Photo Software - Which Do I Need For My Photo Editing Tasks? - Help!

Photo editing software or photo software allows you to create and modify bitmap graphics and photographic images. Photo programs can be used for tasks such as painting and drawing, colour correction, enhancement of photos, creating special effects, conversion of images from one type to another, adding text to graphics etc. Some of the most popular software tools available today include Irfan View, Photoshop elements, Photoshops' CS suites and Aperture for Apple Mac: as well as Gimp and Inkscape - open source alternatives.

IrfanView is a piece of photo software that lets you open and edit images. If offers an exhaustive list of advantages and features such as speed, a compact image viewer, being simple to use especially for beginners, support for many media formats including multimedia, multi-language support, thumbnail option, options for painting and very controllable slideshows. Moreover it is free for individual use and is very user-friendly in terms of the GUI it presents to the user.

The major disadvantage, is that it does not offer some of the very advanced imaging capabilities and also it is not available natively on the Mac. Among the photo programs, it is an excellent choice for people who need to work quickly, avoid a very steep learning curve and simply want to balance, crop and save an image for the next step in their work. It probably isn't a good choice for a professional photographer, except as a very quick form of software photo editing.

Photoshop Elements is an adaptation of Adobe Photoshop and is available for as low a price as USD $99. Nevertheless, it has a strong set of software tools. The user interface is simpler than Photoshop while retaining the core photo editing functions. Thus Photoshop Elements is like a scaled down version of PhotoShop. It focuses on digital photography and on an RGB workflow. Some of the more complex photo editing features such as Curves, Channel Mixer, and Color Balance have been disabled, making the GUI more manageable, with a friendlier learning curve. The major advantages of Photoshop Elements include: an easy GUI structure to navigate and that it is cheaper than Photoshop. The only disadvantage is that some of the higher-end features are removed.

Adobe Photoshop CS is a set of software programs for image editing that is considered to be the industry standard for graphics professionals. Although meant for professionals, it is also available for students at a fraction of the original cost. The main features of Photoshop as a photo editor, are the flexibilities it offers for media creation, editing and authoring. The file format is compatible with any of the individual programs that are available in the suite. As the de facto king of the photo programs, it has many tools for advanced photo editing, including a bewildering array of special effects services. The disadvantages of this suite of photo editing programs include: features you will never use; highly expensive and it takes massive processing power from the computer system.

Aperture is Apple Mac photo editing software. The Mac enthusiasts claim its advantages are; that it includes an all in one Inspector to consolidate the projects, adjustment panes, quick image search, accelerated performance, advanced photo editing capabilities such as superb color fidelity, etc. The disadvantage of Aperture is that it can be used only on Mac operating systems. Among the photographers that I know personally, this photo software is growing in stature amongst popular photo editing programs.

The Open Source movement is also muscling in on the act with Gimp (which is gaining recognition amongst photo editing programs) and Inkscape; (a vector drawing program) which is very good indeed for developing plans, maps and other graphics that need to be drawn. I haven't yet got to grips with Gimp as a photo editor, but I have used Inkscape regularly over the last year and it is a fully featured graphics software. I recommend that you give these new open source graphic softwares a good look before spending hundreds on Photoshop or Aperture photo software. In terms of value for money; like Irfan View, they are incomparable. Amonst the paid for photo editing programs, Photoshop Elements is going to be a more than adequate for anything that you need to do for the web unless you are going down the road of becoming career graphic designers. For these individuals and for professional photographers the photo programs of choice will almost certainly be Photoshop CS for PC based workers and Aperture if you are on the Mac platform.

Ray Cassidy,

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Top 5 Features of Photoshop

Photoshop is without a doubt, the best image editing software around, so much so that it is synonymous with image editing itself. It can be used to add any type of effect to an image and is the most commonly used software to design logos & banners. Below are some of the most versatile and helpful features that Photoshop offers:

 

1. Layers - Many a time, if you made a mistake while editing or creating an image, you have to do it all over again, but this feature of Photoshop allows you to separate the different elements of your file into separate digital "transparent sheets" so one element can be edited independently. The various kinds of layer in Photoshop are - image layer, layer mask, adjustment layer, type layer, vector layer, layer style and fill layer and you can manage all these in the layer pallet.

2. Smart Objects - Smart Objects are like vector image data, imported from another photoshop file that you can scale, rotate, skew and warp without affecting the quality of the data itself, thus enabling you to play with different scales and positions without loss of quality.

3. Feather - Feather is blurring the edges of images (specifically bitmap). This is done to camouflage the edges of another image placed in an image without it being noticed when you cut & paste a part of the image from one place to another. This makes it difficult for the viewer to determine whether the image is edited or is the original image.

4. Healing brush and Patch tool - These tools were introduced in version 7 and had made editing much easier. These two tools are mostly like the Clone tool (which was the choice in the earlier versions of photoshop) except that they clone only the texture of the source.

5. Color Management - Photoshop 5 came with this feature and it is considered as the most important feature in the history of photoshop. It introduced the concept of device-independent working spaces which became the foundation for color management inside Photoshop. Color Spaces varied earlier from one monitor to another but this problem was solved with the introduction of this feature. Now it is possible to use one's calibrated monitor as a soft proofing device, using Photoshop as the lynchpin in the color management process.

These are five of the most useful features that have made photoshop the best in the image editing field. Of course the vast array of the other features provided with the application is what makes it the most versatile image editing tool on the market.

Luqmaan Ameen is the main writer behind Computer Realm, a blog which focuses on computer tips and several other aspects on computers and the internet in general. Can't afford Photoshop? Looking for a suitable alternative? Visit http://www.computer-realm.net/photoshop-alternative/ for a free Photoshop alternative.

Differences Between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign

Having worked for an Adobe Authorized Training Center for the last 10 years I often get asked from students what the difference is between between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Firstly, let me say that all three programs are in fact owned and developed by the same company, Adobe Systems, the World leader in Web development, graphic design and E-learning software. All three programs are also bundled together into Adobe's Creative Suite, which is a great and affordable way to purchase this software.

I think part of the confusion, is that certain tasks can be done in more than one of these programs. For example you can find vector-drawing tools available inside Photoshop and InDesign, even though Illustrator is the predominant vector drawing program. The key to getting the most out of these three programs is to understand what their key functions are and how they can be used together.

Okay so lets look at each program separately. We'll start with Adobe Photoshop, which is probably the best known out of the three. Photoshop is a professional image editing software primarily used for editing bitmap images and image manipulation. Bitmap images are images, which are defined by their pixel structure. In other words digital bitmaps can be broken down into millions of tiny pixels and each pixel has its own attributes. Bitmap images are sometimes also referred to as raster images.

