Adobe Photoshop is a
graphics editing programIn computer graphics, graphics software or image editing software is a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate visual images on a computer....
developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Adobe's 2003 "
Creative SuiteAdobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The collection consists of Adobe's applications , that are based on various technologies...
" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the
12th major releaseThis table shows the Adobe Photoshop release history in a chart, starting with the first versions by independent creators Thomas and John Knoll in the summer of 1988. The license to distribute the program was purchased by Adobe Systems in September 1988....
of Adobe Photoshop. The CS rebranding also resulted in Adobe offering numerous software packages containing multiple Adobe programs for a reduced price. Adobe Photoshop is released in two editions:
Adobe Photoshop, and
Adobe Photoshop Extended, with the Extended having extra 3D image creation, motion graphics editing, and advanced image analysis features. Adobe Photoshop Extended is included in all of Adobe's Creative Suite offerings except Design Standard, which includes the Adobe Photoshop edition.
Alongside Photoshop and Photoshop Extended, Adobe also publishes
Photoshop ElementsAdobe Photoshop Elements is the consumer version of the Adobe Photoshop raster image editing product, targeted at hobbyist users and hence sold at a fraction of the cost of the professional product. It contains most of the features of the professional version but with fewer and simpler options...
and Photoshop Lightroom, collectively called "The Adobe Photoshop Family". In 2008, Adobe released
Adobe Photoshop ExpressAdobe Photoshop Express is a Flash-based image editing web application from Adobe used to directly edit photos on blogs and social networking sites, so that users do not have to download or upload images...
, a free
web-basedA web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
image editing tool to edit photos directly on blogs and social networking sites; in 2011 a version was released for the Android operating system and the
iOSiOS is an operating system for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV.IOS may also refer to:-Companies and organisations:* Illinois Ornithological Society, American state-based bird club...
operating system.
Adobe only supports Windows and Macintosh versions of Photoshop, but using
WineWine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...
Photoshop CS4 can run on Linux.
Early history
In 1987,
Thomas KnollThomas Knoll is an American software engineer best known for initiating the development of Adobe Photoshop. He was the lead developer until version CS4, and currently contributes to work on the Camera Raw plug-in to process raw images from cameras.Knoll was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and...
, a PhD student at the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
began writing a program on his
Macintosh PlusThe Macintosh Plus computer was the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2599...
to display
grayscaleIn photography and computing, a grayscale or greyscale digital image is an image in which the value of each pixel is a single sample, that is, it carries only intensity information...
images on a monochrome display. This program, called Display, caught the attention of his brother
John KnollJohn Knoll is a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic . One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop , he is recently best known for his work as Visual Effects Supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy...
, an Industrial Light & Magic employee, who recommended Thomas turn it into a fully-fledged image editing program. Thomas took a six month break from his studies in 1988 to collaborate with his brother on the program, which had been renamed ImagePro. Later that year, Thomas renamed his program Photoshop and worked out a short-term deal with scanner manufacturer Barneyscan to distribute copies of the program with a
slide scannerIn computing, an image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop scanner where the document is placed on a glass...
; a "total of about 200 copies of Photoshop were shipped" this way.
During this time, John traveled to
Silicon ValleySilicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
and gave a demonstration of the program to engineers at Apple and Russell Brown, art director at
AdobeAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
. Both showings were successful, and Adobe decided to purchase the license to distribute in September 1988. While John worked on plug-ins in California, Thomas remained in
Ann ArborAnn Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
writing program code.
Photoshop 1.0 was released in 1990 for Macintosh exclusively.
Features
Photoshop uses color models
RGBThe RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light is added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors...
, lab,
CMYKThe CMYK color model is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key...
,
grayscaleIn photography and computing, a grayscale or greyscale digital image is an image in which the value of each pixel is a single sample, that is, it carries only intensity information...
, binary
bitmapIn computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap, it commonly refers to...
, and
duotoneDuotone is a halftone reproduction of an image using the superimposition of one contrasting color halftone over another color halftone. This is most often used to bring out middle tones and highlights of an image...
. Photoshop has the ability to read and write
rasterIn computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...
and
vectorVector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
image formats such as
.EPSEncapsulated PostScript, or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions which is intended to be usable as a graphics file format...
, .PNG,
.GIFThe Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
, and
.JPEGIn computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
. Photoshop has ties with other Adobe software for media editing, animation, and authoring.
