Photoshop Support - Main Photoshop News Photoshop Tutorials Photoshop Tools Photoshop Resources Photoshop Site Map


An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature Guide
An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature Guide

An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature Guide
back to cs4 resources
Try before you buy. Download any Adobe product for a free 30 day trial.
See our Photoshop CS4 Tutorials Page for free Photoshop 11 video clips.
Buy. Download. Create. Get Photoshop CS5 now at the Adobe Store.



An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature Guide
by Colin Smith, from the free PDF CS4 SuperGuide.

Download your free 70 page CS4 SuperGuide for lots more tips and tutorials for Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, Dreameaver CS4, plus much more. Colin also offers some free videos.

Introduction To Photoshop CS4
free 70 page CS4 SuperGuideWhen you launch Photoshop CS4 for the very first time, something is totally in your face. Yes, it sports a brand new interface. Over at Adobe, they have decided it’s time for Photoshop to be easier to use and make the tools you need within reach.

The windows version is now running in 64 bit mode (allows access to more then 3Gig RAM). The Mac version is still in 32 bit. The reason it’s not 64 on Mac? At the last moment Apple pulled Carbon 64 support. It would require a complete rebuild in Cocoa for Mac to be in 64 bit which according to my sources Adobe is working on for the future.

Don’t be alarmed by this, there are not that many users that are working on images so large they need more than 3 gigs of ram anyway. Both Mac and Windows versions are making use of the video cards’ GPU, this takes some of the strain of the CPU and makes for really speedy graphics and more, while freeing up the CPU to work on other tasks.

Performance improvements
The new view features are really great. Be warned that if you don’t have a video card with GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) you won’t have access to them. An easy way to tell is to look at the lower right corner of your document. If you see a drop shadow, you are good to go otherwise you are almost out of luck.

An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature GuideYes, there is hope, you can get a video card and add it to your machine. The best brand I can recommend are NVIDIA, they make cards that start out very cheap, all the way up to the high end cards that cost a few thousand dollars, for those who have a lot of heavy lifting to do. If you skimped and got integrated video, you won’t have GPU. You can add a card event to a machine with integrated graphics; this is the cheapest way to get speed improvements from your machine. See the article on GPU later in this guide.

Go to Preferences and choose Performance. You will see an option to use Open GL. Turn it on to enable the new features, if it’s grayed out, then you don’t have a supported GPU. If you have more than 256 MB of Vram (Video Ram) you can take advantage of an accelerator called blitpipe.

The first thing you’ll notice is the way documents are viewed. You no longer have to zoom into 25%, 50% etc to get an accurate view. Everything looks great at any magnification; this is a long awaited improvement. As you zoom in or out, you will see this nice animation as the document zooms, this prevents you getting lost in you document.

When you zoom in, give the document a little nudge and release your button, notice it glides a little bit, just like “throwing” the document. This is called “flick pan”. If you don’t like this behavior, you can turn it off in prefs. (See the website for a video on the GPU features as you can’t experience these with still images).

Once you are zoomed in past 500% you will see a little grid that separates the pixels. This helps achieve pixel accurate editing. You can also zoom into 3200%.

Birds eye view
An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature GuideWhen you are zoomed into the image and want to move around, press and hold the H key. Click with your mouse and you will zoom out. Reposition the viewing rectangle and it will zoom back in to the new location. This is a super fast way to get around your document. It’s called Birds Eye view and is amazing fast.

The document views are very fast and responsive. This is so much better than waiting as your document is redrawn line by line! This is especially good for large images and panoramas, since only the viewing information needed is loaded into the video ram.

Another GPU improvement is the rotating canvas. Hold the R key and drag. You will see a compass and the whole canvas rotates for your convenience. This is useful for freehand painters using graphics tablets.

The rotated canvas enables you to draw with the natural arc of your hand, just like you would spin a piece of paper around as you’re drawing on it. The rotation doesn’t affect the filters or anything, its not changing pixels; it’s only for convenience. For example if your page was rotated 30 degrees and you add a 90 degree motion blur, it would be 90 degrees in reference to the page.

