Right now, the three top news stories on our website are all about companies cutting jobs or going under. Yesterday, we learned that two of the UK's largest photo processors were going into administration. The move could affect a further 800 employees across 300 locations in the country. Already, 817 people have been made redundant by the chains owned by Bowie Castlebank.

Today, a large retailer, A J Purdy & Co based in Essex, ceased trading. But the most significant news came from Adobe, which just announced that it would make 600 of his employees redundant. It's not unusual for a big firm to lay off some of its people, especially during a credit crisis. However, in this case, Adobe's woes could spell out a larger problem in the industry as a whole.

Indeed, Abode cited 'weaker-than-expected demand for its new Creative Suite 4 family of products as the main cause for the shortfall in fourth quarter revenue'. CS4 was released a couple of months ago, and it seems, according to Adobe, that publishers, photographers and graphic designers have been cautious in updating their software. The fact that people who rely on Photoshop or Illustrator as a major tool in their trade are reticent to invest in a new, feature-full version is bad news for the industry as a whole.

It's now clear that the credit crisis has reached the photography industry...