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How-To

Photoshop CS4 And The Nature Photographer

The gold standard in imaging software has been updated. OP takes you through the new features most useful to nature photographers.

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Many photographers anticipate the arrival of a new version of Photoshop. Should I upgrade or not? Photoshop CS4 offers outstanding tools, naturally, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily for everyone. CS4 includes some tools that are valuable for my workflow, but I also use Photoshop Lightroom—it’s a major part of my digital image workflow. While it’s certainly possible to use only one program or the other, there are real benefits to using both. Adobe recognizes this because an important feature of Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 is more integration and ease of flow between the two programs. Let’s look at Photoshop CS4 and how some of the new controls might benefit you as an outdoor photographer.

The Adjustment Panel
The first thing you’ll notice in CS4 is an Adjustment panel at the right side of the interface where palettes traditionally have been. The engineers working on Lightroom and Photoshop talk with each other because the interface uses ideas that work so well with Lightroom (Figure 1).

This panel offers direct access to adjustment layers, which are called Adjustments, layer masks, which are called Masks, plus the usual layers, history and so forth. By putting Adjustments and Masks into one accessible location, Adobe has made working with adjustment layers and layer masks faster and easier. You don’t have to open individual dialog boxes or search for your adjustments, as they’re out in the open, ready to go, just like in Lightroom. This can make a huge difference in workflow. In addition, some new icons at the bottom of the panel allow you to quickly affect how your adjustments are being made.

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