Brush Improvements
I think by now you’re starting to see the improvements that GPU processing in CS4 gives you. On top of that we get a new brush engine, which is faster and smoother, especially when working with a graphics tablet. You will also notice a new brush preview, and wait for it, a new way to resize brushes by dragging in the doc. On the Mac hold down Control+Alt (Windows Alt+Right click) click and drag and you will see the brush tip change size. Drag to the left or right to change the size. Choose Control+Alt+Cmd (Ctrl + Shift on Windows) to change the softness.

32bit tone-mapping in HDR
Tonemapping in HDR also gets a boost from the GPU and makes for smooth and speedy adjustments in the exposure adjustment. Sadly, there are no other improvements with HDR tone mapping. You also get speed improvements with video playback and 3D features using GPU.

Interface
An Introduction To Photoshop CS4 - Photoshop CS4 Feature GuideOn the Mac there is an optional new application window. This enables users to float the entire application. This now allows users to drag the entire Photoshop application to a second monitor or to use the program without the desktop showing through.

Tabbed Documents

Borrowed from apps such as Flash, Photoshop now has tabbed document windows. This allows you to manage your working space without document windows spread everywhere. There are options in the new Application Bar which allow you to tile the windows in different ways, or to float them just like in previous versions of Photoshop.

New Panels
Palettes are now called panels across the suite, not just in Photoshop. You’ll see some inspiration from Lightroom in this release. All the panels have been redesigned and there is the addition of a couple of new ones; Adjustments and Masks panels. Don’t worry though; most of the panel behavior is the same as CS3.

Have a look at some of Colin's fine training videos, and when purchasing any video training, make sure to use our special code PSSupport708 for an instant 10% discount.



See our Photoshop CS4 Resource Center for more Free Photoshop CS4 Tutorials, the Free Photoshop CS4 Trial Download, and the Latest Photoshop CS4 News.
Photoshop Blog
Photoshop CS5 & Photoshop CS5 Extended - Best Deals From Adobe
Photoshop CS5 & Photoshop CS5 Extended - Best Deals From Adobe Adobe Photoshop CS5 delivers breakthrough capabilities to help you create images with impact. Refine your images with reengineered photography tools for removing noise, adding grain, and creating high dynamic range (HDR) images. Get precise results when making complex selections. Remove any image element and see the space fill in almost magically. Paint with naturally textured brushstrokes and realistic color blends. Learn more about Photoshop CS5.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended software helps you create the ultimate images for print, the web, and video. Enjoy all the state-of-the-art editing, compositing, and painting capabilities in industry-standard Photoshop CS5, and experience fast performance thanks to cross-platform 64-bit support. Also create 3D extrusions for logos, artwork, and motion graphics; edit 3D objects with advanced tools; and create and enhance motion-based content. Learn more about Photoshop CS5 Extended.

Find CS5 upgrade options and Creative Suite 5 deals at the Adobe Store. See CS5 pricing in UK currency at the Adobe UK Store. Visit the Adobe Special Offers page to find the latest deals. Save 80% on Adobe Student Editions. Try before you buy — download a free Photoshop CS5 trial.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design PremiumAdobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium software gives you fresh new creative tools, along with the ability to deliver ideas faster in print and create interactive content without writing code. Plus Design Premium integrates with Adobe CS Live online services to maximize your design time by streamlining critical nondesign tasks.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium combines Adobe InDesign CS5, Photoshop CS5 Extended, Illustrator CS5, Flash CS5 Professional, Dreamweaver CS5, Fireworks CS5, and Acrobat Pro with additional tools and services. Download a free CS5 Design Premium 30 day trial.

Photoshop CS5 Tutorials & CS5 Resources
See our Photoshop CS5 Resource Center for Free Photoshop CS5 Tutorials, and the Free Photoshop CS5 Trial Download. See our Photoshop CS4 Resource Center for Free Photoshop CS4 Tutorials.
Photoshop Blog
Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz Plugins - Use Coupon Code PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT - Includes Bundles And Upgrades

Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz PluginsEnter our exclusive discount coupon code PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT during the checkout process at Topaz Labs for an instant 15% discount on any Topaz product, including bundles and upgrades.

