Adobe Photoshop
Favored by most graphic arts professionals, Adobe® Photoshop® offers true non-destructive filtering, advanced compositing using multiple layers, high dynamic range support, quick-selection tools, full RAW support, to-and-fro clickability with Lightroom®, color management, integration with selected printers from HP, Epson, and Canon -- and a whole lot more.
More has been written about Adobe Photoshop than about any other photo-related software, partly because of its popularity, partly because it's difficult to use all of its features without training. Photoshop's toolset is famously extensive, with tools to retouch images using cloning and healing techniques, single brush-stroke selection to isolate objects, edge-refinement, and accurate compositing. CS3 and CS4 ran noticeably faster than previous versions, taking advantage of native performance on both Macs and PCs.
Where Photoshop differs radically from most other photographic editors is in its powerful set of customizable paint settings, brushes, and drawing tools that enable artists to create an original, realistic-looking image without any photographic capture whatsoever. With so many tools, there are naturally many palettes to take up valuable screen space. Users can take advantage of its dual monitor support to keep palettes conveniently open.
Besides RAW conversion, much photographic enhancement can now be done in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR), even adjustment of JPEGs and TIFFs. Although strictly a plugin, ACR comes with Photoshop and offers slider controls for color temperature and tint, exposure, highlight recovery, and vibrance/saturation. It has support for over 125 camera types and (obviously) the vendor's Digital Negative (DNG) format.
Current version: CS4. Next version, CS5, expected mid-2010.
Comment
Adobe Photoshop has not become the industry standard without being hugely effective, but there are some dissenting voices among all the reviewers who've written at length about it. Erik Vlietinck of IT-Enquirer found the collapsible palettes to be "nerve-wrecking," which categorized him as a member of the "laity" in the eyes of some.
While Photoshop remains indispensable for graphic artists, there are plenty tools that can meet the needs of most photographers, including Adobe Lightroom. If you are trying to perfect an image for advertising, then yes, Photoshop is ideal; but if you have to get out hundreds of wedding photos, you need a fast production tool with great sorting/selection capabilities; and if you're a hobbyist on a budget you can get by with the much less expensive Adobe Photoshop Elements -- which has wonderful retouching facilities, excellent effects, and comes with the same ACR software for RAW conversion.
Tech info
- OS: Windows XP onwards; Mac OS X
- Price level: Approx. $650
Adobe Systems
Among other activities, Adobe Systems has long been the dominant supplier of image manipulation software. It provides business, creative, and mobile software solutions for all users of digital communications.
From the same vendor:
- Dreamweaver®
- Photoshop® Elements
- Illustrator®
- InDesign®
- Lightroom®
- Premiere®
Note: Amazon discounts Adobe Photoshop significantly, as the offers to the right indicate. And yes, you have to prove you're a student to get the special student editions. Both Windows and Mac versions are shown.
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