The most common type of bitmap image is a photographic image. Whether shot on film and scanned into the computer or whether digitally shot, photos are made up of millions of tiny pixels. So simply put Photoshop is a tool used to edit photographic images. It also has the ability to do lots of other things but the core function of Photoshop is to edit Photographic images.

If you go down to your local newsagent and pick up any magazine, chances are very good that the images in that magazine would have been edited or altered using Photoshop. Sometimes the adjustments can be minor such as subtle lighting or sharpening adjustments, and other times they could be major like applying a filter or special effect. Photoshop is used for retouching - ever wonder why the models and movie stars never have any cellulite or a double chin - the answer is Photoshop. Often an image can comprise of a few different images with have been merged together to form a montage. This effect can also be created in Photoshop.

Adobe Illustrator on the other hand is a vector-drawing program. Vector images are the other main type of digital image. Unlike bitmaps, vectors are made up of a series of lines and shapes, which are defined as mathematical formulae. Vectors are very good for creating images, which contain large sections of the same color. So for example a navigation button on your web site, your company logo, or any non-photographic image would be better off created as a vector. Illustrator is the World's premiere vector drawing tool, so if you were tasked with creating any kind of 'flat' art, such as a corporate profile, including logos, sign work, letterheads etc, chances are you would use Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe InDesign is the newest out of the three programs and is a page layout or publishing program. InDesign is used for putting together stuff like corporate brochures, documents, magazines, newsletters or advertisements. InDesign's specialty is working with documents that contain a large amount of type or text.

Often designers will use all three programs on the same project. For example we recently created some new course outlines so we used Illustrator to create our logo and a few other vector graphics, we used Photoshop to apply a special shadow effect to some bitmap images, and finally we imported all those elements from Illustrator and Photoshop into InDesign where we added the copy and defined the layout.

Quality graphic design can make or break any company's image. Adobe Creative Suite which includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign plus a little training can give you the vital edge to succeeding in a very competitive world.

Billy Gee is the Director of Training for Training Connection http://www.trainingconnection.com

We specialize in providing certified Photoshop training classes, Illustrator training classes and InDesign courses in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Useful Photoshop Tricks for Editing and Image Fixing

Even though Photoshop is quite user-friendly and does not involve many technicalities, one can still encounter certain problems while editing or fixing an image using this software. Here are some Photoshop tricks to handle some common problems faced during image editing process:

Overexposed Images- A great shot can be reduced to just a flashy picture if the light exposure is not proper. Whether due to camera flash or harsh sunlight, overexposed images can be tough to fix. But with Photoshop this is possible:

Open the image in Photoshop and go to Adjustments. Here you will find various options, choose Shadows/Highlights, and your image will be fixed. The changes are immediately visible, but can be quite extreme. Keep adjusting the Amount slider and Tonal width slider until you find the right balance. You can change the default settings as per your preferences, to achieve desired results.

Andy Warhol Effect- Remember Andy Warhol, the famous painter and photographer who was famous for his unique style called 'Pop Art'. With simple Photoshop tricks, you can bring the Andy Warhol effect in your pictures. Here's how:

Choose an image or photograph and open it in Photoshop. The first step is to duplicate the background layer and save it. Now crop the picture to get an interesting composition and Desaturate the cropped image by pressing Ctrl + Shift +U. Apply the Cutout filter to the image layer, and adjust the levels. You need to adjust the sliders till you achieve 3 shades of grey, black and white. Now apply the cutout filter again and you are done.

Resizing - Reducing the size of an image can sometimes affect the clarity and make it seem blurred. When you learn Photoshop, you can easily resize images while keeping the quality intact. To make an image smaller, open the Image Size Menu> click on the resample image and choose the Bicubic sharper from the menu. Bicubic sharper ensures that the image doesn't blur.

Adjust the Number of History States - As you might already know, Photoshop provides you the option of undoing several steps as it saves multiple steps as 'history'. However, by default the numbers of steps that can be saved in history are set to a certain few. To increase this number, you can change the settings. You can add up to 1000 states levels.

Click on Edit > Preferences > Performance and change the 'history' states as per your needs. But you must know that having many history states, will take up much more space on your RAM and you will run out of memory very soon. You can also use the 'snapshots' feature to go back and forward during your image editing process.

There are many ways Photoshop can help you with your image fixing and editing endeavors. Through Photoshop tutorials and videos, you can learn many more tricks and techniques of this wonderful software and can work magic with your photographs.

About the Author

Rafin O'Hara is a professional graphic artist and designer. You can view more of Rafin's Photoshop Tutorials at http://www.photoshopwarrior.com

The Problems With Photoshop Actions For Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Photoshop opened up a whole world of possibilities for photographers and image editing experts by allowing them to develop automation within their work flow. No more so than in the areas of Portrait and Wedding Photography.

At the same time though, it created an unprecedented burden on many to learn this new technology and perform like a pro. The trouble has always been that Photoshop is vast in its possibilities, and the task of learning enough of its workings a huge undertaking. Often times, it has become too much for some, and they disappear back into their shells. At least for a while.

My personal experience of this, as a photographer is that I was young and excited and very determined, and years on, I am still learning. Through this I have learnt something about identifying the challenges of specific types of image production, and then how to discover satisfactory solutions to reproduce them easily.

When you look at a beautifully edited set of images from a professional photographer, you'll see that they have had a lot of image enhancements made to them. For most Photographers, this is the primary way to create a noticeable difference between what they offer clients and what the clients can do for themselves. It adds a distinctive value to their work that clients can appreciate and are happy to pay for.

This makes professional image enhancement a necessity for Photographers wanting a successful business rather than just a fanciful luxury.

The challenges with this for Photographers are manyfold. For example, using Photoshop for this process is a given fact. However learning Photoshop requires a long term commitment as it is such a vast piece of software. Once you have learnt the basics, how far should you go with your retouching? What level of editing do clients actually like the best? How much time should you spend on editing the images? How much should you charge? What extras should you charge for? What is now expected as a standard level? Just what are today's customers expectations?

Some of these questions you will be able to answer instinctively. Others will require time and the feedback of your paying clients.

For the majority of Photographers the toughest questions relate directly to the photo editing side of things. Fortunately we have Photoshop, and then perhaps even better, we have Photoshop Actions!

The development of time saving Actions in Photoshop opened up a new arena for photographers wishing to improve the look of their work and compete commercially. These Actions are incredibly useful in Wedding and Portrait Photography, where dozens of images need to be edited in a short amount of time.

Actions are small (usually) bits of software that tell Photoshop exactly what to do to an image. Each Action is named according to its function and they are activated by clicking an onscreen button. These actions and their buttons are listed in a palette (a movable panel) inside the Photoshop work area.

Actions are designed to perform repetitive tasks at the click of a button. The sort of tasks they cope with can be wide and varied. Typically though, they will do things like add soft focus to an image, sharpen an image, add warmth to the colours of an image, or perhaps even to resize an image.

