ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS4 / NEW FEATURES
with chris orwig

Whenever a new version of Photoshop comes out I am initially very excited. Yet, after the hype settles, I tend to ask myself, "Ok, what's the real (i.e. non-marketing) scoop here and is this version worth the upgrade?"

Well, after having used CS4 for months now, I can truly say it is an excellent release and I'm still excited about it! Adobe has once again provided a tool that helps me to be more efficient, more productive and more creative. You'll have to make the decision for yourself, yet below are a few of my thoughts/highlights on a handful of the new features.

This list is in no way exhaustive, yet it will get you started. In addition, there is one new feature that isn't on the list because it is hard to verbalize. And that is the overall improved experience of using CS4 - it is so much better! Again, you'll have to discover that for yourself. For now, I hope these new feature highlights help you get the most out of CS4.

Cheers,

chrisorwig.com - photography portfolio

lynda.com - chris orwig's video training

amazon.com - chris orwig's adobe press books

brooks.edu - where i teach

Performance and Navigation

I'm a bit of a functionalist and I'm happy to say that Photohsop CS4 runs fast and furious! Part of this is how the application runs, another part is how Photoshop takes advantage of and taps into the power of the Graphics chip (i.e. the whole GPU acceleration deal). In sum, the new performance features in CS4 help you do what you need to do... and do it much more quickly.

Here are a couple of noteworthy performance and navigation features. For starters, you no longer have to zoom into 25%, 50% etc to get an accurate view. Everything looks great at any magnification! In addition, zoom in past 500% you will see a little grid that separates the pixels. This helps achieve pixel accurate editing. You can also zoom into 3200%.

In addition, you can navigate with new fluidity. Take advantage of "Flick panning" which allows you to "hand toss pixels" and across your images with incredible speed. Or try this one, press and hold the Zoom tool for a new fluid zoom.

In closing, here is a bonus "Bird's eye view" navigation tip. Have you noticed that the navigator panel is now hidden by default. Well not to worry. Press and hold the H (Hand Tool) key + click and access a navigator rectangle that works exactly like the navigator panel (see screen grab below).

Camera Raw

I'm a photographer, and as a result I spend a lot of time in Camera Raw (whether in Lightroom or Photoshop). The new Camera Raw features are epic. The Adjustment Brush allows you to "paint" in adjustments to specific areas - think burn/doge, whiten teeth, smooth skin, etc. The Graduated Filter works great when you need to darken skies or brighten the foreground. Previously, you were not able to view the crop until you exited Camera Raw. Now press Enter/Return to view the new crop. Next, you can add a Post-Crop Vignette darkening or brightening effect.

Mask Panel

The Mask Panel opens up a whole new way of working with masks. For example, you can now change the Density of the mask. Think of this control like overall intensity. Or if you know a thing or two about masks, think of this as a way to change the brightness/darkness value of the mask. In addition, you can enhance your mask edges with the new Feather control.

Adjustments Panel

The new Adjustments Panel will transform how you work in Photoshop. The idea was to create a way to access the adjustments quickly. The adjustments are grouped into Tone and Color, Color and Specialty adjustments. Click on an icon to create an adjustment layer.

Bridge

With the release of Lightroom, the Adobe Bridge has taken a bit of a beating. Yet, the new Bridge is solid. The interface has been redesigned, it runs more quickly and it works better. In addition, there are some new/or improved features like Fullscreen mode, Workspace Customization and the Bridge review mode (see below) to name a few.

Content Aware Scaling

The is the new "wow" feature that gets the crowds to applause when they see it. Basically, it is a way to scale your images without loosing quality or "structural" integrity of the image. In the example below I scaled the height and width of the photo without any loss of important detail or background degradation.

Dodge and Burn Tools

These two tools have been completely overhauled with the new "Protect Tones" option. Turn this on to maintain color relationships while brightening or darkening areas of your image. Long story short, these rock!

Live Brush Preview

Cloning and Healing just got easier with Live Preview. Now you can actually see what you are going to clone/heal inside your brush. To toggle this off press option/alt.

Vibrance Adjustment

Just like in Lightroom and Camera Raw Vibrance allows you to make non-linear saturation adjustments. In other words, it only saturates less saturated colors. For example, add color to a photograph of a person without their skin tones becoming over saturated.

Target Adjustment Tool - Hue/Sat, Curves and Black and White

This is another one of those "Oh wow!" new features. Click on this tool while using Hue/Sat, Curves, Black and White and then click and drag on your image to change that particular area. Once you start using this tool it will be hard to imagine life without it!

For those or you who are Mac users, here are a few Mac only improvements:

MultiTouch Gestures

This one is just for MacBook pro users. If you have one, you can use those pinch to scale gestures (just like with the iPhone) right in Photoshop and Bridge. It may sound a bit gimmicky but it is actually quite functional (apart from being really cool).

Application Window (Mac only)

Now you can float the entire application (i.e. you could drag the whole application to another monitor)

16 - Bit Printing

Yep, you read that correctly. You'll need Mac OS X 10.5 to take advantage of this feature.

Rotate Canvas

This is another one of the GPU improvements. It's called rotating canvas. Hold the R key and drag. You will see a compass and the whole canvas rotates. This is helpful when you want to work on specific areas of an image. It also makes Photoshop feel a bit more freed up and less locked into the horizontal or vertical layout.

Brush

There is a new brush preview, and a new way to resize brushes by dragging. This will speed up your brush selection and modification by leaps and bounds!

Control + Alt (Mac) or Alt + Right click (PC) and drag and you will see the brush tip change size. Drag to the left or right to change the size. In the screen grab below the brush preview size is shown in red.

Control+Alt+Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (PC) to change the softness.

Tabbed Documents

Tabbed Documents will help you work more efficiently when you have multiple documents open at one time. Press Control
+ Tab to toggle through the open documents or simple click on a tab to view an image.

Spring Loaded Keys

This is actually one of my favorite improvements. Now you can press and hold a shortcut key to temporarily select a tool. For example if you have the Brush tool select and you make a brush stroke that you want to move. Press and hold the V key, move the brush stroke, let go of the V key and it toggles back to the Brush tool.

Combine Multiple Images

In CS4 you can combine multiple images to create panos or layered extended depth of field images. For starters, Auto - Align works better for regular pano or for images shot with wide angle and even fish eye lenses. In addition, you can now combine multiple images with different depth of field to "extend" the depth of field.

Color Range - Localized Color (spatial awareness)

The Color Range tool has become much more important in CS4 as you can now access it from inside of the Masks Panel in order to modify, enhance, revise your mask. In addition, the new Localized Color Clusters option prevents the color range selection from going overboard and selecting pixels in different areas. Again, the long story short is that this makes Color Range immensely more precise and helpful.

Again, I hope these highlights were helpful!

Cheers,



chrisorwig.com - photography portfolio

lynda.com - chris orwig's video training

amazon.com - chris orwig's adobe press books

brooks.edu - where i teach