Topaz Labs Photoshop plug-ins are specifically designed to expand a photographer's creative toolbox by harnessing powerful image technology developments. Photographers everywhere are now taking advantage of the creative exposure effects, artistic simplification, unique edge manipulation, and top-of-the-line noise reduction offered in Topaz products. The Topaz Photoshop Plugins Bundle is a super powerful Photoshop plugins package that includes the following Topaz products:

Topaz Adjust
Deliver stunning and dynamic images with this uniquely powerful plug-in that features HDR-like abilities and enhances exposure, color and detail.
Exclusive 15% Discount On All Topaz PluginsTopaz Detail
A three-level detail adjustment plug-in that specializes in micro-contrast enhancements and sharpening with no artifacts.
Topaz ReMask
The fastest and most effective masking and extraction program with one-click mask refining.
Topaz DeNoise
Highest-quality noise reduction plug-in that removes the most noise and color noise while preserving the most image detail.
Topaz Simplify
Provides creative simplification, art effects, and line accentuation for easy one-of-a-kind art.
Topaz Clean
Take control of the detail depth of your images with extensive smoothing, texture control and edge enhancement tools.
Topaz DeJPEG
Drastically improves the quality of web images and other compressed photos.

Learn more about the Topaz Photoshop Plugins Bundle. Download a free trial version.
Photoshop Blog
Exclusive onOne Software 15% Instant Discount Coupon

Exclusive onOne Software 20% Instant Discount CouponEnter our exclusive discount coupon code - PSSPPT06 - during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 15% discount on any onOne product. This includes Genuine Fractals and their amazing Photoshop Plug-In Suite.

OnOne’s new Plug-In Suite solves six of the most frequent problems photographers will encounter in Photoshop. This suite has been granted American Photos Magazine’s Editor’s Choice award for Top Image Editing Software. The Plugin Suite includes:

Genuine Fractals Pro is renowned by both photographers and printers for its finesse at increasing images to more than ten times their original size while maintaining the sharpness and detail you started with. Think of this as the industry standard for image resizing.

Mask Pro is used to remove the tough stuff — such as hair, smoke and glass — while retaining the fine detail. You choose what colors to keep, then paint away what you don’t need.

Genuine Fractals ProPhotoTools Pro packs hundreds of high-calibre photographic effects into one user-friendly plug-in. It’s fast and easy to use. Gives your photos that pro quality look.

PhotoFrame Pro lets you enhance your pictures with hundreds of such design effects, or simply drop your image into a pre-fab layout in Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture.

FocalPoint helps to control focus and minimize visual noise. Draw the eye to specific points in your images by using selective focus, depth-of-field and vignette effects.

PhotoTune lets you can compare images side-by-side and easily color correct and enhance them. PhotoTune optimizes the dynamic range, color and sharpness of your image without the need to know all the complicated controls in Photoshop like levels and curves.

Simply enter our exclusive discount coupon code - PSSPPT06 - during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 15% discount on any onOne product.
Photoshop Blog
Nik Software 15% Instant Discount - Exclusive 15% Coupon

Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - NIKPSS - during the checkout process at Nik Software for an instant 15% discount on any Nik Software product. This exclusive discount coupon code can be applied to all the latest Nik Software Photoshop plugins, including Silver Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Sharpener Pro, and Dfine.

Color Efex Pro
Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3.0 filters52 photographic filters with over 250 effects for professional quality images. Completely Original. Completely Indispensable.

Nik Software Color Efex Pro filters are the leading photographic filters for digital photography. The award-winning Color Efex Pro filters are widely used by many of today's professional photographers around the world to save time and get professional level results. Whether you choose the Complete Edition, Select Edition, or Standard Edition, you’ll get traditional and stylizing filters that offer virtually endless possibilities to enhance and transform images quickly and easily.

Patented U Point technology provides the ultimate control to selectively apply enhancements without the need for any complicated masks, layers or selections. Control color, light and tonality in your images and create unique enhancements with professional results. With 52 filters and over 250 effects found in Color Efex Pro, you can perform high quality retouching, color correction, and endless creative enhancements to your photographs. Download a free Trial version.