To the portrait and wedding Photographer, this can be a godsend. For example, as a Wedding Photographer, you may have 150 images or more lined up, and they all need work doing to them. Lets say you want to sharpen these pictures, then increase the color saturation slightly and finally bring out detail in the midtones! Phew! Doing each one manually one after the other takes hours as anyone who has tried will tell you.

Photoshop Actions to the rescue! With these Actions, you open one image, press a 'Record Actions' button to then log the changes you are making. When you are happy with those changes, you then easily 'Batch Process' all the other images on Auto with those same changes while you go for a walk or have a cup of tea!

Naturally, there are many tips, tricks and techniques involved with all of this, but in reality, these Actions make it commercially viable to output superb images to all of your clients all of the time.

Unfortunately though, there is a problem with all of this. Regular Actions have their limitations. In spite of what I have said, to edit your images to a satisfactory standard can still take a huge amount of skill and time. Time is expensive, and when you have established the processes you like to use regularly for your own personal style, you will still (inevitably) end up bogged down in tedious repetitive tasks.

So what is the answer to all of this? It seems that a new developer has produced some highly sophisticated Photoshop Action sets that have just been made available. Thes go beyond our normal expectations of what Actions are capable of. Amongst other things, they can be adapted to your personal style of imagery. These Action sets can enhance your images almost on complete auto pilot and they work at blisteringly fast speeds too.

You can find out more about these actions on the developers site at PhotoDomination [http://www.Photodomination.com]. I understand that they can turn out work that is finished to an incredibly high standard with very little skilled effort from the operator. This means your learning curve is shortened as well as that of anybody else that you may want to train to help you with your work! Aah! It sounds like an image editors dream...

There are a number of before and after shots at this site PhotoDomination giving you an idea of what is possible...Good luck

Mike Eastman has been heavily involved with the support and training of Photoshop Users for over ten years.

Many people who have used his services see him as a creative expert and a leading authority on the use of

Photoshop. There is more at PhotoDomination. If you would like Access to a Free PRO Level Photoshop Action set then go here: 60sec EZ retouch Action Set [http://photodomination.com/image-editing-software/free-photoshop-actions-02.html]

Top 12 Image Editing Skills Every Photographer Should Know

Before you start editing, make sure that you have a good image work flow.  This means saving originals in a separate place to prevent you from damaging or destroying the original image.  And get familiar with your program's UNDO capability - usually the Ctrl-Z key is a shortcut to undo the most recent image change.  Don't forget SaveAs, which allows you to save a copy of the image with another name so you don't disturb the original.

Crop.  This tool allows you to remove some of the image.  Generally you shape a rectangle around the area you want to keep and the rest is removed.  The area inside the rectangle becomes your new image.  Related to this tool are the rotate and straighten tools.  Rotate allows you to rotate the image, and Straighten does a similar task, allowing you to specify a horizon line or reference point. I recommend to rotate first and then crop after you have the proper orientation.

Brightness and Contrast.  This tool lets you increase or decrease the relationship between brights and darks (contrast), and increase or decrease the overall brightness of the image.  Combinations of brightness and contrast settings can have very dramatic impact to your image, adding extra "punch" or softening the visual impact.  It can also add emphasis to sunsets and other scenic shots.  If your image appears flat or dull, this is a good tool to try.

Saturation.  This tool is used to increase the color of an image.  Used to excess, the result can be artificial, and skin tones can be made to look unnatural.  But for floral and outdoor images, this tool can be used to sweeten the color impact of an image.

Resize.  This tool is used to change the size and number of pixels, or image dots, in an image file.  When sending something to a website for instance, you may want to reduce the image size so that it does not take too long to load.  When sending an image to be printed on a large size, you may want to size it larger.  Many programs will try to fill in the missing spaces if you attempt to resize an image beyond its original pixel dimensions.  Called interpolation, this program can deliver mixed results if you are trying to increase the images size too far beyond its original dimensions.  Combined with Crop, this is a good way to preview and prepare an image to be printed in a specific paper size.

Color Temperature/Color Adjust.  This tool lets you adjust the image's color temperature.  If your camera's white balance was not matched up to the color temperature of the predominant light source, the resulting image can have a color cast that is undesirable.  Using this tool, you either choose a color neutral selection (white or grey) in the photo and let the tool shift the color balance to match, or you tweak some settings or sliders to make the image "warmer" or "cooler".  It's better to get it right in the camera, but this tool can help rescue photos that otherwise have improper color casts.

Curves and Levels.  These tools are a more sophisticated verion of the Brighness and Contrast tools.  Levels allows you to change the white, mid and black points of an image and it will shift the image accordingly.  It is useful in pushing darks darker, whites whiter, and adding some lightness to midtones.  It is useful to bring up skin tones on faces while keeping very bright elements unchanged.  Curves is even more flexible, where you can describe a very sophisticated transformation of the original image's characteristics.  Both of these tools can also be used to excess, and the result is often surreal or abnormal in appearance.

Clone/Rubber Stamp.  This tool lets you remove items from the image or otherwise retouch the image.  For example if you have a telephone pole in an otherwise perfect rural image, you can use this tool to duplicate the part of the picture next to the pole and paint over the pole with that section.  With some practice, you can edit out glare on glasses, braces, background objects and much more.  Related tools include Scratch Remover and Object Remover in some programs.

Eraser.  This tool lets you remove sections of an image.  This leaves behind a blank spot or hole.  It's useful to isolate an object to place on another image, for example, to cut out a person so you can drop them into a location that was not in the original image.  A variant of this tool is the Background Eraser.

Layers.  Learning to use layers opens up an entirely new world in editing.  Basically you create two or more overlays that can have varying amounts of transparency so that you create a new image combining parts of these layers.  You can specify how the layers interact with each other, so that one may enhance the color of another.  That feature is called the "blend mode".  You can also use layers to superimpose items on each other, for example to put your subject in a new location.

Sharpen.  This tool lets you increase the edge contrast of the image, which makes small features stand out more.  You will generally sharpen only as a last step after resizing, because sharpening emphasis will change with the image size.  You can selectively sharpen parts of the images, such as eyes, to draw attention to them.  You can also apply a sharpening to the overall image.  The Unsharp Mask will let you specify just how small and how much to apply the sharpening effect.

Channel Mixer.  This is a tool that allows you to change the amount of red, green and blue in the image.  But its real value is in being able to tailor a black and white conversion to include specific amounts of red, green and blue.  If you choose "monochrome" as the output, you can mix the red green and blue channels to bring out features that a straight black and white conversion will not be able to do.  The defaults include 33% each of red, blue and green.  Experiment with 80%/10%/10% of various modes and see how elements like bricks or blue sky or green leaves will change from dark to light in relation to other objects in the image.