File format
The
.PSD (Photoshop Document), Photoshop's native format, stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, color spaces,
ICC profileIn color management, an ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space, according to standards promulgated by the International Color Consortium...
s, transparency, text, alpha channels and
spot colorIn offset printing, a spot color is any color generated by an ink that is printed using a single run.The widely spread offset-printing process is composed of four spot colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key commonly referred to as CMYK...
s,
clipping pathA clipping path is a closed vector path, or shape, used to cut out a 2D image in image editing software. Anything inside the path will be included after the clipping path is applied; anything outside the path will be omitted from the output...
s, and
duotoneDuotone is a halftone reproduction of an image using the superimposition of one contrasting color halftone over another color halftone. This is most often used to bring out middle tones and highlights of an image...
settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .EPS or .GIF) that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. PSD format is limited to a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels.
.PSB (Photoshop Big) format, also known as "large document format" within Photoshop, is the extension of PSD format to images up to 300,000 pixels in width or height. That limit was apparently chosen somewhat arbitrarily by Adobe, not based on computer arithmetic constraints (it is not close to a significant power of two, as is 30,000) but for ease of software testing. PSD and PSB formats are documented.
Photoshop's popularity means that the .PSD format is widely used, and it is supported to some extent by most competing software. The .PSD file format can be exported to and from
Adobe IllustratorAdobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
,
Adobe Premiere ProAdobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing software application. It is part of the Adobe Creative Suite, a suite of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications developed by Adobe Systems, though it can also be purchased separately. When purchased separately, it comes...
, and
After EffectsAdobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems, used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production. Its main uses are the origination of 2D and 2.5D animation, visual effects compositing and finishing...
, to make professional standard DVDs and provide non-linear editing and special effects services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on, for television, film, and the Web. Photoshop's primary strength is as a pixel-based image editor, unlike
vector-basedVector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
image editors. However, Photoshop also enables the creation, incorporation, and manipulation of vector graphics through its Paths, Pen tools, Shape tools, Shape Layers, Type tools, Import command, and Smart object functions. Utilization of these tools and commands provides convenience when it is desirable to combine pixel-based and vector-based images in one Photoshop document because it can eliminate the necessity to visit more than one software program and transfer files between them. However, for the initial creation of very complex vector graphics that contain numerous shapes and numerous colors, it is much easier to use a software that was created primarily for that purpose, such as
Adobe IllustratorAdobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
or
CorelDrawCorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite...
. If it is then necessary to import the complex vector object into Photoshop, it is possible to import it into Photoshop as a Smart Object. When the Smart Object is double-clicked on Photoshop's layers palette, it is opened in its original software such as
Adobe IllustratorAdobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
where changes can be made, then after saving it, the Smart Object will be automatically updated in Photoshop.
CS3
New productivity features include a streamlined interface, improved Camera RAW support, better control over print options, enhanced PDF support, and better management with
Adobe BridgeAdobe Bridge is an organizational software application created and released by Adobe Systems as a part of the Adobe Creative Suite, beginning with CS2. Its primary purpose is to link the parts of the Creative Suite together using an interface similar to the file browser found in previous versions...
. Editing tools new to CS3 are the Clone Source palette and nondestructive Smart Filters. Other features such as the brightness and contrast adjustment and Vanishing Point module were enhanced. The Black and White adjustment option improves control over manual grayscale conversions with a dialog box similar to that of Channel Mixer. Compositing is assisted with Photoshop's new Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools and improved
image stitchingImage stitching or photo stitching is the process of combining multiple photographic images with overlapping fields of view to produce a segmented panorama or high-resolution image. Commonly performed through the use of computer software, most approaches to image stitching require nearly exact...
technology.
CS3 Extended contains all features of CS3 plus tools for editing and importing some 3D graphics file formats, enhancing video, and comprehensive image analysis tools with
DICOMDICOM is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging. It includes a file format definition and a network communications protocol. The communication protocol is an application protocol that uses TCP/IP to communicate between systems...
file support.
CS4
Photoshop CS4 features a new 3D engine allowing painting directly on 3D models, wrapping 2D images around 3D shapes, converting gradient maps to 3D objects, adding depth to layers and text, getting print-quality output with the new ray-tracing rendering engine. It supports common 3D formats; the new Adjustment and Mask Panels; Content-aware scaling (
seam carvingSeam carving , is an algorithm for image resizing, developed by Shai Avidan, of Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs , and Ariel Shamir, of the Interdisciplinary Center and MERL...
); Fluid Canvas Rotation and File display options. On 30 April, Adobe released Photoshop CS4 Extended, which includes all the same features of Adobe Photoshop CS4 with the addition of capabilities for scientific imaging, 3D, and high-end film and video users. The successor to Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS4 is the first
64-bit64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
Photoshop on consumer computers (only on Windows – the OS X version is still 32-bit only.)
CS5
Photoshop CS5 was launched on April 12, 2010. In a video posted on its official
FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page, the development team revealed the new technologies under development, including three dimensional brushes and warping tools.
