A slick photo-editor for the typical user
It has taken Adobe many years and a lot
work to finally get together a stable version of their popular Photoshop
software. Heralded as possibly the most user friendly and efficient photo
editing software available, Photoshop has blossomed into a world-wide
phenomenon, showing up in schools, offices, and even Hollywood. Adobe managed
to strike gold with the release of this software, and the company has
emphatically embraced the success of their product. Many different plugins,
upgrades, and updates have been applied to the program over the years and
additional programs like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash, and Adobe After
Effects have benefited from the massive success that Photoshop has seen.
For anyone unfamiliar, Photoshop is a
computer based program that allows users to edit and manipulate images in a
variety of different ways. The basic aspects of the software will allow you to
resize photos, change lighting levels, add specialized filters to create unique
effects, and do minor touch ups like removing red eyes and cropping unwanted
things out of images. Photoshop has an amazing amount of potential, and
advanced users who take the time to master the software can produce images out
of thin air, do amazing touch ups on photos that are movie quality, and splice
together images in such a flawless manner that they look incredibly realistic.
With all of its recent success, Adobe has
turned its attention from its stable version of the popular computer software
and is entering a new arena in the Photoshop saga. Tablet PCs are becoming a
mainstay in offices, schools, and everyday lives and people are often opting
out of laptops and tower PCs in favor of their smaller touch- screen cousins.
Knowing how strong Apple’s presence is with the iPad 2 and the just released new
iPad, Adobe decided to release a “tablet PC specific” version of their popular
software to the Apple App Store. Thus, Photoshop Touch was born and is already
available for purchase at a price of $9.99. But what kind of program is it, and
does it really stack up to the original Photoshop that users can get on their
laptops and PCs?
Anyone who has ever used Photoshop will
tell you that Layers are one of the most important features the program
utilizes. A ‘1Layer” acts much like a clear sheet and is placed over the top of
an image. This allows individuals to trace around, manipulate, and edit onto
the layer without actually affecting the image underneath it. Layers can be
stacked atop one another in an endless fashion. Photoshop Touch makes use of
these Layers and users are reporting that they seem to function a lot better
than those included in the original Photoshop. You can easily add a layer by
clicking the “+“ icon, which is located on the right hand side of the screen.
These smart layers allow users to then choose a photo from their iPad library
or cloud storage. You can even snap a new photo via the iPad’s internal camera.
Once the photo is chosen, the program will give you the option to rotate and
resize it before you actually start the editing process.
The ability to adjust the brightness,
contrast, and color levels of an image are available here too. Photoshop Touch
will allow you to easily change different levels by providing labeled menus and
sliders that can be accessed via your fingertips. Photoshop users familiar with
“Curves” will also find that option here. Your finger will act as the
mouse-pointer and allow you to adjust the tonal curve of the image, much like
dragging it in the original Photoshop.
The “Adjustments” menu offers a great ease
of-use appeal to newcomers. This menu gives a small thumbnail preview of a
stock image and presents some basic photo-editing practices like; Color
Balance, Reduce Noise, Auto Fix, Invert, Temperature, and a variety of other
tools that are nicely labeled and easy to understand.
