Photoshop has become the go-to program for any photographer from novices to professionals when it comes to taking their raw shots and turning them into something magical. I personally have no training in such things, but can appreciate the skill it takes to know exactly how much to alter a certain aspect of a photograph. The whole program seems like the best amusement park ever, but just for photographers and those who know what they are doing. Anyway, I snooped around and found out that the following three features are some of the more popular and innovative ones that you will find in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Paint Engine
One of the more interesting features in Photoshop CS5 is definitely the new paint engine. When painting over a photograph, it lets users blend colors together effortlessly and with great quality. There is even a 3D rendering of what the brush will do that you can see before you actually do anything. If you don’t feel like painting over a photo, you can use it as reference or simply create your own original art with the tools provided. In my opinion, this is a very innovative tool as it goes above and beyond the needs of photographers and starts to creep into Illustrator territory.
Puppet Warp
This is a fun feature that lets users play around with an image, distorting it while keeping the proportions and other things accurate. It is a tool that works with exact precision in mind. Once you select the Puppet Warp tool, a mesh will appear over the image or object. You can turn this mesh off if you want, but it might be helpful to keep it turned on. Then all you have to do is select control points and move your image around them. It sounds very fun to me!
HDR Pro
The last feature I’ll mention here is the HDR Pro feature. This is a tool that lets users essentially combine multiple images, usually various exposures of the same image. Then they can select from tons of different toning presets to set the mood they want, picking bits and pieces from each exposure to create a unique whole. One feature within this feature is the Remove Ghost feature. This lets you isolate one single frame within an image and use that as the master frame. For instance, if you have various exposures of a bird flapping its wings, you can pick which position of the wings you like best.
There you have it, three of the most innovative and useful features of Adobe Photoshop CS5! What are your favorite features?
