Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the market leader for commercial bitmap image manipulation, and probably the most well-known piece of software produced by Adobe Systems. It is considered the industry standard in most, if not all, jobs related to the use of visual elements. It is usually referred to simply as "Photoshop". Photoshop is currently available for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows; versions up to Photoshop 9.0 can also be used with other operating systems such as Linux using software such as CrossOver Office. Past versions of the program were ported to the SGI IRIX platform, but official support for this port was dropped after version 3.
Although primarily designed to edit images for paper-based printing, Photoshop is used increasingly to produce images for the World Wide Web. Recent versions bundle a related application, Adobe ImageReady, to provide a more specialized set of tools for this purpose.
Photoshop also has strong links with other Adobe software for media editing, animation and authoring. Files in Photoshop's native format, .PSD, can be exported to and from Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Adobe Encore DVD to make professional standard DVDs, provide non-linear editing and special effects services such as backgrounds, textures and so on for television, film and the Web. For example, Photoshop CS broadly supports making menus and buttons for DVDs. For .PSD files exported as a menu or button, it only needs to have layers, nested in layer sets with a cueing format and Adobe Encore DVD reads them as buttons or menus.
Photoshop can deal with a number of different color models:
RGB color model
Lab color model
CMYK color model
Grayscale
Bitmap
Duotone
The most recent version, as of 2006, is version 9. This iteration of the program is marketed as "Photoshop CS2". "CS" reflects its integration with "Adobe's Creative Suite" and a number "2" because it is the second version released since Adobe rebranded their products under the CS umbrella. Photoshop CS2 features important new additions such as multiple layer selecting and "warp", a curve-friendly version of the transform tool. For the digital photography enthusiasts, the "reduce grain" filter can help to improve pictures taken in low light. In an effort to break away from previous versions of the application and to reinforce its belonging with the new line of products, Photoshop even dropped one classic graphic feature from its packaging: the Photoshop eye, which was present in different manifestations from versions 3 to 7. Photoshop CS versions now use feathers as a form of identification.
The latest version comes with Adobe Camera RAW, a plugin developed by Thomas Knoll which can read several RAW file formats from various digital cameras and import them directly into Photoshop. A preliminary version of the RAW plugin was also available for Photoshop 7.0.1 as a $99 USD optional purchase.
While Photoshop is the industry standard image editing program for professional raster graphics, its relatively high suggested retail price (US $600, approximately) has led to a number of competing graphics tools being made available at lower prices. To compete in this market, and to counter unusually high rates of piracy of their professional products, Adobe has introduced a Photoshop Elements, a version of Photoshop with many professional features removed, for under $100 US; this is aimed firmly at the general consumer market since the feature cuts make it less desirable for prepress work.
File formats
Photoshop has the ability to read and write many common raster and vector image formats. It also has several native file formats:
The PSD (Photoshop Document) format stores an image as a set of layers, including text, masks, opacity, blend modes, color channels, alpha channels, clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is a popular format that is even supported by some of Photoshop's competitors.
The PSB format is a newer version of PSD designed for files over 2 GB.
The PDD format is a version of PSD that only supports the features found in the discontinued PhotoDeluxe software.
Cultural Impact
The term photoshopping is a neologism, meaning "editing an image", regardless of the program used (compare with Google used as a verb). Adobe discourages use of the term [1] out of fear that it will undermine the company's trademark; an alternate term which leaves out the Photoshop reference is "photochop". The term photoshop is also used as a noun referring to the altered image. This is especially popular amongst members of the websites Worth1000, Something Awful, B3ta and where photoshopping is an institution. The goal of altering an image, subtly or blatantly, is to make it humorous or clever, often via the use of obscure in-jokes and pop culture references. Another widespread practice is putting the face of a celebrity onto a nude or pornographic image. Photoshop competitions in all these varieties have become a favorite pastime for many professional and amateur users of the software.
The term is sometimes used with a derogatory intent by artists to refer to images that have been retouched instead of originally produced. A common issue amongst users of all skill levels is the ability to avoid in one's work what is referred to as "the Photoshop look" (although such an issue is intrinsic to many graphics programs).
In recent times, Photoshop has been used for altering and drawing vehicles, usually cars, in a process known as 'photochopping', 'digital-modding', 'photoshopping' or 'virtual-tuning'. About twenty websites of this sort have been established in recent years. The rate of expansion of this 'new' type of art is phenomenal. Although the websites that provide a base for people to 'showoff' their 'chops' are fairly new, 'Photo-manipulated' cars have been in automotive magazines for years.
Even more recent is the so-called "sport" of Photoshop Tennis. A match in this hobby consists of two Photoshop artists passing back and forth (usually via email) a Photoshop image file. Each player will make changes to the file and send it back. After a predetermined number of turns an independent judge will review the edits made and declare a winner. This allows artists to both showcase and hone their Photoshop skills.
In the vein of Photoshop Tennis, artists also engage in collaboration. This hobby consists of two Photoshop artists passing back and forth (usually via email) a Photoshop image file (.psd). Each artist adds elements to the composition, working with the other to create an image. There is not usually an element of competition involved with such an activity.
With the rise of graphics tablets, most notably from Wacom, programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter have been used more and more to create original pieces of art. Using the pressure sensitive tablet can greatly improve the effects of the paint brush, eraser, or other tools. Tablets are used worldwide by professional comic book illustrators, architects, studio artists, etc. Even ILM, the special effects company that worked for the Star Wars films, used tablets combined with Photoshop in post-production.
Development
The brothers Thomas Knoll and John Knoll began development on Photoshop in 1987. Version 1 was released by Adobe in 1990. The program was intended from the start as a tool for manipulating images that were digitized by a scanner, which was a rare and expensive device in those days. |
