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What's New In Photoshop CS4

Some of the new features in Photoshop CS4 are interesting and useful, although most are of no relevance to new people to Photoshop.

The Interface
The first thing that is different about Photoshop CS4 is the Interface – well that seems to change with every upgrade. A darker tone, an extra Application Bar at the top and small changes to panel docking (palettes are now called 'panels').

Window tabs
Images will now open in the same frame with their individual tabs. They can be dragged out so that they are on their own or the function can be turned off in Preferences.

photoshop cs4 tutorials

Adjustment Layers panel
Talking of panels, Adjustment Layers now have their own panel.
It's easier to create new Adjustment Layers and easier to jump between them and get at their settings. The button icons will create a new AL and the list includes Vibrance and Exposure, as in Camera Raw.

Adjustment Layers can still be created the old way in the Layers panel.

OpenGL Performance
OpenGL improves viewing functions. It comes into operation when the computer has the right video card.
An image will zoom in or out smoothly with one click on the screen.
The scroll wheel will also give smooth zooming.
With it comes 'flick panning' – drag the image across the screen a little and it carries on panning to a new position.
If the 'Enable OpenGL Drawing' box is greyed out, then the computer will not run these functions. It’s not worth the trouble and expense of installing the correct video card, but better to wait until a new computer is bought.

It's certainly one of the more doubtful additions to Photoshop CS4 and it takes up a lot of memory.

photoshop cs4 tutorial Along with OpenGL comes the Rotate View tool. An image can be rotated purely for viewing purposes only. It is not rotating in a destructive sense as happens with the Transform tool. It is said to make retouching easier in some circumstances.

Spring-loaded keys
If you are using one tool, the Pen tool, for example, you can hold down J for the Spot Healing Brush, do a quick repair, release J and carry on with the Pen Tool. Whatever tool you are using, hold down the key for another tool, do a quick action with the second tool, then instantly carry on with the previous tool.

abode photoshop Content-Aware Scale
If the Transform tool is used to reshape an image by making it more horizontal or more vertical, every part of the image becomes distorted.
The Content-Aware Scale function recognizes main content like buildings and people and will change parts of the image without affecting the more important content. Only the pixels for the least important content are affected in the resizing process.
It can be taken further by selecting an area to be protected and just scaling the rest of the image. With this feature, an image can be reshaped to fit a particular layout or the same image can be modified to suit several layout designs.

Clone Stamp
One of the most useful improvements is one of the smallest. The Clone Source panel is already there and it shows a ghost image of the clone area for accurate lining up with the subject.
Now the Clone Stamp tool comes with a preview. Take a sample, move the Clone cursor and the sample can be seen in the cursor. This makes it possible to position the repair precisely over the damaged area.

Camera Raw
Adobe Camera Raw has refinements under the surface.

There is a new:

Adjustment Brush tool (OK);
a Graduated Filter tool (rubbish);
a Targeted Adjustment tool (good);
a Snapshots panel (good);
and a mass of new camera profiles.

Bridge is pepped-up with more speed.

Additions include:

a Collections panel for grouping sets of images;
a loupe magnifier to view image detail better;
PDF Presentations is now in Bridge;
while it also has its own version of Web Photo Gallery.
Preview Mode gives an original display of a folder of images.
It provides large previews which can be rotated, edited and labelled.

Auto Blend Depth of field
Auto Blend is easier to use and has a couple of new methods of aligning images.
Auto-Align and Auto-Blend will merge images with different focus points. A scene might have a lot of depth and be very difficult to get everything sharp, perhaps looking along the length of a wall or maybe an outside scene where the light is extremely poor and a wide aperture has to be used.
When photographing extreme close-ups of small objects, it can be difficult to get everything in focus. This function can come to the rescue. Several photographs can be taken from the same position but with focusing on different points. Auto-Blend can analyse the images and use the best focused points.

Share my screen
Via the internet, a screen can be shared with other users. Individuals can connect with instructors for training sessions and businesses can use it for web conferencing. With an Adobe ID, which is free, up to three people can join in. For larger groups, an Acrobat Connect subscription is required.

Other new bits
Other new bits include more precision in Color Range selection and a Masks panel putting all the mask functions in one place.
Under Proof Setup, an image can be displayed as it will be seen by people with colour blindness.

Is Photoshop CS4 Worth Buying?

I have no reason to change my normal maxim. Go for every second upgrade at the most. For someone with CS3, there's hardly anything here to go mad over. Most of the functions can already be done, although maybe not quite so conveniently.
Users with version CS2 or older will find the upgrade more worthwhile but at the same time, somebody with an older version of Photoshop could probably pick up CS3 at a real bargain price right now.

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