Photoshop CS2 Review: An Instructor's Perspective

Feb 21, 2006

By Dee Sadler

After seven years as an Instructor (two of those years Adobe Certified), I am still amazed by how many people think of themselves as "advanced" Photoshop users. I think to myself, "Do you really know how much there is to Photoshop? How many years it takes to truly be advanced?"

Photoshop is one of those programs that can take years to learn all its features. Most people who have been using it awhile consider themselves intermediate to advanced. As a Certified Expert and Instructor of the product, let me tell you, a good 80% are not as advanced as they'd like to think they are. Why? Photoshop has tons of features. They do all sorts of different things geared for different types of jobs. Some are great for the print world, some for video, digital camera raw formats, scanning, painting pixel by pixel, and some are great for people who can script and make life easier for the others. So, with all that and more inside of the program, can you think of very many people who would need to know all those things? Didn't think so.

As of Photoshop CS2 (a.k.a 9.0) there are more features than ever, and wow, have they done things right with this release! First, I'm going to focus on just a few of Photoshop's plethora of features that will hopefully help programmers out, and then I will cover some other new "cool" features that might be of interest to those who want to know more:

Helpful New Features for Programmers:

Exporting images
Actions and droplets
Creating data-driven graphics
Scripting

Exporting Images

There are 6 file formats most useful for the web:
PDF, JPG, GIF, QuickTime Movie, SWF and PNG.

After seeing that list, you might wonder why you'd bother saving a Photoshop file as a PDF. Since everyone (who at least has the free reader) can usually view a PDF, this is always a safe choice when others need to view your file. OK, You might be wondering why I didn't say a JPG, since most people can also view a JPG regardless of platform. Well, a JPG can not be saved twice without quite a bit of degradation to the image. It gets rid of more and more information each time you save your image, which is why you should always turn your digital camera JPG's into PSD files right away. But that lesson is for another time.

A PDF document can preserve Photoshop data like layers, alpha channels, and spot colors, and you still have full control in editing your Photoshop file. Did you know that you can even save several images as a multiple paged PDF, or as a slide show? Very cool. Plus, when saved as a PDF, the images can be shared across the rest of the Creative suite and can be secure. For instance, you can either set a password for them to open the file, or just to print. Wow, the idea of a Photoshop file being secure! Some clients would love that.

Both the QuickTime and SWF formats are saved through ImageReady, which of course comes with Photoshop. Any layered Photoshop file can be exported as separate SWF files. When imported into Flash, they appear on separate layers. You'll need to use the Layers As Files command, which you'll find under File>Export. URL's and image maps are still in those files, but rollovers you designated in ImageReady will only show the image that would be seen when the mouse is not over them (the Up state) once they're exported to SWF. You do need to remember that the SWF file format only supports solid color backgrounds. Any gradient or textures are exported as a backdrop object, or in other words, a bitmap, that just appears behind the other objects.

Actions

The Actions palette and How to Make an Action

From the Actions palette, click on the black arrow to the right of the palette and choose New Action.

Name your action and hot Record.

An example of some steps. I set my image to 150 px wide.

Then I applied an UnSharp mask. 50 for the amount is always safe.

Here is what my steps now look like. Don't forget to push the Stop button (the square one) when you are done.

Droplets
File>Automate>Create Droplet

Here is the Create Droplet Dialog box

Variables

Actions and droplets

Actions are one of the most useful tools for a web designer. In case you have never used, or made an action, here is a description:

An action is like a macro or a script. How are actions helpful in Photoshop? I'll tell you. Let's say you have a batch of digital images that you need to prepare for a retail website. All the images need to be 150 pixels wide with basic color correction and unsharp mask applied, and then they need to be saved as a jpg at 70% quality in the save for the web function. Oh, and by the way, there are 300 of them to be used at various times. No problem. Really? Yep.

You can always write your own action, but there are tons of really useful ones out there on Sites like: http://www.photoshopcafe.com/, http://www.photoshopuser.com/, http://share.studio.adobe.com/Default.asp, http://www.actionaddiction.com/, http://www.actionfx.com/, http://www.atncentral.com/ and my favorite, http://www.planetphotoshop.com/. Boy, if you can't find an action you like in these links, you just aren't looking hard enough. By the way, there are tons of tutorials, brushes, textures, styles, etc., on many of these sites as well.

An action can be preformed on a single image or an entire folder. Actions can include a stop, to let you have time to perform tasks that can not be recorded. Both ImageReady and Photoshop come with an adequate set of predefined actions that get better with each version and make life easier for the newbie. The Actions palette is open in the default palette set. It is in the same set as the History palette. If for some reason you can't find it, all palettes are under the Window menu. (See the sidebar "How to Make an Action".)

