The Tribune

By Deidre Bastian

Happy Independence, Bahamas! We are now 40 years into Independence....March On Bahama Land. All of the performances were awesome, but I particularly enjoyed the Urban Renewal Marching Band and the rendition of the young lady (didn’t get her name) who sang our National Anthem at the Ecumenical Service. Well done.

Today I am focusing on the ever-popular Photoshop software, which has been around since 1982. That makes for about 31 years of troubleshooting and advancing. Adobe Photoshop is a seriously powerful photo and image editing application that offers several versions, each with slightly different

features and design objectives.

Photoshop is embraced by millions of graphic artists, print designers and visual communicators to create artwork conveniently and aesthetically.It is the leading digital image editing application for the Internet, print and other new media disciplines.

Photoshop has become so pervasive in the last few years that, like Google, it has become a verb. ‘To Photoshop’ has become shorthand for editing an image, which might give the impression that Adobe’s got the market sewn up. That is actually not the case.

It is likely that nearly every picture you have seen (such as posters, book covers, magazine pictures and brochures) has either been created or edited by Photoshop. The powerful tools used to enhance and edit these pictures can also be used in the electronic world, including the Internet.

As part of the Adobe suite of productivity software, Photoshop is considered by many to be a benchmark in the world of professional digital image solutions. But, while Photoshop is considered to be many things, let’s have a quick look at what Photoshop is and what it isn’t.

• Photoshop is Not a Drawing Program -

This is a very common source of confusion and misunderstanding. Although it is possible to use Photoshop to design and construct original graphics, it is not intended to be used for drawing.

Photoshop is an image editing tool, not a design tool. To create original images, Adobe provides other specialist programs, such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Image Ready.

• So What Does Photoshop Do? -
  

The real power of Photoshop lies in working with existing images. Typical tasks include manipulation, compositing, converting different formats and printing.

Photoshop is very strong in the world of printed media, so it is popular with newspapers and other publishers. In a nutshell, Adobe Photoshop is a program for graphics editing and it allows you to add, modify or delete any actions to a photo, such as jpg or bitmap.

• Compatibility -

Photoshop tends to work well with other Adobe product applications, integrating seamlessly with Premiere, Illustrator, etc). Its formats are also widely recognised, and can be imported into programs such as Macromedia Fireworks and Corel Draw.

• Learning Curve -

Photoshop is so feature-rich that it does take a while to learn all the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’, so do not expect to become proficient overnight. However, the interface is well set-out and quite intuitive.

• Price -

The target market for Photoshop is the professional world, which is reflected in the price. It is one of the most expensive packages of its type, but cheaper versions are available (such as Photoshop LE). Yet the latter does not have many of the important features.

• Competition -

Other popular applications in this market include: Paint Shop Pro, Macromedia Fireworks, CorelDraw 10 and Gimp (for Linux). The latest version of Photoshop, which is CS6, is almost impossible to learn overnight due to the dynamics of its maximum benefit.

• Format -

Photoshop files have default file extension as .PSD, which stands for ‘Photoshop Document’. A PSD file stores an image, with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop.

Additionally, Photoshop files sometimes have the file extension .PSB, which stands for ‘Photoshop Big’ (also known as ‘large document format’). A PSB file extends the PSD file format, increasing the maximum height and width to 300,000 pixels and the length limit to around 4 Exabytes.

Because of Photoshop’s popularity, PSD files are widely used and supported to some extent by most competing software. The .PSD file format can be exported to and from Adobe’s other apps, such as Adobe Illustrator.

Finally, let’s recap by stating that this flagship is an industry standard image editing and manipulation program created by Adobe, and allows users to edit existing photographs, create new graphical images and work with almost any image files. So for a free copy of Photoshop C6, download by inserting this site in your url window:http://www.ehow.com/search.html?s=Adobe+Photoshop+6&skin=tech&t=all&rs=1&channel=cpu_computer_software).

Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com Ms Bastian is a professionally-trained graphic designer who has qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of the Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.