Adobe Photoshop CS5
Reviewed by Michele Patterson
Introduction
Photoshop isn’t new and it seems that
anyone who can open the program and work around a photo is a graphic
designer. But for those who have
been doing more then tinkering around for more then a few days, the changes
breath new life into the program and thus it almost feels like a new game. At
least for me, I feel like Adobe has really been listening and making life
easier, but have also brought new challenges to the table by making it so much easier. The new selection tool is a real time
saver, but is it so easy that those who used designers in the past now can do
it on their own?
Getting Started
Installation of the program is a snap, offering no resistance and
no hiccups.
Using the Software
I worked on a few images in Raw and
enjoyed the new plug in, I removed some grain in an image that was taken in the
wrong lighting. While I found this tool to be useful, it is really easy to go
over board because it is so much fun to play with! I had two images that needed
to be merged together, one was an old photo done in sepia and the other taken
recently in a beautiful pasture at 5:00pm with the light flowing down in golden
rays.
The second of the two photos was of a
young woman jumping a horse over a fallen tree. This image was more tedious
then I had hoped. The deceptive clip on the Adobe site shows us how easily it
will be to dissect the hair from the background. Well yes this might be true when you have a brunette on a
blue background, but try a brunette with her hair flying out behind her on a
tree lined background, add to that a horse with mane and tale also free
flowing, hmm not quite as easy as
they make it look. However I have to humbly admit it is easier then it ever was
in the past. After masking this image I masked the sepia image of the Indian
rider, this one was old and grainy. I smoothed the image and cleaned it up as much as I could and then
changed some lighting and added in a bit of color. While the two images will never look the same, they look
better together. As my new image
emerged I realized this was much easier than Photoshop 6 (sadly I only go that
far back) and I really enjoyed the new features I had the opportunity to play
with.
On another image I worked with Puppet Warp. What a cool feature! I first selected my subjects’ neck and
head, used Refine Edge to clean up around her hair (much easier on the blue
ocean) and then moved her head position from straight on to tilted to the
right....Conclusion wow! I was able to use the healing tool to restore ocean
and waves quickly. Then I wanted
to have a little fun and I made her look like a conjoined twin and restored her
original head! Hah, that was fun and it all worked seamlessly.
Conclusion
For the serious
photographer you will love the new features over time. Don’t jump in and think
you’ll have everything figured out in one day. Nothing done well comes easily and possibly that is why it
has taken Adobe this long to get to where they are now. Enjoy all the new features that you can
find
athttp://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/whatsnew/index.html?segment=photography. It’s a purchase you will
enjoy for a long time to come, or at least until the next version comes out and
it blows us over all over again.
