Adobe PhotoShop 9 CS2

Adobe Photoshop CS 2

This is the 15th Birthday of Photoshop and I would like to introduce you to Version 9 dubbed Photoshop CS2. Adobe has announced the release of Adobe Photoshop CS2, part of the CS2 suite of Programs which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign amd Golive. 

The new features:

Enhanced Camera Raw: Now you have the ability to work with multiple raw images and copy any settings between them. You can save any RAW file back to RAW by using the DNG (Digital Negative) Format. Camera Raw now features some auto settings that can be turned on or off that actually do a pretty good job. Camera RAW finally allows you to adjust the image curves. The Curves window is similar to Photoshop’s Curves dialog box but lacks some of the functionality such as adding sampled points by Ctrl/Cmd + clicking on the image. The Curve overlays a live histogram which is very cool. Camera Raw now allows non destructive straightening and cropping. When you have finished you can save the image back to RAW, save the adjustment and close out or open the 16 bit raw images in Photoshop.

The Layers Palette: has also been updated. We can now select multiple layers. Hold down shift to select all the contiguous layers or hold Cmd/Ctrl to select individual layers. To transform or move several layers, select them and transform them together without the need to link. Alignment can also be accomplished without the need to link layers. You can still link the layers by using the link button at the bottom of the Palette, this is more cumbersome than the old link well in my opinion but Adobe tells me that you don’t need to link as often as you used to because you can select multiple layers for many tasks. It will take a little getting used to this new way of working, which I can say I do enjoy, except when it comes to linking non contiguous layers. Linking will remember the relationship of layers while selecting will not. Multiple layers can be selected right in the workspace by Shift clicking or dragging with the move tool. I prefer using the Cmd/Ctrl key to select a layer over the “Auto select”. Auto select layers can be turned off from the tool options bar. Multiple layer selection will be comfortable for users coming over from Illustrator, but can get an experienced Photoshop user into a little trouble at first.

Smart Objects: I love this feature! You can now place Vector objects into Photoshop CS2 and resize them as often as you like without losing any quality. Illustrator files retain their native format and are not rasterized until (if) you choose to rasterize them. You can switch back to Illustrator and make modifications to the file. RAW images can also be placed as smart objects, allowing you to double click on them at any time to adjust them in Adobe Camera Raw. You can also group layers together as Smart Objects which can be manipulated without loss of quality. The Smart objects can be edited or exported as separate documents. You can Duplicate Smart Objects to make instances. When you update one of the smart objects, all it’s instances will be automatically updated.