Viveza
Viveza - The most powerful tool to selectively control color and light in photographic images without the need for complicated selections or layer masksThe most powerful tool to selectively control color and light in photographic images without the need for complicated selections or layer masks.

Two of the most important factors in creating great photography are color and light. Mastering the art of selectively correcting or enhancing each of these is now possible for every photographer without the need for complicated masks or selections, or expert-level knowledge of Photoshop. Integrating award-winning U Point technology, Viveza is the most powerful and precise tool available to control light and color in photographic images.

U Point powered Color Control Points, placed directly on colors or objects in an image (such as sky, skin, grass, etc.), reveal easy-to-use controls that photographers can use to quickly adjust brightness, contrast or color in a fraction of the time needed by other tools. With Viveza you’ll spend more time shooting photographs and save hours of image editing. Download a free Trial version.

Silver Efex Pro
Silver Efex Pro from Nik SoftwareComplete power and control to create professional quality black and white images in one convenient tool.


Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software is the most powerful tool for creating professional quality black and white images from your photographs. For the first time, all the advanced power and control required for professional results have been brought together in one convenient tool.

Featuring Nik Software’s patented U Point technology to selectively control the tonality and contrast of the image, Silver Efex Pro includes advanced imaging algorithms to protect against unwanted artifacts, a comprehensive collection of emulated black and white film types, a variable toning selector for adding traditional toning techniques, over 20 one-click preset styles, and a state-of-the-art grain reproduction engine that help produce the highest quality black and white images possible from your color images while providing more freedom to experiment. Download a free Trial version to use Silver Efex Pro.

Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - NIKPSS - during the checkout process at Nik Software for an instant 15% discount. This exclusive discount coupon code can be applied to all the latest Nik Software Photoshop plugins, including Silver Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Sharpener Pro, and Dfine.
Photoshop Blog
Photoshop Masking Plugin Fluid Mask - Exclusive Instant Discount

Photoshop Masking Plugin Fluid Mask 3 - Price Drop And Exclusive $20 Instant Discount - Now Only $129The 4 1/2 out of 5 star review of Fluid Mask at MacWorld begins by saying that this "Photoshop plug-in takes the pain out of extracting backgrounds," and goes on to recommend the latest version, stating that "Fluid Mask is a very effective tool for separating objects from their backgrounds. It offers a variety of useful features for tackling almost any difficult image, from wispy hair to complex foliage. Online video tutorials and live training sessions help ease the learning curve."

Our friends at Vertus, the makers of Fluid Mask Photoshop Plugin, have set up a special exclusive discount for PhotoshopSupport.com. Go to our Fluid Mask page for a special, exclusive discount link.

Fluid Mask is designed for photographers, image editors, graphic designers and all those who take digital image editing seriously. In a streamlined interface and workflow, Fluid Mask instantly shows key edges in the image and provides comprehensive easy to use tools that work with difficult-to-see edges and tricky areas like trees & lattices. Fluid Mask will also preserve all-important edge information for a professional quality cut out. Go to our Fluid Mask page for more info.
Photoshop Blog
lynda.com Online Training Library - View Free Video Clips

lynda.com Online Training Library Subscriptions Start At $25 A MonthSubscriptions to the lynda.com Online Training Library provide anytime access to tens of thousands of video tutorials covering Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, web design, digital imaging, 3D, digital video, animation, and many other topics. View free video clips.

For less than a dollar a day, members have the opportunity to stay current and keep skills sharp, learn innovative and productive techniques, and gain confidence and marketability - all at their own pace.
Premium subscriptions include instructors’ exercise files so that members can follow along with the exact examples onscreen. Customers learn at their own pace and may stop, rewind, and replay segments as often as necessary. View some free video clips (high resolution).
Photoshop Blog
Did You Know You Could Create An Entire Website In Photoshop?
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly


SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites InstantlyThere often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.

Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.

Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, SiteGrinder turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, SiteGrinder is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks. Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download.
Photoshop Blog
Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews


Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills - Adobe Photoshop CS4 BookBrimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS4. If you are an aspiring professional or a student learning photography, digital imaging, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.