I use actions all the time myself. As a matter of fact, I couldn't get along without actions, and especially without droplets. What are droplets? They go hand in hand with actions. Basically, you make or choose an action, and then you go under the File>Automate fly-out menu and choose Create Droplet. Once you have made your choices in that dialog box, your droplet (a small icon) will appear in whatever folder/desktop you placed it. (See the sidebar "How to Make a Droplet".) Now you can "drop" an entire folder of images on the Droplet icon and let Photoshop do all the work. Photoshop will open all the images and perform the action without you having to lift another finger. Make your Action once and the Droplet will be there whenever you need it.

Once my old boss asked me to "scrub" (a term in pre-press to make sure the files are ready for the print process) a set of 500 photos. He wanted a coworker and myself to split them up and he figured it would take the rest of the afternoon to go through them. All we were doing was making sure they were CMYK and the right kind of TIFF, and then we'd re-save them. I looked at him like he was crazy. Why wouldn't I just make an Action? Well, I did and we went to lunch and they were done by the time we got back. I asked for the afternoon off since I had just saved hours of time, but no luck. Maybe next time.

Data-driven graphics

You may have not even heard about this feature. It's new and I don't know many people taking advantage of it yet, but you'll be using it soon. For example, you can make up to 100 different versions of a web banner with different text and images based on a template design. First you need to create the base graphic to be used as the template. Then define the variables (Image>Variables>Define) in the graphic, create or import data sets, and finally generate the graphics with the data. (ImageReady is the only way to export GIFs, JPGs and SWFs.)

Variables define which elements change in your template. You can change the visibility of a layer, or replace text and pixels (exchange one image for another) from another file. Then you can define a data set (Image>Variables>Data Sets) for each version of the graphic you want. The good news is that you can import your data sets from an external tab-delimited file, like a text file, or better yet, an Excel spreadsheet. The syntax used is found in Photoshop's Help center under Automating Tasks.

Scripting

It doesn't matter which platform you are on if you are interested in Scripting for Photoshop. Either platform allows for JavaScripting, but you'll need external tools to debug your scripts. On Windows, you can also use Visual Basic, and on a Mac, AppleScript.

Under the File>Scripts menu, you can see some examples of default scripts. For example, I could export my layers to files. Cool. I can have different images I've manipulated on separate layers, use this script and have them be individual files without me having to do the work. Nice.

Adobe allows for some pretty heavy duty scripting for all of all its Creative Suite. You can even have these scripts run automatically through the Scripts Events Manager. If a person can script, there is lots of money to be made. How? Companies have their own workflow, right? They have things they do every day, maybe all day long that take time away from being more productive. Scripting those things (that can be scripted) would save them time; thus, they would pay for the script. Now, I'm a designer, but I have a friend that make scripts for the Star newspaper. He makes scripts like turning all text in Illustrator to outlines (a graphic, not live text) so the file can go to print easier. That script alone saves up to 20 minutes of the designer's day.

Useful New Features for the Design-Oriented Person

Optical Lens Correction

This is a nice feature for digital camera users, but I use it mostly in class. Of course, it depends on the digital camera, but it is useful for those who bought a digital camera or lens without knowing the quality of the lens, and end up with pin-cushioning and vignetting. Vignetting occurs sometimes when an older, non-digital lens is used on a digital camera. It makes the corners of the image dark. Pin-cushioning is when you have an image that is somewhat convex in the middle. It occurs on lower quality lenses.

Font Preview

It may be a smaller feature, but I love being able to see what my fonts look like. I use a PowerBook and MacOS X; I like a nice GUI. I have a habit of installing any and every font I come across onto my machine, with reckless abandon. I have tons of them. and they are not organized well at all. MacOS X can handle all my fonts, but I don't always remember what a font looks like after I load it into my machine. With Font Preview, I don't have to look at the font in Illustrator or InDesign anymore. I can stay put in Photoshop.

Multiple Layer Control

Some features are easier to learn if you are new to Photoshop and have never known a different way to do it. Manipulating multiple layers was a little odd for me to get use to. I had some unlearning to do, but once I got used to this new feature, I have never looked back. I really like the ease of control too.

Multiple Layer Control is a feature that lets the user select multiple layers and then link the layers with a single click or move items on multiple layers around as if they were on one single layer. This was never possible before in Photoshop. Only one layer at a time could be selected. (For those Fireworks fans out there, yes you could do that already, but you could/can do more things with Photoshop layers. They are more powerful than the layers in Fireworks)

Workspaces

The first thing I noticed was how the workspaces had changed. Since version 7, you have been able to save your workspaces. Meaning, once you get your palettes how you like them, you can save them so they will always be available. For instance I use different sets of palettes when I do print vs web work. I have a set for both so I can just get my work done without having to always go to the Window menu and find the palette I need.