1-Step Fix/Smart Fix.  This tool often combines much of the above tools into an easy to use dialog that will let you play with many things at once to improve an image.  Even if you use this tool most of the time, remember that the individual elements above can be utilized individually to create image enhancements that the simpler tools cannot provide.

Want to learn more?  Take a handful of images that you are not totally pleased with, and spend some time using each tool to see how you can expand your creative and editing skills to produce truly great works of photographic art!

John Huegel is a photographer in the Erie, Pennsylvania area who specializes in Seniors, Dance Studio, Families and other groups. He is active in many charitable and volunteer activities in the Erie area. His work can be seen at http://jhphotomusic.com

Photoshop CS5 Tutorials Setting New Benchmarks In The World Of Image Cropping And Editing

Adobe has recently come up with an advanced edition known as Adobe Photoshop CS5. This variation allows the users to enjoy movie, video and multi-media pictures. The Photoshop CS5 tutorials are incorporated with highly effective modifying software and more efficient functions that play a pivotal role in bringing out dramatic changes in the world of video recording, image cropping and formatting and editing. This variation has proved to be a boon for personalities including medical professionals, graphic designers, web-site designers, technical engineers, researchers and architects. It includes quick selection tools that make the image editing and cropping simpler and easier and, of course, a delightful experience.

Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 5 is basically designed to assist those who want to get excellence in photography and video clip editing. Some important characteristics are given below:

Highly Effective cropping and editing software: For those who have an extreme desire to get perfection in their imaginative productivity of the pictures and videos, this variation has a highly effective cropping and editing tool box. Users can find a number of cropping and editing applications in it in order to perform various tasks starting from adjusting shades to sharpening and blurring areas of the videos and photos. In addition, this variation helps make the image resolution correction on the picture.

Painting and sketching software: The paint settings of this variation are also loaded with a plethora of resourceful sketching applications and brushes that assist the photography fans improve the excellence and elegance of the pictures.

Edge refining and selection tools: These types of tools enable the consumers to select a small piece of their respective image. These Photoshop CS5 tutorials are also available with the sophisticated and comprehensive refining options that help users to refine even a specific part of the picture with the help of just a click.

Peder Naatz is best known for delivering the content on the companies which provide professional retouching service focused on digital image editing. The author also assists you in collection information on various aspects of press ready color correction and complex retouching. For more information visit Photoshop CS5 Tutorials.

Edit Digital Photography - The Photoshop Digital Imaging Editing Software

It is easy to see why Photoshop is considered to be the premier image-editing software available today. The Photoshop program contains exceptionally sophisticated effects that in the past would have taken a great deal of time and effort to achieve and condenses the steps to reach these effects to only a few simple clicks.

Photoshop does come with a price tag that some may consider high, especially when there are freeware editors available, but with the wide expanse of features it offers, it is considered a vital program for anyone working with any graphics medium from print to the web and even to movies and television.

This has resulted in the vast number of less expensive competitors (although none are really considered to be contenders), plus the piracy of the Photoshop software itself. In measures to counter this, a simplified version of Photoshop known as Photoshop Elements was introduced which has proven to be a perfect tool for beginners.

How did Photoshop get into this dominant position? Well, development started in 1987, with the first release in 1990. Since then, Adobe has been improving the software continuously, constantly taking advantage of advances in hardware power. Even now, to get the best performance out of Photoshop, you should buy as much RAM as you can afford.

It is not just Adobe's efforts that have got Photoshop where it is today, however. The program's plugin architecture has allowed there to be are all sorts of plugins available for more advanced work, including some plugins that actually cost more and do more than the program itself.

In this manner, Photoshop is frequently used in the same aspect as Windows as a springboard. It would be a tremendous endeavor to get these plugins to run with any other software, making competitors essentially ineffective to those using a plugin.

Photoshop for Windows and Mac OS (both OS 9 and OS X) are available today. For those wanting to use it on Linux, you will have to use Crossover Office, Codeweavers' program that permits some Windows software to operate on Linux, but it will be quite slow.

Would like to find out more about editing digital photography? Don't trust anybody's advice until you read this free report

Getting Acquainted With Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the most popular software available for editing photographs and images.  It can be used for everything from fixing your digital photos to creating graphics for a website.  As a program it is used by everybody from law enforcement to medical offices - not to mention that it is most commonly used by artists and graphic designers.

 What Photoshop is Designed For

 As an image-editing program, Photoshop is designed to allow you to correct and edit images that you have loaded into it from a scanner or digital camera. The most basic process would go like this: You take a photograph, edit it, and you print it out for display.

 When you are editing your photos or graphics in Photoshop, you are actually working with small squares of color which are known as pixels. What you are doing when you edit your work is changing and adjusting the pixels. This may be done in larger groups, or on an individual basis.

 Common Uses of Photoshop

 The average user of Photoshop will usually be using it for corrective purposes such as removing "red-eye" from a picture or removing wrinkles. This is a great use for the program. Gone are the days when your pictures were unusable due to errors that you couldn't identify until after your roll of film was developed. Now you can simply scan or upload your troubled pictures and fix them yourself.

 In recent years Photoshop has become more powerful and is used a great deal by graphic designers and fine artists. Thanks to its large number of preset brushes, you can even paint directly on a digital canvas - saving you all of the set-up and cleanup time associated with physical painting.

While everybody has a favorite use for Photoshop, I use it to create graphics for my screen printing projects.

You can read more about my recommendations before you buy a silk screen machine at my site: http://www.silkscreenmachine.org/.

Where To Find Photoshop CS Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop is an editing tool for images, which can run on various operating systems. Developed by Adobe Systems, Photoshop was initially launched in 1988, and is currently is on version 10. During the early 2000s, Adobe integrated Photoshop with Creative Suite, another Adobe product. The combination created the software's CS series, starting with the program's version 8, also known as Adobe Photoshop CS. Since then, Adobe has released Photoshop CS2 and the beta version of Photoshop CS3. Because of the continuing evolution of software for image manipulation, it is necessary to constantly learn about the new tools and features of the program. This is where Photoshop CS tutorials come in.

There are different sources of information on Photoshop CS. The simplest source of knowledge is the Photoshop CS manual. You can also look at the software's installation program, as it contains various Photoshop CS tutorials in PDF format. If the program is already running, you can also opt to click on the "Help" tab, and click on "Photoshop Help." This will allow you to select from a list of topics on Photoshop CS or perform a search on the software's help database.

Adobe Press also offers numerous books providing instructions for different Adobe software, including Photoshop. The "Adobe Photoshop CS Classroom in a Book" by the Adobe Creative Team, the book includes step-by-step tutorials on many Photoshop CS functions, including working with layers, slicing images and constructing webpages. There are also books written by other authors that are also helpful, such as "How to Use Photoshop CS" by Daniel Giordan.