The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.

Read 2 free sample chapters:
Skin Retouching Tips In Photoshop CS4
Transforming Smart Objects In Photoshop CS4
Find more Photoshop CS4 tutorials on our Photoshop CS4 Tutorials Page.

Read 2 free sample chapters from the Adobe Photoshop CS3 version:

Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range

Find More Adobe Photoshop Books at Amazon.com
Find all the latest bestselling Photoshop books at discount prices at Amazon.com.
Lightroom Books - Adobe Lightroom Best Books
Adobe Photoshop blog
Photoshop Blog by Jennifer AppleThe Photoshop Blog offers the latest Photoshop and Digital Photography news and software updates, tips and tutorials, and random thoughts from graphic artist, digital photographer and Photoshop expert Jennifer Apple. Also includes Photoshop CS3 news!


PHOTO CREDIT: Full moon as seen from the International Space Station.


Adobe Photoshop CS4 free tutorials - Photoshop 11
search the Photoshop Support site
Abobe CS4 Photoshop 11 Resource Center - tutorials, tips, tricks, and news
CS4 Center - Main
CS4 Free Tutorials
CS4 Free Trial
CS4 New Features
CS4 Free Training
Adobe Photoshop Blog - Photoshop news and comments
Photoshop Blog
News, links and tips.
Adobe Photoshop Blog - Receive Updates via our XML/RSS feed
Inspiring Photoshop Music...
Inspiring Photoshop Music...
Inspiring Photoshop Music...
join our Photoshop Newsletter and win free prizes
Free Newsletter
Free monthly prizes.
Fluid Mask Photoshop Plugin
Fluid Mask Photoshop Plugin
Fluid Mask Photoshop Plugin
Fluid Mask - $10 Off
Fluid Mask Tour
Free Dreamweaver Tutorials and Dreamweaver Templates - Resource Center - Main Page
DW Center - Main
DW Free Tutorials
DW Video Clips
DW Templates
Free Flash Tutorials and Flash Templates - Resource Center
Flash - Main
Flash Tutorials
Flash Templates
Photoshop software & gear at special prices
Photoshop Deals
Photoshop specials.
Turn your Photoshop designs into CSS websites with SiteGrinder - Photoshop plugin.
Turn your Photoshop designs into CSS websites with SiteGrinder - Photoshop plugin.
Turn your Photoshop designs into CSS websites with SiteGrinder - Photoshop plugin.
Turn your Photoshop
designs into websites
with SiteGrinder
Photoshop CS3 Resources - Photoshop 10 news
Photoshop CS3
PS CS3 Tutorials
Adobe Photoshop Elements - resource center
PSE Main Page
PSE Free Tutorials
PSE Free Clips
Lightroom Resource Center - Adobe Lightroom tutorials and news
Lightroom - Main
LR Free Tutorials
LR Resources
Apple Aperture resource center - Aperture tutorials and news
Aperture - Main
Aperture Tutorials
Aperture Reviews
Photoshop Resources
Photoshop Tutorials
Free Tutorials
Photoshop 9 - CS2
Free CS2 Tutorials
Photoshop Brushes
Free Brushes
Photoshop Plugins
Free Plugins
Photoshop Actions
Free Actions
Photoshop Training
Free Video Clips
Free Stock Photos
Free Photos
Free Fonts Directory
Free Fonts
Free Textures
Free Textures
Digital Cameras
Resource Center
Inspiration
Websites & Artists
Photoshop News
Latest News
Photoshop Books
Latest Releases
Color Resources
Color Management
Just For Kids
Photoshop for Kids
How-To Articles
Photoshop Articles
GoLive Site
GoLive Tutorials
Quick Answers
Photoshop FAQ
Get In Touch
Feedback Form
© 1999-2008 PHOTOSHOPSUPPORT.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION
Some material reproduced by permission of copyright owners
All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners
[this website is intended as a public service]
• navigation bar inspired by Griffin Technology
• website design and development by Futura Studios
web hosting provided by Hostway •