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.