You can also use the Internet to look for resources on Photoshop CS. Adobe Online offers updated information on Adobe products. Adobe Online can be accessed at the http://www.adobe.com, the Adobe website. From the Adobe Worldwide menu, you can choose the location nearest you.

The website contains step-by-step tutorials and how-to topics both for beginners and more advanced designers. The online help also provides techniques on using Photoshop CS with other applications. There are also tips on troubleshooting basic problems you can encounter when using the program. The website also contains a support page dealing with hot topics, which focuses on effective practices that you can perform when creating Photoshop CS projects.

Adobe Online Forums can likewise help you with Photoshop CS. These forums allow peer-to-peer discussions regarding the software tools and various techniques which you can use. You can search the forum for useful topics or, if you have a specific question, you can also opt to post it on the forum, and have other users answer it for you.

Adobe also offers training and certification programs for beginners and advanced users. These include interactive self-paced courses and instructor-led courses, via online sessions and offline classes. You can also attend Adobe online events or review their database of eSeminars by registering on the Adobe website.

There are also countless other sources of Photoshop CS tutorials and downloads online, which may either be free or may require you to pay a certain fee. Search the Web using your regular search engine and choose from among hundreds of text, audio and video Photoshop CS resources online. A helpful online resource is a PDF of Chapter One of the Photoshop CS for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide, which deals with the basics of the program and detailed explanations of the different toolboxes.

If you still need more information, Adobe Systems also offers excellent technical support and customer service. Adobe has both a paid support program and a complimentary product support for users who are registered. Adobe's contact information can be viewed on their website.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For a free photo shop tutorial and or to purchase a video photo shop tutorial checkout his website.

Why Use Photoshop Software and Finding the Best Tutorial For Adobe Photoshop

This tutorial for Adobe Photoshop is ideal for anybody looking at the real advantages of using this Adobe software in order to edit your digital photos and images. If you are looking for a variety of tutorials for Adobe Photoshop, you way get overwhelmed by the millions of pages offered by Google search results. If you want a more defined Google search results for any tutorial for Adobe Photoshop, then use "" - for example "Tutorial For Adobe Photoshop CS5/CS4/CS3/CS2" etc. This way you will find what you are looking for a lot easier.

Photoshop is an amazing piece of computer software that allows its users to manipulate and create images. The use of Photoshop is pervasive throughout the professional worlds of photography and graphic design. The first version of Photoshop hit the market in 1990 as a Macintosh product; it is now on its eleventh release and compatible with any system. Why should you use Photoshop?

Photoshop gives you an enormous advantage over designing with a paper and pen. You can easily fix your mistakes without any messy erasing. There are a variety of templates for the less artistically inclined to choose from. Also, a finished Photoshop product invariably looks more professional than a hand-drawn product.

Once you have decided to invest in image editing software, you may notice that Photoshop is a very costly product. Current versions of Photoshop CS4 run between $500 and $600. It is possible to find much cheaper image editing software and some computers even come with a factory-installed program. However, there are four broad reasons why you should use Photoshop over other cheaper or free image editing software. These four reasons are: versatility, a user-friendly interface, easy access to training, and a variety of functions.

Versatility: There is very little that Photoshop is not able to accomplish for you. It doesn't matter if you're an amateur photographer who wants to do some simple cropping to family snapshots. Conversely, top photographers and graphic design professionals use Photoshop for image creation and editing.

User-friendly interface: Photoshop was designed with the consumer in mind. No specialized programming skills are needed and its drawing canvas, where images are created, is WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get. Many elements of Photoshop are similar to other computer programs. For example, the menu bar has the same file, edit, view, and help options as Microsoft Word. The tools in the toolbox modify your pointer so that you will remember what tool you are using.

Easy access to training: Because Photoshop is an immensely popular software tool, there are a plethora of books, online tutorials, and college courses available to train the new user in the workings of Photoshop. You can not only find information suitable for a beginner, but also a detailed description of some of Photoshop's most advanced tools.

Variety of functions: Photoshop is able to perform an almost endless variety of image edit and creation functions.

Photo manipulation - take a downloaded or scanned photo and reduce red-eye and other imperfections, crop the photo, or change the sharpness or contrast of the image

Painting and drawing - use the drawing canvas and toolbox to create new images

Graphic design - take scanned artwork or artwork created in Photoshop itself and add layers, gradients, and much more to create graphic art that sells.

Typography and page layout - Photoshop allows you to manipulate both text and image on the same drawing canvas but in different layers. This allows you to create presentations and other projects that require a juxtaposition of text and image.

Tutorial For Adobe Photoshop
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Why Photoshop Training Makes Everything Easier

For a boost to your professional career, Photoshop training is a great investment. Regardless of the area in which you work, Photoshop training will assist you in reaching your full potential. Anyone involved with digital images and graphics realizes that the Adobe Photoshop line of software is the premiere software package for use by graphic designers and professional photographers globally.

Adobe's Photoshop Album Starter Edition provides an excellent tool for novices to make the most of their photos. After you have learned all the basics of Starter Edition, you will be able to go on to Photoshop Elements 5, where you will find out how to do more advanced image editing and compositing. Photoshop CS2 is the total package for experts and novices who have already grasped the basics.

An Adobe Photoshop product is exactly what you need, whatever industry you work in. Even if you do not feel that Photoshop will be necessary for your professional use, training with this program will give you skills that will allow you to get the most out of all your Internet activities. With Photoshop, you will be able to create a website that looks professional, whether you are utilizing it for business purposes or as a personal website where you can share your photos and videos with those you know. Anything you want to do on the Internet is much easier if you have Photoshop training.

Find out what Adobe Photoshop can do today. If this is your first experience with Photoshop, you will be astounded. You will think a group of experts spent days or weeks to produce the incredible images and effects which Photoshop is adept at. However, with Photoshop you can learn to begin creating professional graphics in a few short hours. Anything you can envision can be created with Photoshop.

Photoshop CS3 beta is available now on the web. According to Adobe, two editions of Photoshop CS3 will be on the market at some point during the spring of 2007. The names of the two editions are Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended. Adobe is committed to offering many new features for Photoshop CS3. Advanced compositing features through automatic blending and layer alignment are now available, which will be quite beneficial to professional photographers and designers. According to Adobe, Photoshop CS3 also includes a non-destructive editing tool set that is more flexible. They say that CS3 includes enhanced time-saving tools and a more efficient interface, which will result in a faster work flow.