At first I wasn't sure if the extent to which I could change menu visibility, keyboard shortcuts and my usual workspaces would be useful or not. To be completely honest, my first thought was, how much longer it would take me in class to explain this to the students. Once I got to playing around with some options, and actually working, I saw how it can be useful. I had loved the use of workspaces, but hadn't thought of how having menu visibility would matter and it still doesn't to me, but I do have all kinds of keyboard shortcuts. So, changing palette locations and keyboard shortcuts for different types of jobs (like web vs. print) is great. As an instructor, I really love this because I can have these different options for getting work done, or the default for when I'm teaching and don't want to have my screen look different than theirs.

Adobe Bridge

If you used the Browser Feature in Photoshop CS, you'll absolutely love Bridge. If you never found that feature or didn't know what it was, then Bridge is something you should explore. So what is Bridge? It's basically a file management system for all your Adobe files. It is a separate program that comes with Creative Suite 2 that allows for you to open, view, and search files, to edit metadata, add keywords, rank your files, run automated tasks, and much more. The Browser in 7 and CS was strictly a Photoshop feature. It was a window in Photoshop that allowed you to see your images in one place and in different views. It also let you do lots of different things like batch renaming your files or creating a PDF presentation by selecting multiple files, without opening them in Photoshop first.

Actually, there are lots of features I like in Bridge, but then I was a huge Browser fan. I really like having a window that lets me view my files before I open them. If you have ever looked at tons of Illustrator files that had no preview and all you wanted was to find the right file without opening them all up, you'll know what I mean. Plus, in certain views, you can even view all the pages in a multi-page PDF before you open the file. Do yourself a favor and look at the Help file and find out all Bridge can do to make you more organized and productive. Bridge can be opened from inside Photoshop by a button that looks like a folder with a shell icon in the upper right-hand corner of the control bar.

New Features Designers Shouldn't Be Without

The Warp Command

I don't know how many people will use this, but Illustrator has something similar called Envelope. What it does is let you warp a shape, or path, etc., with the warp tool. How is this helpful? Say you have used the vector shape tool to draw a shape, or used the pen tool if you can actually draw. You want it to look like it is a part of your artwork. Say you want a perspective type of a look, but the transform tool just isn't cutting it, and you need more of a curve to the top. Before CS2, you would have been out of luck. Now, you can use the Arch (imagine bending the image in a arch), for instance, and achieve a much nicer look. (When using the Free Transform tool (Edit>Free Transform) there will be a button on the control bar (under the menu bar). Click on the button, and there will be a drop down menu for your choice of warps. There are about 15 to choose from.)

Adobe Help Center

I think this is a feature that most people don't even know exists until there is a problem and they need to go to the help menu. Even then, I'd like to know just how many notice the How To section. What a plethora of information is there for the majority of Photoshop users: how to fix red eye, create web images, and my personal favorite (I get these questions all the time) how to prepare art for other applications. These helpful (get it, they are under the help menu) tips are a built in feature of the Adobe Help Center. Hopefully, once students find it, they will explore. At least an instructor can dream, can't she?

Exposure Adjustment

Maybe I should have saved this for last, because this feature was hugely important to me. This was one of those adjustments that I can't believe I ever lived without, and, I'd say, the single best addition for me. I remember all the old photos scanned and manually manipulated in the past; all I can say is, "Thanks!" to the programmer that came up with this feature. It is found under Image>Adjustment>Exposure.

Smart Objects

Maybe I should have put this in the first section, but it is still a big help, although at this point, I'm so used to it that it feels like it's always been there. In the past, when I would place an Illustrator file, once I hit the Enter key it would be just like any other Photoshop object -- a bitmap, or pixel based. Now my Illustrator files can be resized even after I place them. You don't always know if something is going to be the perfect size the second you place it in a file, so this feature saves me from having to re-import the file.

Animated GIF

(DING, DING, DING, we have a winner! My favorite new feature.) It is nice not having to go to ImageReady. I'm not a huge ImageReady fan, but even if you are, you won't have to jump back and forth any more. I always thought they should include this feature in Photoshop. This is an "about time" feature, for me, anyway, because now I don't have to switch programs to make an animated gif.

Thanks for coming on my tour of favorite features!

I'd say, as an instructor, that the enhancements and new features make it overall easier to teach Photoshop. I feel like there are more tools/features that widen the distinction between a beginner, intermediate and advanced class, which makes my job easier. I love to see the light bulbs go on above their heads.

As a web/print designer, I can't imagine being without these features now. I hope that after reading about some of these features you will try them out for yourself. Come on, what do you have to lose? After all, you could gain a few more minutes in you day to go outside and see what you've been missing: the sun.

Dee Sadler started as a fine artist and photographer and now is a Certified Adobe Expert and Instructor in three Adobe programs. She is currently a web designer for a national Ad agency in Kansas City. In her spare time, she manages the Kansas City Macromedia User Group (KCMUG), whose escapades are chronicled at http://www.kcmug.com.