Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the most widely used software application for photographers, digital artists, web designers, and other creative professionals. And for good reason too: it’s an all-purpose software that’s embraced by hobbyists and professionals alike. If you have a digital art project you’re working on, chances are Photoshop can help.

Adobe-Photoshop

The Industry Standard

Just in name alone, Adobe Photoshop has become synonymous with image editing and manipulation--not just with professional photographers, but with digital artists of all kinds across the globe.

Photoshop is renown as an all-purpose software program. It works well for any type of project you’re working on including flyers, business cards, and even animated GIFs.

Generally, Photoshop is used to edit 2D images, although it does offer some 3D image editing functionality in recent versions. Photoshop includes an image analysis feature and can be used to prepare images for online or print formats.

Adobe Photoshop CC, the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop available by subscription, is considered to be the professional-level version of the Photoshop products. Photoshop CC is an advanced imaging software program used by designers, web professionals, video editors, and photographers to alter or manipulate digital images.

Version 21, released in 2020, includes tons of exciting new features for digital art professionals. One of these new features is the object selection tool for better automated complex selections. It allows users to make a quick selection of an object in an image or a photo--reducing the tedious tracing around an object required in previous versions--with the click of a button.

Other new features include the remove background tool which can extract the background of an image instantaneously; as well as zoom to layer content, converting text to vector, a new properties panel, and new keyboard shortcuts for paint and brush.

Version 21 also saw the release of Photoshop’s availability on iPad. Although Photoshop’s iPad version does not include all of the features available on the desktop version, users can now save cloud documents and work across Mac, Windows, and iPad.

The full functionality of Adobe Photoshop might not be for all users; its robust, tool heavy interface might prove too much for the novice. For that reason, Adobe offers a simpler, more user-friendly version called Adobe Photoshop Elements that trades complexity in for a more hands-on, intuitive form of image manipulation (see our fifth choice in this list).

Adobe Photoshop CC is available for use on Windows, Mac, and iPad platforms with a $9.99 per month subscription.

Pros

Includes a multitude of top-tier design tools and features

Works well for any type of project

Can edit many different image formats

Works seamlessly across Mac, Windows, and iPad

Cons

Interface can be overwhelming for novices

Requires power graphics card and processor speed for full benefits

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