APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Photo

Apogee Photo Magazine

Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Photoshop CS2

By Paul W. Faust

I have been testing out and reviewing Adobe Photoshop ever since the 2.5 version, back when every Adobe program had to be bought separately. Almost every new version has had major improvements and added features that photographers loved, (one “so-so” version I found to have almost no new items for photographers, but graphics people liked it). Recently, Adobe decided to also offer a Creative Suite package that combines all of the Adobe imaging programs into one group. Now, the new Creative Suite 2 has been released and it is more than anyone could have hoped for, with MAJOR improvements any photographer will love!

There are many improvements, additions and streamlining workflow tools in each of the CS2 programs. The first one most people will notice is that the file browser is now called "Bridge," and it does exactly that. Since Creative Suite contains all of the Adobe programs in this one premium package, the user can create and manipulate images in Photoshop CS2, graphics in Illustrator CS2, create page layouts and publish in InDesign CS2, and if they want to, take all of that work and put it all into a web site created in GoLive CS2. You no longer have to go into and open each program to do some work on a file or image, as Bridge will handle it all for you. Working through Bridge, you can have it operating on one command, such as batch processing, while you are in another program doing something else. Bridge will also handle other operations for you, such as browse and organize your files, color management, and work on RAW images, plus much more.

The new “Bridge” tool and its window has many more features and

options to make your work even easier. Take the time to

learn it and you will save even more time when on projects.

Another operation that you get in the Creative Suite 2 package is the “Version Cue” tool. Aside from the “Actions” tool in Photoshop, I think that Version Cue is the most timesaving tool there has ever been in a software program. The easiest way to describe it is by comparison with what it now saves you from not having to do. In a normal graphics operation, such as creating an advertisement, you add and take away many items to a page. In that process you may have to change what appears on the page many times, and if working in a single imaging program you would have to save each and every file if you ever wanted to some day go back to a previous version. That means a 40MB file becomes two 40MB files when one new version is saved, or 160MB worth of files if you need to save four versions of it. With Version Cue you just have to create a “project” in Version Cue and then save each file “version” that you want to keep. It creates a sort of proxy file that you can go back to any time you need to. You just name the file as you save it and the "Bridge" tool will even help you keep track of them. Since Version Cue is integrated into each Adobe program it will make no difference what work you do in which program. The more work you create, the more time you can possibly save in the long run.

Creative Suite 2 has added more features to editing in Camera RAW, but I will not go into all of that here. Camera RAW is probably one of the best tools you will have to create top quality images, but it is also like a whole program in itself, and would require a whole separate article just to properly cover its features and how they work. It’s enough to say here that it is better than ever, and it will help you make all of your images that way also.

For Photoshop users
Top quality is a major factor in Creative Suite 2 and the Photoshop CS2 is a major part of that. Photoshop CS2 now supports HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, which means a tonal range of about 100,000/1 as compared to what it used to be at about 100/1 at the low range it used to support. A pixel value is now directly related to the amount of light it represents, as in lightness or darkness. You have been used to working in 8 – or 16-bit files, but now HDR will give you 32-bit images. If you plan on using it very much, you had also better plan on getting more hard drive space because your files will easily start reaching 100MB and more.

As usual, Adobe has added more new filters to its collection and Smart Sharpen, Lens Distortion Correction, Vanishing Point, and Reduce Noise will be some of the most welcomed ones. “Smart Sharpen” allows you to sharpen shadows, mid-tones, and highlights separately. “Reduce Noise” will allow you to reduce the noise created when digital images are shot at very high ISO settings, and “Lens Distortion Correction” will help you fix images that have problems such as vignetting. The filter tool still uses the filter gallery, but it now has a larger and improved interface that can also make sandwiching effects easier.

There are many more new features in Photoshop CS2 that I can’t wait to use, like the “Vanishing Point” tool that will allow you to “add” perspective to an image, such as making a building a lot taller. There is also the “Transform>Warp” tool that you can use to wrap any image around any shape. The “Transform>Perspective” tool has also been made a lot easier to use and control.

No one I know would ever say that Photoshop is not the image-processing program against which all others are judged, and this new CS2 version will continue that feeling until we await the next release. Till then I for one will have a blast using it!

Photoshop CS2 can be bought alone, or get it in the Creative Suite 2 Premium package that also contains; Illustrator CS2, GoLive CS2, InDesign CS2, and ImageReady CS2. For more information, contact Adobe at: www.adobe.com.

Systems note for Mac users: Adobe states that this package can be installed with a Mac operating system of 10.2.8 through 10.3.8, but nothing I did would get it to install onto my 10.2.8 and I had to upgrade my system to get it to work. I now have it working fine on my new OS-X 10.4 - Tiger. If you are going to buy the new Creative Suite 2 be aware that you may also have to upgrade your system before it will install. The problem in my case was that the installer would not recognize the total RAM, and therefore would not continue to install. It probably would work on an OS-10.3, but if you are going to upgrade anyway, why just go halfway?