According to Adobe, Photoshop CS3 is perfect for use by those involved in professional film and video, manufacturing, medicine, architecture, engineering and scientific research. Photoshop CS3 allows designers to create 3D objects and add them to 2D composites. Both professionals and beginners were pleased with the new Font Preview capability that was introduced in CS2. For quite a long time now, Adobe has provided users with performance and reliability. They are regarded as being one of the most trusted software developers around. Graphic designers, professional photographers, desktop publishers, and web designers will find that Photoshop CS2 is an excellent tool. While it may be difficult to envision how much better CS2 has gotten, you can be sure Adobe has done it.

Get more info on what to expect from Photoshop for beginners now in our insider's guide to top Photoshop tutorials online on http://photoshopforbeginners.org

Professional Adobe Photoshop Secrets - Discover How to Master Photoshop Basics Faster!

It is still a mystery to Photoshop enthusiasts why their works do not end up the same as the ones created by professional digital artists even if both of you used the same tools and techniques. You may not believe us when we say that the edge of these experts lies in the very basic of Photoshop imaging. To master Photoshop, everyone goes to a series of lessons on tools and navigation. What a regular Photoshop enthusiast lacks is knowledge on imaging that is beyond Photoshop.

Now is the time to let the secret be revealed. So what exactly is the difference between the work of a professional and a hobbyist? None other than the image quality! Professionals make it a point to start with the best quality of image they can get their hands on. This is the reason why photographers can get ahead of other Photoshop learners-they can get great photos most of which are already gorgeous as they are without further enhancement.

But you should not fret if you lack the same skill on photography. Learning Photoshop basics can already equip you with what you need to know to create a professional looking digital art. Of course, you have to make sure that you are using the proper tools aside from Adobe Photoshop itself. Use cameras and scanners that allow you to save raw images. If you are working on a compressed image file, make sure to start with the highest image resolution possible. That is why you must not settle with a low end computer as well. Image editing requires a lot of disk space, else you may have to compensate with the quality of your outputs.

Once you have obtained your images, the next thing you have to do is to further enhance it with Photoshop. Since you are already halfway with your goal to master Photoshop basics and become a professional, you are probably adept with cleaning up images, removing dust spots, manipulating curves and levels, and the likes. Use this knowledge to prepare the raw image for that professional-looking digital art.

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What is the Difference Between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements?

Let's take a look at the differences between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Firstly, for those of you who don't know what Photoshop is all about - it is a product of Adobe, a photo editing software and tool. Photoshop is very advanced when put to comparison with other photo editing software. Its sister software is Photoshop Elements, which is in actual fact a tuned down version of Photoshop. It doesn't have the expansive features of Photoshop, but for this reason it is also considerably lower in price - about 1/6th.

So the main difference between the two programs is what they are capable of - Photoshop being far more advanced with its tools and features. The second most notable difference is the cost. In Photoshop for example, you are instantly upgraded to the full color management tool which is otherwise far more simplistic in Photoshop Elements.

For professionals in particular, they desire the CMYK color models which are needed to print their photos off in the highest of quality - a feature that only exists in Photoshop. Furthermore, Photoshop is able to generate images by using more than one exposure with its high dynamic range. Then there is the advanced text formatting which allows Photoshop users to get creative with the text layout on any given photo image.

It could be said that the idea behind Adobe's Photoshop Elements was to reach out to those people who are more casual photographers and without much knowledge on the activity of photo editing. This is currently quite a large percentage of the population. The people who fit into this category would have no desire to learn the in-depth features of Photoshop and would probably never use it to its full capacity. Some of the typical things that the average user will be looking for is a tool to get rid of the evil red-eye in photographs and a simple interface to get photo-editing done quickly and with ease.

There are more differences still between the two packages - the more advanced Photoshop can be expanded as and when the user feels fit. Plug-ins are available for a lot of forward-thinking technologies and Photoshop is no exception. The possibilities to update the software and enhance its features are never ending - a real bonus to the professional photographer who wants to stay on top of the game.

So to sum all of this up:

· Photoshop is like the full version and Elements is simplified to give easier usage to amateur or casual photographers.

· Photoshop Elements is a 1/6th of the price of Photoshop

· Photoshop Elements have simplified settings such as an Automatic red-eye removal and the Cookie Cutter.

· Photoshop has High Dynamic Range and CMYK, whereas Elements doesn't.

· Photoshop has advanced color management, Elements is far more simplified.

Unless you are a professional in the field of photography then you would probably be best off starting out with Photoshop Elements which is great value for money. If you find that you want to improve your photo editing skills later down the line then you can always upgrade to Photoshop.

Your designs can be award winning creative masterpieces that don't have to take forever to create when you know HOW to use the right tools effectively. Learn more about the Adobe Creative Suite. http://vpclasses.com

Why Choose Vector Images

If you are working in the art or graphics business, the de-facto software for vector based image editing and creation is Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator can be used for many different things but is mainly used to producing images for print, media and web based or online graphics.

The program works by allowing you to work with vector based images, layouts and designs, very quickly and easily. A vector image is one that is made from single points that are then connected by lines to make shapes, planes and vertices. Other programs like Adobe Photoshop allow for true image editing to take place with brushes and effects, whereas Illustrator deals mainly with geometrical shapes and patterns. However, this does not mean that, in the right hands, it can rival Photoshop for capability.

The vector file contains different elements that are referred to as "objects". Each one of these objects has it's own properties and settings. These could be size, shape, color as well as the exact position on the screen that it appears. The benefit of working with objects is that they can be moved around and edited independently and still retain all of their other properties and settings. This also does not effect the other objects nearby too. Unlike Photoshop, which often distorts items as they are resized or altered, a vector based program like Illustrator lets you work with all of the objects without loosing any clarity or quality of the image. When an image is created in Illustrator, it is made by placing points on the screen which are then connected by lines to form shapes. The start and end points are called anchor points and the points in-between that create the curve or surface shape are called vector points.

Another benefit of using vector images is that they are not reliant on the image size. In Photoshop, if you try to increase or reduce the size of the image, you end up with distorted pixels, but as vector images are based on points on the screen, the images can be resized without affecting the overall quality. Vector images look better on devices that have a higher resolution or size but work perfectly well on smaller screens such as smartphones. The Illustrator image can also be stretched to any proportions as it will not lose it's quality. A Photoshop image, which is created from single dots filling a canvas will cause them to become distorted if they are stretched. However, you can convert a vector image to a bitmap or Photoshop version if you want - but you cannot easily convert back the other way.

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Photoshop - Is it Overkill?

An open-ended question like this usually gets an open-ended answer. Something like "it depends."  And of course it does depend. It depends on what you want to accomplish and how much time you want to invest. Photoshop is an extremely powerful, exceedingly addictive, tons-of-fun program. But don't expect to install the program, pop it open, and have it make sense. It won't. Be ready to put in some time.

