There are surely much more simple programs out there to carry out basic edits, as it's definitely not a software that we would recommend to everyone. But if you've got enough advanced photo editing and enhancement knowledge , this is the most complete alternative you can find on the market. Built into Adobe's Creative Cloud suite that includes other graphical design, video editing, web design and cloud service tools, such as Illustrator, InDesign, Auditon, After Effects and Premier, it's a multiplatform software, available for both Windows and Mac, as well as having a Portable version to carry around with you wherever you go and an Express version to be used from a phone.
OK, so you can use this program for almost anything regarding the world of illustration, graphical design, web design, or photo enhancement at a professional level. But people like you and I can also use it for more usual things. Want to remove those skin flaws or spots from your wedding pics? Embarrassed about the yellowish tone of your teeth and you want to bleach time? Some random guy appears in a romantic photo and you want to remove him? The desktop version of this image editor can solve all the latter and much more.
This is a raster graphics editing program that works with layers and that comes along with loads of tools with which we can do what we've just mentioned above and many other professional operations, not only on images but also videos and audio.
Among those tools we can find selection tools, cutting tools, editing tools, painting tools, drawings tools, and text tools , to be able to do things like the following:. Photoshop is a very complete image editing software. It is very difficult to talk about all its functions in a single article. However, here, we have made a compilation of the main parameters that you can modify in a photo to edit it. One of Photoshop's strengths is its ability to remove objects from any picture.
You may think that this is a very complicated process, but in fact, it can be done relatively easily. To illustrate the first method, we are going to use a car with one of its headlights removed. Requirements and additional information:. The new Mini Bridge should directly affect every user's workflow. It opens a functional version of Adobe Bridge in a panel, speeding up processing by cutting down how often users have to jump out of the main Photoshop interface.
Mini Bridge can be launched from the top of the interface to the right of the menubar, from the MB icon. As with any of Photoshop's panels, the Mini Bridge can be resized and moved around the window as needed.
On first launch, the Mini Bridge took longer than expected to read files before it could be used. After that initial sluggishness, it loaded smoothly, even after rebooting the computer. It was noticeably faster to launch images from either Bridge or Mini Bridge into Photoshop compared with the previous version, but sticking Bridge access directly into Photoshop is a long-overdue innovation.
Automatic Lens Correction automates a task that previously could be completed by hand only. As CNET has noted elsewhere , Adobe based the tool on close measurements of multiple camera bodies and lenses so that Photoshop can take over the time-consuming effort of removing barrel and pincushion distortion, darkened corners from vignetting, and colored fringe on the edge of images from chromatic aberration.
You can tell that Adobe expects this feature to be a big selling point because it's one of the few new features that comes bound to a hot key. You can toggle on or off vignetting, chromatic aberration, and lens distortion correction, which are the three major fixes that the filter looks for; adjust how the filter affects the edge of the image; edit camera and lens profile search criteria; or create custom profiles. The camera profiles seemed to be limited in our testing to more-recent models.
For example, the tool lacked profiles for Canon bodies older than the 50D. A new feature in the Merge to HDR panel called Remove Ghost will tidy up any minor alignment issues between your three HDR source images, and you can select which of the three images to base the final image on.
This works fairly decently, but expect best results on images that have tricky lighting situations or are underexposed. Content Aware Fill improves Photoshop's ability to intelligently replace part of an image with pixels derived from other, nearby colors, noise, and tone.
The feature can be used as part of the spot healing brush tool for fine replacements, or lassoed selections to replace large or unusually shaped chunks from an image. The feature introduces a redone method of resampling from the image. The differences between how the tool performs here versus in CS4 are not readily apparent since the changes in pixelation and accuracy depend too greatly on the situation. Tests with the spot healing brush revealed no differences to its CS4 predecessor, but that doesn't mean its not working.
In general, it felt like there was less of a problem with incorrect sampling, but this wasn't really quantifiable, as it still occurred in some cases.
One of the most difficult Photoshop tricks has just gotten strikingly easier thanks to what Adobe calls " intelligent selection.
It worked extremely well with hair, and slightly less so with the more discernible echidna spikes. It sounds simple, but the introduction of the Smart Radius and Decontaminate colors functions in intelligent selection provides a stunning breadth of control during image masking. Following the tutorials for this is essential, because learning to do it right can impressively enhance your image control while cutting down on your workflow from CS4.
Puppet Warp sounds like it could be a filter to Muppetize people in your photo. It's actually a localized warping tool that gives you the ability to accurately recompose selected aspects of an image, such as changing a straight leg to bent. It can't add content where it hasn't existed, so it works best when used on a subject shot in profile, but the tool itself worked well.
Once you've created a selection, choose Puppet Warp from the Edit menu and apply pins where you want to create pivot points in the image. Playing around with them, you can stretch a selected area between two pins. Unlike the complicated intelligent selection, Puppet Warp took seconds to learn. Of all the new tools, this is probably the most fun to use. The tool may not appear to have much practical use, but it can easily lend itself to basic but creative 3D implementation without having to upgrade to Photoshop Extended.
