Adobe’s Photoshop Creative Suite 2 Page 2

Further tossing third-party software engineers into disarray, the new Smart Sharpen (Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen) offers the ability to counteract common kinds of blurring, as well as to apply sharpening to shadows, highlights, and mid tones. You may never use Unsharp Mask again.

(Top) Photoshop CS2's new Lens Correction filter (Filter>Distort>Lens Correction) will displace several third-party plug-ins in my collection starting with ones that remove distortion and chromatic aberration. There are controls for vignetting (add or subtract) and transformation to fix those "falling over" building architectural shots. Adobe even includes a wonderful grid overlay to keep the lines straight. The sound you hear is some third-party software engineers passing out.
(Above) Photoshop's new noise reduction command (Filter>Noise>Reduce Noise) features advanced controls for addressing noise found in individual channels while preserving edge detail in photographs such as this rare McLaren road car in The Mathews Collection (www.mathewscollection.com). This filter should also be useful for removing JPEG artifacts.

Where's The Bling?
There are many improvements in Photoshop CS2, almost all of which are aimed at the advanced user, but there are lots of little improvements such as a WYSIWYG font menu where font names are listed in the regular system font and a sample word rendered in the font itself is listed next to each font name. A new Redeye tool (in the Tools palette in the same slot as the Healing Brush) can automatically neutralize common redeye problems with a single click and is much easier than was possible by painting with the Color Replacement tool.

Other improvements may not be so noticeable. Photoshop CS presently features almost 500 menu commands, making the program intimidating for newbies and harder for experienced users to find the tools they want. That's why Photoshop CS2 will allow you to enable and disable certain items; allow menu items to be color-coded and give you the ability to save customized work spaces that contain menu, keyboard, and/or palette layouts. This mixture of little and big improvements make Photoshop CS2 a must-have upgrade for serious image-makers.

Smart Sharpen (Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen) offers the ability to counteract common kinds of blurring, as well as to apply sharpening to shadows, highlights, and mid tones.

System Requirements For Adobe Photoshop CS2
Mac OS: Mac OS X Version 10.2.8, 10.3.0 through 10.3.4 (10.3.4 recommended); PowerPC Processor (G3, G4, or G5); 192MB of RAM (256MB recommended); 320MB of available hard disk space; color monitor with 16-bit or greater video card; 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution; and CD-ROM drive.

Microsoft Windows: *Intel Xeon, Xeon Dual, Centrino, Pentium III or 4 processor; Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3, or Windows XP; 192MB of RAM (256MB recommended); 280MB of available hard disk space; color monitor with 16-bit or greater video card; 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution; and CD-ROM drive. *Other compatible processors include AMD's Opteron, Opteron Dual, Athalon 64 FX, and AMD Athalon 64.

Users of older operating systems have to ask themselves if they feel the productivity increases are worth it. The short answer is that they are and besides, don't you want to get the maximum performance from your imaging software?

Arggggghhh, Not More Buzzwords
Yes kiddies, welcome to the world of HDR and its attendant buzzwords. Photoshop CS2 supports HDR images in the following formats: PSD/PSB, TIFF, LogLUV TIFF, Radiance HDR, PFM, and OpenEXR. Here's a quick guide to help you through the minefield:
LogLUV: A raw image format developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. (www.sgi.com) that uses 32 bits/pixel and is based on human perception.
OpenEXR: An HDR image file format developed by Industrial Light & Magic (www.ilm.com) for use in computer imaging applications. OpenEXR is used by Industrial Light & Magic on all motion pictures currently in production. The first movies to employ OpenEXR were Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Men in Black II, and Signs. Since then, OpenEXR has become Industrial Light & Magic's main image file format.
PFM: Printer Font Metrics
Radiance HDR: Radiance is a highly accurate ray-tracing software system for UNIX computers that is licensed at no cost to users for non-commercial use. The primary advantage of Radiance over simpler lighting calculation and rendering tools is that there are no limitations on the geometry or the materials that may be simulated.

For more information on Photoshop CS2, visit Adobe's website at: www.adobe.com.

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