In May 2011,
Adobe Creative SuiteAdobe Creative Suite is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems. The collection consists of Adobe's applications , that are based on various technologies...
s 5.5 (CS5.5) were released which have new versions of some of the applications. However, the Photoshop that comes with them which is labeled version 12.1 is identical to the concurrently released update for Photoshop CS5, version 12.0.4, except for support for the new subscription pricing that was introduced with CS5.5.
Language availabilities
Photoshop is available in the following languages:
Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.
The Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew versions are available from Winsoft.
Plugins
Photoshop functionality can be extended by add-on programs called
Photoshop pluginPhotoshop plugins are add-on programs aimed at providing additional image effects or performing tasks that are impossible or hard to fulfill using Adobe Photoshop alone...
s (or plug-ins). Some of the plug-ins are created by Adobe itself, for example Adobe Camera Raw; but most of them are developed by third-party companies, according to Adobe's specifications. Some are free and some are commercial software.
Most Photoshop plug-ins can only work with Photoshop or Photoshop-compatible hosts, but a few can also be run as standalone applications.
Although Adobe allows creating a various types of the plugins, such as filter, export, import, selection, automation, etc., the most popular are the filter plugins (also known as a 8bf plugins) available from under the Filter menu of Photoshop.
These filter plugins can either modify the current image or create the all new content. Here are some popular types of such plug-ins (plus the companies whose products are the best known in the particular segment):
- Color correction plugins (Alien Skin Software, Nik Software, OnOne Software, Topaz Labs Software, The Plugin Site, etc.)
- Special effects plugins (Alien Skin Software, Auto FX Software, AV Bros., Flaming Pear Software, etc.)
- 3D effects plugins (Andromeda Software, Strata, etc.)
Adobe Camera Raw (also known as ACR and Camera Raw) is a special plugin, supplied free by Adobe, used primarily to read and process
raw image filesA camera raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, image scanner, or motion picture film scanner. Raw files are so named because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor...
so that the resultant images can be processed by Photoshop. It is invoked by attempting to open such a file, rather than from the 'Filter' menu, but like other plugins is listed in the 'Help > About Plug-In' menu (as "Camera Raw"). It can also be opened via the
Adobe BridgeAdobe Bridge is an organizational software application created and released by Adobe Systems as a part of the Adobe Creative Suite, beginning with CS2. Its primary purpose is to link the parts of the Creative Suite together using an interface similar to the file browser found in previous versions...
by clicking on any image and selecting 'File > Open in Adobe Camera Raw'.
Cultural impact
Photoshop and derivatives such as
Photoshopped (or just
Shopped) have become verbs that are sometimes used to refer to images edited by Photoshop, or any image manipulating program. "Photoshop" is also used as a noun to refer to image editing programs
in generalA genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
. Such derivatives are discouraged by Adobe because, in order to maintain validity and protect the trademark from becoming genericized, trademarks must be used as proper adjectives.
Photoshop art has become popular, for example
Tao LinTao Lin is an American writer. He was born of Taiwanese parents and grew up on the East Coast of the USA.He is the author of two novels, Eeeee Eee Eeee and Richard Yates ; a novella, Shoplifting from American Apparel ; a short story collection, Bed ; and two poetry collections, you are a little...
has a column employing only
Photoshop for captioned pieces of art for
ViceVice is a practice or a behavior or habit considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption...
. Flickr features many groups devoted to
Photoshop art including one with over 10,000 members.
Photoshop contest
A Photoshop contest, or sometimes photochop contest, is an
onlineONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
game, in which a
websiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
or user of an
Internet forumAn Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
will post a starting
imageAn image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
— usually a
photographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
— and ask others to manipulate the image using some kind of
graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
editing software, such as Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, The
GIMPGIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
, Paint Shop Pro,
Paint.NETPaint.NET is a proprietary freeware raster graphics editor program for Microsoft Windows, developed on the .NET Framework. Originally created by Rick Brewster as a Washington State University student project, Paint.NET has evolved from a simple replacement for the Microsoft Paint program, which is...
or
Microsoft PaintPaint is a simple graphics painting program that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. It is often referred to as MS Paint or Microsoft Paint...
.
See also
- Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe Photoshop Express is a Flash-based image editing web application from Adobe used to directly edit photos on blogs and social networking sites, so that users do not have to download or upload images...
- Adobe Photoshop Elements
Adobe Photoshop Elements is the consumer version of the Adobe Photoshop raster image editing product, targeted at hobbyist users and hence sold at a fraction of the cost of the professional product. It contains most of the features of the professional version but with fewer and simpler options...
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
- Image editing
Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they be digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any...
- Comparison of raster graphics editors
- List :- General information :Basic general information about the editors: creator/company, license etc.- Operating system support :The operating systems on which the editors can run natively , meaning which operating systems have which editors specifically coded for them - List :- General...
External links