An Entirely New Digital Photography Experience

Adobe Systems Inc.’s senior vice president for Digital Imaging and Digital Video Products, Bryan Lamkin declared a full summary of Photoshop CS2’s enhanced features and capabilities during its release. He said that Photoshop CS2 pushes the envelope with powerful features and simplified workflows that provide photographers and creative professionals the freedom to deliver stunning images. SLRs of Photoshop CS2 are expected to be shipped this year. Many photographers are already intent in making Photoshop CS2 their very own digital darkroom.

Photoshop CS2 is an integration of advanced tools that are especially for digital photographers, graphics and video professionals. It has a new set of integrated intuitive tools, an enhanced Spot Healing Brush for handling common photographic problems. Some of the things that Spot Healing Brush could do are remove blemishes, red-eyes, noise, blurring and lens distortion.

A feature called Smart Objects provides users the ability to scale and transform images and vector illustrations. Image quality is not lessened by the transformation. It can also create linked duplicates of embedded graphics. With this tool, a single edit updates across multiple iterations.

Photoshop CS2 also responds to requests from film, broadcast and video professionals by allowing non-destructive editing and the creation and editing of 32-Bit High Dynamic Range (HDR images). This is ideal for 3D rendering and advanced compositing. A new direct export feature also allows FireWire Previews to be viewed on a television monitor.

New tools like the Vanishing Point and Image Warping enable Photoshop CS2 users to test the limits of creativity. Vanishing Point can cut tedious graphic and photo retouching tasks. This is because Vanishing Point allows users to clone, paint and transform image objects while still retaining visual perspective. It can also reinvent workflows like product packaging development. Meanwhile, Image Warping enables easier folding, stretching, pulling, twisting and wrapping of an image into shape. This is done by selecting an on-demand preset or dragging custom control points.

Finding and working with digital photos and images will also be easier with Photoshop CS2. It’s File Browser has been upgraded to Adobe Bridge, functioning as a hub for productivity, imagery and creativity. It provides multi-view file browsing and smooth cross-product integration across the Adobe Creative Suite 2 software.
Adobe Bridge allows access to Adobe Stock Photos across five elite stock image providers. This delivers a high-quality, royalty-free images for layout and design.

The new Camera Raw 3.0 is also integrated within the Photoshop CS2. Its main workflow allows settings for multiple raw files for simultaneous modifications. Aside from batch processing of raw files, to JPEG, TIFF, DNG or PSD formats Camera Raw can be done in the background without having to launch the main Photoshop. Its integrated non-destructive cropping and straightening controls allow raw files to be easily prepared for the final output.

Task-based menu presets also simplifies Photoshop's rich interface and makes it easier to find the features needed for user’s specific work. The Multiple Layer Controls speeds editing and enables simultaneous selection and manipulation of numerous layers within a file.

This month, Photoshop CS2 for Mac OS X, Windows 2000 or Windows XP will begin shipping to customers in United States and Canada. It will be available at an estimated street price of US$599 and licensed users of any previous version of Photoshop can upgrade for US$149. It is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 2. -30-