Adobe Photoshop CS4 has a less cluttered interface and new features including Fluid Canvas and an improved Clone Tool.

Every couple of years or so the 800-pound design gorilla known as Photoshop—or Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Photoshop CS Extended and all the other iterations and names given to the various Creative Suites—gives birth to another offspring and photographers have to decide once again whether it's worth it to pay for the new arrival.

The last version—Adobe CS3—came out in 2007 and offered a host of significant improvements, particularly for any Mac user who had bought one of the then-new Intel-based Apple computers. Because CS3 was a so-called "universal binary" version, it ran significantly faster than the previous CS2 package. In a review of Photoshop CS3 in the July 2007 issue of PDN, I clocked the Intel-friendly version about 70 percent faster at launching Photoshop and 50 percent faster overall.

Though there were a host of other new tools and a better-organized, redesigned interface in CS3, I heartily recommended the upgrade to anyone who was using an Intel-based Mac, based on the increased performance alone.

The latest versions of Photoshop—Adobe Photoshop CS4 and CS4 Extended—don't have the same major selling points, and feel more like an incremental upgrade than the jump from CS2 to CS3. While there is still plenty to like about these newest versions including some great new time-saving tools and a better-organized overall structure to Photoshop, Bridge, and Adobe Camera RAW, if you're already a user of CS3, there's less urgency to make the jump to the new versions.


Getting Creative in a Recession

Adobe is offering CS3 users a $200 upgrade price for CS4, which is the same cost for moving between the two previous versions; it is still a relatively good deal. (It would be nice if Adobe offered some kind of "recession-special" for photographers, and maybe lowered the upgrade price to $150. Wishful thinking perhaps.)

On their own, both Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended are not cheap, selling for $649 and $999, respectively. (These prices are in line with what Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended sold for at their introduction.)

Of course, Adobe would probably be happy if you bought one of the complete suite packages. They offer these bundles in their usual, confusing array of configurations from the "basic" Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard ($1,399) package all the way to the comprehensive Creative Suite 4 Master Collection ($2,499), which includes a total of 16 programs.

Do photographers really need all this CS4 software—Encore CS4, Fireworks CS4 and Soundbooth CS4—alongside the more essential Photoshop, Bridge, etc.?

Probably not. That's why I'd once again recommend the "bare-bones" Adobe Photoshop CS4 over the suite packages.


IS CS4 for Photographers?

All of which begs the question: Is Adobe's latest version of Photoshop even aimed at photographers any more, if it ever was? (Many pre-press people would argue that it really was built for them in the first place, but that's another story.) Certainly the various CS4 packages— Design, Web, Production, and Master—are directed at a larger audience than just professional photographers.

But what about making CS4 for photographers? Does such a thing even exist? I'm convinced that it could, if Adobe would let it. Why not create an Adobe CS4 Photo package that bundles Photoshop, Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw with Lightroom 2.0 and throw in some imaging extras, such as a bunch of third-party plug-ins or actions? (Or maybe, here's a thought, Adobe could come up with some of its own photography plug-ins or actions and add them to the mix?)

Though Photoshop is still an essential imaging program and the new CS4 version is a definite improvement with a lot of great tweaks, truthfully there's not a lot to get super excited about from a photography standpoint. But let's take a look at the highlights.


Tabbed Interface = Less Clutter

The question is: how do you train a big, unwieldy, 800-pound gorilla? With Photoshop CS4, one of the first design changes you'll notice to get this beast to behave better is a new unified tabbed interface. Somewhat similar to tabbed browsing on Firefox and other Web browsers, the new Photoshop CS4 will conveniently create individual tabs for each image you've opened, which you can then click on to reveal the picture. Though this is a simple tweak, it makes opening a group of images in Photoshop much less confusing and annoying than having multiple windows floating around.

There's also an Arrange Documents button that will let you create two-ups, three-ups, four-ups and other photo configurations to maximize your screen's real estate. Panels are self-adjusting, so you can manage the interface as a single, connected frame that you can move around without causing individual sections to overlap. This is a nice touch and very much in keeping with Web browsing trends, which are more tab-based than window-based these days.

Another logical design change is a new Adjustments Panel, which helps speed up the overall Photoshop workflow a notch or two. Instead of having to plow through confusing dialog boxes, the Adjustments panel puts a batch of non-destructive correction tools right in front of you, such as a new Vibrance adjustment for changing color saturation while preserving subtle tones like skin color. Other on-image adjustments include Hue/ Saturation and Curves and 20 new presets that are handy in a pinch.

Like the tabbed browsing design feature, these aren't earth-shaking overhauls to Photoshop CS4, but they are helpful and appreciated.


Less Scary Masks; Better Dodging, Burning, & Sponging

Complicated, precise masks usually give photographers the most headaches in Photoshop, but in CS4 things get a tad easier. A new Masks panel will please a lot of people by making it simpler to create and adjust pixel and vector masks by letting you apply effects locally to images rather than globally. For instance, if you want to boost the color on a piece of clothing in an image—such as a tie or hat—while keeping the rest looking natural, the improved Color Range mask feature makes it easier. Meanwhile, simple sliders let you adjust the density and feathering of a mask to help you control edge sharpness. A Refine Mask feature gives you more intuitive control over mask sizes and edges.

Some of the most useful upgrades in Photoshop CS4 for photographers are better Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools, which let you do spot corrections for exposure and color saturation while maintaining tonal quality. I love it that these "old" terms have found new homes in the latest software but I have been frustrated at how clumsy they've operated in the past.

In CS4 you get more precise Range control for adjusting for Shadows, Midtones and Highlights, and a Protect Tones option that helps preserve skin tones while dodging or burning. Meanwhile, the sponging tool has a Vibrance protection option so you don't lose visual pop while making your edits.