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Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Mac) [OLD VERSION] | List Price: $649.00
Discount Price: $889.00
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Platform: Mac OS X
Brand: Adobe
Binding: CD-ROM
Release Date: 2005-04-28
Features: - Revolutionary Vanishing Point technology lets you clone, paint, and paste elements that automatically match the perspective of the surrounding image area
- Smart Objects perform nondestructive scaling, rotating, and warping of raster and vector graphics with Smart Objects
- Multi-image digital camera raw file processing - process multiple images simultaneously, adjusting exposure, shadows, and brightness and contrast -- all while you continue working
- Image Warp creates packaging mock-ups by wrapping an image around any shape or stretching, curling, and bending an image
- Multiple layer control for selecting, moving, grouping and transforming objects intuitievly
A gem that can be enhanced and polished [Posted on 2005-07-28]
Photoshop is one of the great software products ever created. It has continued to evolve to match the needs of advanced digital photography, offering some really astonishing capabilities -- assuming that you have the time and necessary instructional materials. It has a steep learning curve.
Where Photoshop falls short is in ease of use. Along with features development, Adobe should focus on making the application simpler where possible. Even advanced users can benefit from simplicity. For instance, it could be much easier to crop photos to the conventional 3-to-2 proportion for printing and commercial processing. Adobe could adopt the kiosk method of visual cropping using a moveable box without eliminating the existing approach. It is especially bothersome to work a non-standard image into the 3-2 format, and many commercial processors automatically (and crudely) crop irregularly sized photos instead of fitting them entirely withing he selected print size. Adobe needs to acknowledge the reality of every day use, and offer a simplified solution. The company is a bit slow in this department, as evidenced by how long it took to create a relatively automated way to correct red eye.
There is always a group of users who defend software difficulty of use as they either profit from the time consumption (hourly billing), or it makes makes them feel important to gain mastery over something difficult. Adobe should ignore this minority and make Photoshop easier.
One nit that I pick with recent versions is that they have made the blur tool more clumsy. A high-pixel file need be viewed at 100 percent, or it is virtually impossible to see the effect of blurring. That wasn't necessary in the past, and it shouldn't be now.
Photoshop is a gem that Adobe can continue to polish and enhance.
Update Oct 06: Due to persistent screen redraw problems using Photoshop. Thus I have run into Adobe's unbelievably awful file-by-file "uninstall" process for CS2. It is the worst I've encountered for any OSX application and I would bring this down to three stars if it were possible. Adobe should be ashamed.
WOW. Great new features. [Posted on 2005-10-20]
I love the new exposure and gama correction tools as well as the perspective filter. This application did cause me to do a complete system overhall but NOW my Mac runs like an Olympian. The more robust and powerful this application gets, the more taxing it is on your system. A few things have chaged, such as how you link and select layers but after getting used to it I believe it is an improvement. Adobe Bridge (the replacement for the file browser) is an awsome application too, allowing you to run batches in both Illustrator and InDesign as well as Photoshop. You can preview documents in most formats also. As a professional designer and photographer this application is indespensible.
The best photo editing software in the industry is now even better [Posted on 2005-12-11]
If you're like me, you've probably been using Photoshop for years. It seems that Adobe has done it again and made the best photo editing software in the industry even better. Adobe has done their homework and listened to the users. They have made Photoshop more powerful by tweaking some existing features and developed new features as well.
For example, the browser used to be a little tedious to use when reviewing photos or PSD files. Now, in Photoshop CS2, Adobe has no only upgraded this feature, but now it is it's own standalone program called Adobe Bridge.
Adobe Bridge has several advantages over the old browser. You can preview many different types of files in Bridge simultaneously such as Illustrator, InDesign, Quicktime movies, PDFs and all of the standard previous image formats (jpg, gif, raw, etc.). An added feature is since Bridge is a stand alone program, you can work with RAW images and manage them without even opening Photoshop, thus freeing up some memory (RAM).
In the new program, you can easily scale the thumbnails you are viewing to fit the Bridge screen. This allows to you see as much of the thumbnail as you need to. This is a great feature especially when you are browsing several images that are similar. You can increase the scale of the thumbnails to better see the differences. You can also choose from a few different types of workspaces (filmstrip, thumbnails, details and variations). This is similar to viewing the files in MS Windows folder view, only better.
In Photoshop CS2 itself, there are some great new features. Here's a few:
* Enhanced Layers palette - This feature has been improved to allow users to select and work with multiple layers. You can select (without linking) and transform multiple layers all at once. Linking is still an available feature when you need it. The Layers palette also provides access to Photoshop's new Smart Objects feature. Smart Objects can be imported vector art or any group of vector or raster layers you've already created. The nice thing about smart objects are that they are non-destructive to the original image.
* Smart Guides - This is one of the almost invisible new features. Smart Guides appear when you are dragging layers. As one layer approaches another, the guides appear to assist you in positioning the layers correctly near or around one another.
* Vanishing Point - Previously, it was always a little challenging when trying to warp text onto another layer. For instance, warping text onto a wall, cup, etc. Vanishing Point allows you to warp text across 3D planes. You can also clone, paint and move the objects on the planes. It is much easier than the previous method of warping, and the end result looks much more natural.
* Image Warping - Along with Vanishing Point, you can now use the Image Warping feature to warp images. This works with Vanishing Point to allow the user to warp images as easily as warping text. This is great for creating perspectives by warping photos, logos and even imported vector graphics onto almost any surface.
* New Font Preview - This is one thing we have all been asking for. You can now get a WYSIWYG view of the fonts when you select them from the font dropdown menu. You can even change the size of the preview and turn it on or off.
* Smart Sharpen - For photo correction, the new Smart Sharpen feature is available. This feature allows you to sharp like some of the existing filters. However, it goes a step future and allows you to correct the image without increasing the noise in the shadows. Users can also directly control the sharpening effects in both the shadow and highlight areas.
* Lens Correction - Another correction filter is Lens Correction. This filter allows users to correct many different lens distortions including chromatic aberrations, vignetting and transform perspectives with horizontal and vertical controls.
* New Blurs - Photoshop CS2 now has new blur filters available including Smart Blur, Shape Blur and Box Blur.
* Flash Galleries - The Web Gallery now includes two new options for the display, both of which use Flash to power these galleries. The Web Gallery features is now also available in Adobe Bridge, as well as Photoshop CS2.
* New Brush Tools - The Healing Brush has an added mode called Spot Healing. Spot Healing allows users to heal without first setting a sample area. Another tools that is helpful is the Redeye Reduction tool. You simply select the tool from your palette and draw a marquee around the eyes and voila! The redeye is gone.
These are a few of the new features now available in Photoshop CS2.
All in all, if you are already using Photoshop, the new CS2 version is worth the upgrade to make things easily and to avoid some previous frustrate or tedious work. In my opinion, just the new functionality of the layers palette and the font previews make it worth the upgrade, not to mention the other features.
If you are not using Photoshop CS2, now is the time to step up to the professional grade and work in the big leagues.
Loren Elks, Group Manager
D-MAG.org
easy as 1-2-3 [Posted on 2007-03-20]
prompt delivery and the installation was a "no-brainer". just pop in the disc and you're good to go.
What is not to love about Photoshop? [Posted on 2007-05-04]
Awesome. Just awesome. The product just keeps getting better and better.
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