Photoshop is not the best digital painting program around, but the new Mixer Brush and Bristle Tips features give it a much stronger easel to stand on. Briefly, the Mixer Brush lets you add multiple colors to a single brush tip and then blend them to whatever colors already exist on your canvas. Users can define how wet the canvas is, how fast paint gets re-added to the tip, the mix rate between brush and canvas colors, and whether the brush is refilled, cleaned, or both after each paint stroke.
Bristle Tips provides similarly fine-tuned control over the brush tip, including shape, length, stiffness, thickness, angle, and spacing.
Although some photographers might swear otherwise, it's not necessary to use a tablet for photo editing. This was not the case with the new painting tools, where a standard mouse did not provide the kind of detailed control required to manipulate the tools properly. Still, by building out the painting options, Adobe's clearly trying to keep Photoshop competitive across all major disciplines. If you don't need them, don't get the more expensive version. If you do, though, there are several notable new features.
Adobe Repousse streamlines the process for converting 2D artwork into 3D, then provides a bucketload of options for altering the design. There's nothing revolutionary here except a reasonable, solid effort at reducing workflow. It's effective, and it's hard to argue with less than six steps to creating a 3D letterform.
Photoshop Extended users will get an equally quick workflow for adding realistic textures to 3D models. The program comes with a stack of textures, which users can edit and save as their own, as well as create custom textures from scratch and download new ones off the Web.
There's also new options for introducing image-based lights for dynamic light sourcing on complex models, shadow capturing, and improved ray tracing. Much like the painting tools, the 3D options are not a full-on replacement for a 3D renderer, but they will do quite admirably for users looking to regularly add 3D pop to their art without having to shell out for a modeling suite.
Other changes include tweaks to everything from the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in to tool menus. Raw processing has earned itself some better tools for reducing noise, and adding vignettes and grain to give stills a more filmlike quality. The Raw tool in general also feels less jittery than its CS4 predecessor, and it now will automatically downsample your or bit raw image down to 8-bit JPEG when you save it.
The relatively complicated process of straightening images has been replaced by a Straighten button in the Ruler tool.
Throw in the Alt or Option key and you'll straighten without cropping. Note that to fully undo the straighten, you have to go back through your Actions panel. When cropping, you can add an overlay grid after you set your crop boundaries. You can now prevent the Sharpen tool from creating artifacts by using the Protect Detail option, copy colors as a hex number, and gain a modicum of collaborative tools via the deeper hooks to Adobe's online CS Review.
You can now change the opacity of more than one layer at a time, create layer masks from transparent layers, and use lens correction profiles when stitching using Auto-Align in Layers. Layer settings will also remember your previous settings.
Mac users will see some specific improvements for their computers. Trackpad gestures can be disabled, too. There's no doubt that the major features changes create a strong framework for CS5, but its the addition of these detail-oriented fixes that sell the picture of CS5 as an upgrade worth getting.
Photoshop support is available on several levels. There are the free Adobe-sponsored forums, FAQs, and knowledge base articles. Given Photoshop's popularity, these should be sufficient for individual users. Technical phone support is available Monday through Friday, 5 a. PST, and customer service phone support is available seven days a week during the same hours.
Though this may seem stingy, Photoshop's complexity is best-suited for users who don't mind learning stuff on their own or from a forum. The Help menu also comes with a direct link to Adobe's Photoshop Support Center, which provides an Adobe AIR-based interface for accessing Adobe's collection of how-tos and community advice. Performance For users who didn't make the jump to CS4, the new version of Photoshop will feel like it's got jet boots on.
There are still noticeable lags during resource-intensive tasks, but without a doubt it feels like a better-performing version. Of course, Photoshop is compatible with Windows 7 as well. The minimum requirements for basic Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended are fairly rigorous, so if you've got an older computer it's recommended that you make sure it's compatible before purchasing. Conclusion Because of its position as the industry standard for professional image-editing and the use of its name as a colloquialism for all kinds of image manipulation, many users mistakenly believe that Photoshop is a must-have program.
It's needed for professional work, but contains far too many tools, far too much power, and is far too complicated for casual use. Not convinced? There are effective alternatives to Photoshop, including Adobe's own Photoshop Elements Windows Mac , as well as a multitude of freeware.
That said, some photographers might not want to wait for the upcoming Lightroom 3. For them and others considering upgrading or buying new, there's simply no reason not to get it. The comprehensive range of improvements to Photoshop CS5 Extended makes this version compelling and nearly impossible to ignore.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended software is the ultimate solution for advanced digital imaging, delivering all the editing and compositing capabilities of Photoshop CS6 plus breakthrough tools that let you create and edit 3D and motion-based content.
Keep pushing creative boundaries with world-class 2D and 3D design. Use powerful new selection, painting, and warping capabilities to create standout images. Get just the right look for each client's site. Easily select intricate image elements for placing in layout. Create 3D artwork for logos and buttons. Create and enhance 3D and motion-based content and prepare still images and text for all your projects.
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