Photoshop is image-editing software. With it, you can fix up your digital images by cropping, removing flaws, enhancing colors and contrast, and so on. You can alter images, deleting elements (like your ex-spouse) or adding elements from other images. And you can create imagery from scratch, using the built in brushes, pens, and textures. The term "Photoshop" has already crept into our everyday language; it is the golden standard for playing with digital images.

But is it overkill? It costs a lot (although educational discounts can help here) and it's an uphill climb to learn. And there are alternatives. In fact, there are three distinct levels of image editing software. And what is right for you depends on what you want to accomplish.

The most basic level of image editors are actually still pretty powerful. Examples include Apple's iPhoto, Corel's Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, and Adobe's Photoshop Elements. These programs are the software equivalent of point-and-shoot cameras. They have one-click automatic enhancers, like Auto Color or Auto Contrast, where you click once and you're done. You can crop, do some basic defect removal, and of course print out or email to friends. Like point-and-shoot cameras, these entry-level programs also have increasingly sophisticated features. So don't necessarily turn your nose up at them. Most of these consumer programs are also organizers, assisting in keeping track of the millions of photos you have on your hard drive. If you are a basic family and vacation photographer and would like your images to shine a bit more, these programs might be right for you.

The next level up is actually a fairly major jump and targets the more serious photographer. The best examples are Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Lightroom. The jump is in the level of sophistication of the tools and how much they align themselves with advanced photography. If terms like "white balance" or "exposure compensation" feel intimidating, these programs may not be right for you at this point. Aperture and Lightroom are the software equivalents of  "prosumer" digital SLR cameras. They can still be run in a pretty automatic fashion, but the real power lies in their ability to customize and tweak per the user's photographic expertise. For the most part, these controls are all global, meaning they affect the entire image. Like the basic level, these programs also assist with image organization, but again with a nod towards the serious photographer. If you are that serious photographer, these programs might be your better choice; they are tailored just for you.

At the top of the heap, we have Photoshop. The camera equivalent would be the professional DSLR or medium and large format cameras.  I once heard it said that for any question that starts with "Can you..." and ends with "with Photoshop," the answer is yes. I believe it. It is an amazing program, limited only by your imagination (and your ability to drive it). Photoshop can do all that the programs mentioned above can do plus a lot more. In addition to image enhancement, it excels at image alteration (goodbye ex-spouse) and even in creating imagery. Most importantly, changes need not be global; you have the ability to select specific areas for targeted changes or enhancements. (The whole organize-your-photos thing is not part of Photoshop but Adobe Bridge, which is included with Photoshop, handles that.)

So is Photoshop overkill? Maybe it is if your needs are not that broad. But a word of warning... Image editing is habit-forming. If you settle for something less, it may just be a matter of time before you give in and graduate to this golden standard.

Steve Farnow consults and writes on the graphic arts. His books specialize in teaching the 20% of a program you will use 80% of the time, getting you up and running quickly and easily. Check out his new eBook, Photoshop-Just the Skinny at Learn Photoshop. It will have you up and running in a weekend, teaching you just what you need, just the skinny.

The Development of Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a software standard for many professional graphic artists. It features many powerful tools that can do basic to advanced image manipulation efficiently with outstanding results. Photoshop is one of the prides of Adobe Systems, a company leader in developing graphic applications.

Photoshop is an ideal software in producing great quality output for web designs, advertisements, posters, photography, desktop publishing, and many other graphic works.

The latest development of the product is the Photoshop CS4, which will be released in September 2008. It features more advanced tools for enhancing images.

Features overview:

o Capable of painting directly on 3D graphics

o Wrap 2D images around 3D shapes

o Convert gradient maps to 3D objects

o Give depth to text and layers

o Better print quality output together with the inclusion of latest ray-tracing providing engine

o Supports common 3D formats

o Improved Adjustment and Mask Panels

o Fluid Canvas Rotation

o File display options

o 64 bit compatible

Presently there are eight products of the Photoshop software:

o Adobe Photoshop CS3

o Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended

o Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Macintosh

o Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Windows

o Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 & Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0

o Adobe Photoshop Express beta

o Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

o Adobe Photoshop CS4

Adobe Photoshop can seamlessly work with other Adobe products such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Adobe Encore DVD.

Photoshop uses the color models lab, RGB, CMYK, binary bitmap, grayscale, and duotone. It is capable of reading and writing both raster or vector images such as EPS, PNG, GIF, JPEG, Fireworks, and many other file formats.

The traditional file formats of Photoshop are:

o PSD - Photoshop Document

o PSB - Large Document Format

o PDD - PhotoDeluxe Document

Thomas Knoll was the key person who started this amazing program we know today. It all started in 1987 when Knoll wrote a program in order to display grayscale images on his Macintosh Plus. He was able to display monochrome images in his computer. He named his program Display.

Upon knowing this, John Knoll, Thomas' brother who was then working at Industrial Light and Magic, convinced Thomas to develop it into a full image editing software. Thomas spent six months together with his brother in developing the software. From the name Display, they changed it to ImagePro. Adobe would buy license several years later and rename it to Photoshop.

Barneyscan, a company that manufactures scanners decided to bundle the software with their products. 200 copies of the software were shipped. The software was then demonstrated by John Knoll at the Silicon Valley and Adobe impressed everybody, and later decided to purchase the license. After further developments, Photoshop 1.0 was then released to the market in 1990 but for Macintosh only.

Eventually, more developments have been made with Photoshop. The Windows version was made available eventually and reached a larger market.

Because of the popularity of the software, it was developed to support many other languages like Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.

Third party plug-ins are also supported by Photoshop. These plug-ins provide more additional effects, which can be applied instantly to any images. Example is brush plug-ins.

For more information on Photoshop Tutorials and Photoshop Newbies please visit our website.

Try Out Simpler Adobe Elements Photoshop Elements Tutorials

Precisely what is the Adobe Elements software program? They are applications that have the capability to create even the simplest photograph most beautiful and also spectacular. The Photoshop element within Adobe is usually aimed towards novice photography lovers. Even the digital imaging aficionado and small-time business customers are able to use it. It's essentially developed round the primary elements of Adobe. It features a photo editor software kit plus a photo manager. There are several great artwork and also quite a few sharing options. It's type of a ready-made deal however it includes a few disadvantages as well. The overall performance is a bit slow and problems happen regularly.

Elements actually is an intricate program and it's not easy to master it from the word go. So in order to try it out, it will be a shrewd plan to work with some test photos. The most effective choice should be to work with a photographic impression. However, you can also use images from your own digital camera or perhaps the clip art. You may use images that you have downloaded from the web. If you get stuck check out a few on-line Adobe Photoshop Elements tutorials as well as the following beginner guidelines.

After you have the images, something that eludes you may be the resolution. Resolution is a continual issue. But with the help of Adobe elements you can alter the resolution of the photograph. Adobe Elements can easily move the dots closely or even can eliminate the dots completely. But do not assume 50 dots to become 500 dots. This can confuse this program plus your graphic will appear hazy.

