Having recently reviewed Quark on here I thought I should also give a review on Photoshop as it is another program that I use on a daily basis.
Photoshop is a photo editing program which again as with quark I started when I was 17 (long time ago now) and at college studying Graphic Design, being young and having never used the program before I thought it was amazing, I didn't realize that there where programs out there that could do so much to pictures.
How times have changed, this program has been re-released several times since I first started using it and it has come on in leaps and bounds, it is now an even more amazing program which is packed full of features, you can pretty much do anything you like to a picture, it certainly makes me think twice when I see a picture in a newspaper or magazine, you never know what could have been done to adjust it.
At first this program looks like it could be very complicated to use, but once you spend a bit of time playing with it you will be amazed at how quickly you pick it up. It is a program designed for professionals but I also think its ideal for home use as well.
It has a very basic layout to it, you have all of you options along the top (file, edit, images, layer, select etc), you click on these to find all of your sub categories so you can adjust the size of you canvas, the colour, add layers and filters. Now the filters are the interesting bit (I use these a lot), in this section you can completely change the look of a photo, for example if you want a photo to look like a water painting then you can do it here or you can even make it look like a photocopy (the list is endless). I have a lot of funs with the filters, I love putting my mates heads on various cartoon characters, it very amusing.
You also have various windows with tools in, to you left is the main tool box, which has all of the drawing tools in (pen, pencil rubber etc) and to your right you have the layers window, history, colour etc. You can select which ones you want to see, I only tend to have a couple showing as it can get a bit cluttered.
After using this program for over 10 years now I still find myself learning new things about it on a weekly basis so don't expect to learn how to use very aspect of this program in a few hours. If you are new to the program though it has some very helpful tutorials which teach you all about using the tools and layers etc and there are also some very handy websites which give you step by step instructions on how to create certain effects (I even use these sometimes), just Google search Photoshop tutorials and it brings up loads of free websites to help you along you way.
Like other professional programs this on is not cheap, you are looking at paying around £600 for it, but I think its well worth the price tag. You can get a demo of this program so you can try before you buy.
This program is very easy to install, its available for either a PC or Mac, and roughly takes around 10 minutes to install.
A must for designers, amazing program packed with features
Adobe Photoshop CS4 software offers improved access to its unrivaled power with the new ... more
more intuitive Adjustments and Masks panels, which put image-editing tools at your fingertips. Accelerated graphics handling delivers incredibly smooth painting, pa...
Postage & Packaging: £3.25 Availability: Next Day Delivery
Advantages: Runs on 64 bit processors properly. Uses the graphics card properly. Disadvantages: Expensive to upgrade if you don't need the technical benefits. Most features are the same.
Advantages: Superb finish, unbelivable outfut and detail that can be manipulated, changed, created. Disadvantages: cumbersome and overwhelming for 1st time users.
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