Adobe just announced a new version of Photoshop, as well as all the other applications that usually go along with a new Photoshop release (Illustrator, Premiere, etc.) There are about three dozen new features and feature enhancements, some of which are admittedly breathtaking and dramatically shift the enthusiasm for being a great Photographer top being a great Photoshopper. As with every new Photoshop version, the question remains: Is there enough reason to upgrade, or do you skip this release? Update:Second Look: Photoshop CS5 Core Features
Photoshop CS5 and CS5 Extended
When you talk about spending $1000 for the full version of a new software, you are talking about a serious investment and you would expect serious value in return. And even at $350 for the upgrade (for CS5 Extended, $200 for CS5 Basic), most of us would wonder what it is you get in return rather than shelling out your money no questions asked, even if Photoshop remains the ultimate image editing tool.
I have had a week or so to play with Photoshop CS5 Extended beta (code-named White Rabbit), and I found myself favoring the software over CS4 Extended for a few key reasons and new features. Here are the most substantial new features in CS5 (from a list of over 30 you can look up on Adobe’s website), which I believe will attract the lion’s share of attention in this release.
- HDR Toning to enable HDR effects on regular pictures
- HDR Pro to provide more HDR features
- Content aware fill and deletion and replacement of image content
- Enhanced panorama capability with content aware features
- Simplifications of complex selections
- True 3D effects
- Automated correction of lens distortions
Being a photography enthusiast, I have been personally looking forward to HDR Pro and the panorama enhancements. I’ll mention those first, because I can’t honestly say how well they work as both of them crashed repeatedly on my test system and I was not able to see these new features work on my PC. However, I was treated to a live demonstration with Adobe representatives and needless to say, the features do work and this may really be a beta issue here.
When it works, HDR Pro provides detailed control of HDR effects. Photoshop has finally (or unfortunately, depending on your view) arrived at the level of third party tools and provides those fancy high-dynamic range effects that give a dull picture a supernatural look. But in effect, there are no new features per se, Adobe simply combined controls into one window to give you immediate access to gamma, exposure, saturation, sharpening, vibrance, shadow and highlights. Like so many new features in CS5, HDR Pro is much more a productivity enhancement than something entirely new.
HDR Pro in CS5 - from the PR materials - sorry, the software just kept crashing on my PC, so you have to take Adobe's word for it.
Also, the panorama feature crashed repeatedly on my PC. What is new (when it works) is an addiction that will enable you to create much more complete panoramas than before. Stitching panoramas together often meant that you had to cut of a lot of content from the edges in the final composition. A new features solves this problem as content (such as sky or water) is added to help preserve the dimensions of the original pictures.
What did work was HDR Toning, which simulates HDR effects in a single picture without the need of several more images that provide different exposures. Again, this is not something you cannot do in CS4, it is just much more convenient in CS5. The results are not the same you would get from multiple pictures as you really can expect the software to guess details that just aren’t there. But it is darn close and if you want to impress friends, family and colleagues, it does the job.
HDR Toning Example - this is the dull example and ...
... this is the optimized version with HDR Toning applied.
Read on the next page: Huge potential: Content aware fill and deletion; 3D extrusions and paint effects
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