Are you aware that Adobe has come up with more advanced packages? The brand new Adobe's consumer photo editing program is very good as it can certainly run using Intel Mac PCs plus the PowerPC Mac PCs. Adobe has put together the newest version Adobe Elements 8. It's loaded with many amazing things. For instance, within the welcome screen the usual organize, share and also edit options were transferred to the task bar which is almost inconspicuous. This program is cheaper compared to Photoshop as well as the Lightroom, yet is a ultra powerful device regarding retouching pictures.

Most of the time, people do not comprehend just which Adobe Elements version to work with. However do you realize that Adobe Elements are specifically designed just for the novices. Photoshop on the other hand is for people who wish to enjoy a lot more sophisticated solutions in their photo retouching. Therefore for any beginner it is advisable to start photo modifying by using Adobe Elements and then slowly move on to Adobe Photoshop.

Amateurs are often guaranteed that they'll take 4-5 days or even more, to master Adobe Elements. But with professionally created video tutorials you can actually understand inside 2 hours the basic uses of Adobe Photoshop Elements computer software. The only real three items you should get better at are how to smudge, blur as well as sharpen pictures. These tools tend to be ample with regard to modifying your digital photos.

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Tutorial For Adobe Photoshop - Photoshop Made Easy

If you talk to a web developer or a graphic designer or even a photography aficionado about Photoshop, they will go into raptures about its abilities. It is a fact though that Photoshop is able to perform many more functions than its name might allude to.

Editing and repairing photos apart this software is capable of creating almost boundless imagery. But before one gets to be good enough to do that one should get one's basics right. The first thing you have to learn is that projects in Photoshop come with different layers. Layer one could contain your stock, layer two might keep your background and layer three might have brushing. You can always play around with these layers to create dramatic effects. To access a layer, click the box near it so that an eye appears. To make the eye go away, just click again.

In order for you to create a new layer, you can click the sticky note type of display which reads new layer. To get rid of a layer, click on delete layer. When you wish to change the name of the layer, you need to right click on layer properties and change the name.

Stock stands for any picture that you may be planning to use. PSD is a Photoshop document, which is really the project you are undertaking. You need to save it in.psd in file>save as and you will be able to carry on with your work. For other people to view it, it will have to be saved as an image file like.jpg, or.png or.gif in file>save for web.

Brushes on the other hand stand for pretty much what the name suggests. With brushes you can paint on your picture, create things like different swirls, and designs and so on. You start with the basic ones and as you go along you might want to download better ones. To be able to use these brushes you would have to get the file into the Photoshop folder, which by default would be C:/program files/adobe/Photoshop/presets/brushes.

Filters again do what you might expect them to do. You can pass your pictures through Filters to get them a totally different look. Filters can be accessed by going to filter>filter gallery. There is also the option of downloading additional filters. There are quite a few interesting ones. Options such as distort>twirl and gaussian blur allow you to respectively swirl and blur your images

Then there are Gradients which are really palettes of colors. Once you form a gradient map, and drag you will have a rainbow of colors, which you can use as you wish. To be able to access Gradients, you need to click on the shaded box which says gradient tool.

Similarly their other basic tools like Patterns, Textures, Stock Renders/Pre-Cut Stock, The Pen Tool, Image Adjustment Tools and Blending Options need to be understood. Be sure to practice and hone your skills. Really, it is not that difficult to master Photoshop.

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Photo Editing - What Does the Future Hold?

There is change in the air in photo editing software. For the first time in over a decade, Photoshop, which so dominates photo editing that its name is synonymous with touch up, might be vulnerable to new competitors. How is this possible? Photoshop dominates high end photo editing because it is the industry standard, around which users, educators and gurus gather, to form an extensive network of knowledge about the software. This intellectual investment by millions of users makes it hard for other software packages to gain a foothold.

So hard, in fact, that it would require a new and significantly easier and better way of doing things, before a standard like Photoshop could be challenged at all. Photoshop and similar traditional photo editing programs such as Paint Shop Pro, have grown over many years to become large collections of complex tools. It is because of this complexity that a whole Photoshop industry including 'how to' magazines, tutorial websites, books etc has grown around the software.

This is both the strength and weakness of Photoshop. The tool set is extensive and powerful, so just about any effect is possible, but, and this is a very big but, only if the user has the knowledge, technical skill and most importantly, the time necessary to achieve the effects he wants. Further, the great bulk of Photoshop's tools are essentially electronic versions of the traditional stencils, brushes, etc. that artists have always used. Just as a brush is useless unless its owner has the technical skill to know how to use it, so are Photoshop's tools useless without extensive technical training.

But software does not have to be complex and dumb. In fact, just as artists in the past had human assistants, so software, which has been suitably trained, can also assist artists in their work. For example, Portrait Professional software is designed to automatically beautify faces in photographs. To achieve this, the software has actually been 'trained' in human beauty, using many hundreds of portrait photographs. So the software has learnt statistically what tends to make faces more or less beautiful. This is very different from typical photo editing tools, which have no inbuilt concept of beauty at all.

So how does this work in practical terms? After the user has marked up 5 key points on the face, the software analyses the face that is to be enhanced, and compares it with its statistical beauty model. Based on the variance between the face and the model, the software then creates a custom set of slider controls to adjust different aspects of the face, as required. For instance, there is a slider to adjust the jaw line. The effect of this slider on the jaw will vary depending on what the jaw looks like: bulking it if it is weak, or reducing it if there is a double chin. In this sense that the software 'knows' how to help the touch up artist enhance the picture.

This approach of offering intelligent software that creates 'custom' tools depending on the needs of the particular subjects constitutes a step change in photo editing software. As the software becomes more intelligent, the requirement for purely technical skills will reduce and the emphasis will shift only to vision. This in turn has ramifications for photography and graphics as a whole. Just as cameras going digital has reduced the need for specialist photographers, as well as hugely increasing the number of actual photos taken, so as photo editing software becomes more intelligent and easier to use, more photographers and designers will do their own touch up and the need for specialist touch up artists will decline.

And all in all this will be a good thing. We will shift from a world where mastering complex technical skills is a prerequisite for photo editing to a world were the technical stuff is easy, and where what matters is the quality of the vision of the photographer. And freedom from endless technical tinkering and Photoshop tutorials can only be a good thing.

So, interesting times for Adobe, Photoshop and the photo editing establishment. Will Photoshop evolve or die? Whatever the future brings, the emergence of easy to use, lower cost alternatives to Photoshop such as Portrait Professional can only be good news for photographers and creatives everywhere.

Alex McCall is an employee of Anthropics Technology, which makes Portrait Professional photo editing software. Find out more about the program at http://www.portraitprofessional.com