Creative Suite Online

CS4 is also ground-breaking through the use of artificial intelligence - the upgraded program is designed to optimize photo editing with better focus, depth and resolution optimization. In pre-release testing it was found that many images which originally came out as not workable were altered into relatively clear pictures using this feature set.

In keeping with the trend to online serves, the new online feature Kuhler (Cooler) allows you to share, collaborate and review other artists work, along with downloading public use templates to augment your images.

In closing, Adobe has done a fantastic job with CS4 and it is a strong buy for photographers, graphic designers and hobbyists alike - if you're running Vista on a newer machine and often use Photo Shop or Illustrator, then CS4 is a must buy for your collection.

Planning on Upgrading to CS4?

You may have already heard that Adobe has released a new version of Creative Suite 4, which offers a significant upgrade to both Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS and takes full advantage of 64-bit computing power.

In addition CS4 provide a series of intelligent features that vastly improves prior image editing capability.

64-bit Creative Suite

Since Microsoft Windows Vista utilizes true 64-bit processing, CS4 is optimized to leverage the improved performance from this environment. Computers that have over 4GB RAM and upgraded video cards will see enormous speed improvements, especially when working with large, high resolution images.

Not only is rendering faster, but you can also can work with more layers and more images simultaneously without slowdown.

Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop CS64? More Thoughts

One of the things that Photoshop is widely known for is creating one picture from multiple images, whether it is a panorama or a multi-layered image. Everyone who uses this program recognizes that it demands a lot from your computer. You should consider increasing your memory if you want to boost your speed but don’t want to run the 64-bit version. I do recommend that with the 32-bit version you should think about running with no less that 4 gig's of RAM. Most HDR, panoramic or multi-layer images run smoother given the extra increase in memory. Additionally, the additional memory increases Photoshop's ability to track your history of changes.

If you go the 64-bit route one other area that you need to take note of is that your plugins will have to be 64-bit as well. You cannot mix 32-bit and 64-bit processes. Moreover, you might also need to purchase Vista as XP will not be supported.

Basically you need to know that Photoshop CS4 has brought about some very interesting upgrades from the CS3 version, however, if you are considering purchasing the 64-bit version, make sure you are dealing with many gigapixels and/or with extremely complex High-Res images.

Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop CS64?

You might be wondering what you can expect from the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4. If you are looking for increased speed, and not additional effects or interface improvements, the typical user will not notice much change.

You will notice that there are some minor performance enhancements based on Adobe's preliminary testing of about 10%. 10% is based on what the average user uses Photoshop CS4 for, such as opening a 10meg RAW picture and doing basic image manipulation. However, if you are opening a large 3.2 gigapixel image and then editing it, you will notice that Photoshop 64 will outperform its 32-bit counterpart 10 times over.

Unfortunately not too many of us do that! To be honest, I don't desire to lead you to believe that Photoshop CS4 isn't worth it. You can make the choice yourself, but really, is it worth it?

CS4 New Adjustments Palette

CS4 also has a new adjustments palette that holds many of the photo enhancement tools that we previously had to dig around for.

The role of the adjustments palette is far more important than just offering convenience: any effect created using this palette will now apply only as adjustment layers; therefore any edits that you make will no longer affect the original image.

For example, when you adjust the levels in your image you should see a new levels layer in your layers palette; instead of toggling for a preview of your work in the levels dialog box, you can turn the layer on and off. By using it as a layer, if you decide you don't like the effect you can simply trash it, and your original image is unaffected.

We now have a new depth-of-field tool which allows us to combine multiples of the same images but with different focus depths; Photoshop tries to compose everything in the shot in focus. This feature works okay however you do need to actually set up your photos this way through the use of a tripod and a timed release.

Take a look at this Video I found on You Tube

Photoshop CS4 - 64 bit or 32?

It may take a while for most users to migrate to the new 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4; in the interim, for those 32-bit users, the new CS4 offers a plethora of other significant changes to keep you happy.

CS4 comes with an assortment of new features including a restructured user-interface which in and of itself makes it a worthwhile upgrade for current users.

Undoubtedly the biggest difference in CS4 is that Photoshop is now available in both 32- and 64-bit Windows Vista versions. The 64-bit version allows users who have plenty of RAM to work on extremely large graphics with less hard-disk swapping, thus speeding up operations. This is a significant update given the dwindling amount of RAM currently available to modern PCs.

More Tricks for Beginners

Navigating In Magnified Images

If you have lost your bearings when zooming in on a large image you can jump quickly to specific views using the following shortcuts:
To set the view to the top left hand corner of your image press the Home Key. Press the End Key to set the view to the bottom right hand corner of your image. To move the view one full screen down press the Page Down Key.
Press CTRL+Page Down (Mac: Command +Page Down) to move the screen view one full screen to the right. Press CTRL+Page Up (Mac: Command +Page Up) to move the screen view one full screen to the left.


Selecting Just the Pixels in A Layer

One very easy way to select an object that is on a transparent layer is to press the Control Key (Mac: Command key) and click on the layer that contains the object in the Layers Palette. Doing this ensures that only the visible pixels will be highlighted.

Tile Images for Better Visibility

When you simultaneously open a bunch of files in Photoshop they automatically cascade, and it can be difficult to select individual windows within all the overlapping files. To eliminate this problem choose Window> Arrange> Tile and all of your open files will rearrange themselves to be visible all at once. When you're ready to close the windows you don’t have to spend time closing them individually, instead use the Close All shortcut Control+Option+W (Mac: Command+Alt+W).

Getting Rid Of the Welcome Screen - And Bringing It Back

When you first open Photoshop CS you will probably see a Welcome Screen that has links to Tutorials, Tips and Tricks, and a set of Color Management Help Files. At some point you might want to stop this screen from coming up. You should see a check box at the bottom of the screen that you can click to hide the screen at startup.

Later on, if you change your mind and decide that you want to have it show up again, you can temporarily bring the screen back by clicking under the Help menu and choosing Welcome Screen.

Cycle through All of Your Open Documents

At some point you may want to find one of your open documents that are hidden, but navigating using the Window menu won't help because you can't recall the name of the file. Instead you can press Control-Tab repeatedly (MAC and PC) to cycle through all of your open documents and switch between them.

Beginner Photoshop Tricks

Selecting Colors from an Image Quickly
To turn any color into the foreground color Press I to activate the Eyedropper Tool and then click on any color in your image. To turn that color into the background color, press the ALT Key and click on any color in your image.

Change Brush Tip Sizes Quickly
With any brush selected you can press the Right Bracket Key "]" to increase the size of the brush tip, or Press the Left Bracket Key "[" to decrease the size of the brush tip.

The Move Tool & the Arrow Keys
You will want to get in the habit of activating the Move Tool with the keyboard shortcut, “V”. Once the Move Tool is active you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to nudge a layer or selection in 1 pixel increments. If you want to speed things up, press Shift along with an arrow key to nudge in 10 pixel increments.

Hide Your Palettes
To hid all your palettes press the tab key once. You can press the Tab key again to bring them back. To hide all your palettes except the toolbar press Shift+Tab.

Zooming In & Zooming Out
To use the zoom tool press CTRL and the plus sign "+" (Mac: Command and the “+” sign). To zoom out press CTRL and the minus sign "-" (Mac: Command and the “-“sign).

Take a look at this video from You Tube about the Eyedropper Tool