not even talking about AI tools which as much as Lemmy rightfully hates them are friggin incredible in the video and photography worlds. Especially if you want to clean up bad audio, but I digress.
Basically the gap between these tools is now a canyon. It wasn’t quite as wide back then, but these hobbyist/small group projects can’t keep up with the big industry players so it’s just going to keep widening. Specifically when it comes to video/photo editing. Audio to some degree as well but those projects tend to be better supported and in higher demand in some ways. Also audio doesn’t shift at the rapid pace that video/photography does
If you are doing very quick, simple work then gimp is fine. But the moment you want it to become a hobby or more you start feeling the restrictions very quickly. Simply being able to adjust your exposure/contrast/colors and move things around a bit isn’t going to cut it