The Adobe Photoshop Story
David Peters
The effects you can achieve today with editing software are beyond what professional photographers years ago thought possible. Now is a time when there are no limitations on editing images- everything is possible and creativity is the only requirement to make outstanding pictures. There are thousands of programs that help us improve the photographs we take, but none have the respect of the professional and amateur community as Adobe Photoshop. The software is so closely linked with altering images that the term 'to Photoshop' has come to mean 'to enhance pictures'.
You can 'Photoshop' any image to include people and places you've never met or been to. An image of you on a beach playing volleyball with Elvis and The Beatles would be hard to produce before Photoshop, but now pictures like this are almost commonplace. Anything you can think of, Photoshop can render realistically.
Photoshop is also useful and perhaps more infamous for removing aspects of the image you don't want. Physical imperfections can be removed from images of people, as is often done in the advertising industry to sell products. Objects that distract from the main focus of the image can be removed just as easily, and the software is so advanced that you can't tell that the image has been altered.
Photoshop is the industry standard for photography editing. This means that it is essential to learn how to use this application, but don't worry if you think it will be difficult. Like all good programs, it is easy to use and hard to master. The interface is accessible to the user, so that starting out is not complicated. If you feel you need help, ask any college students you know to teach you as they will probably be familiar with Photoshop.
They story of Photoshop goes back to 1989 when two brothers developed a software for editing images. The program was extremely useful for their personal projects, and it dawned on them that they could make money by selling this product to the growing software market. They soon founded Adobe and began production of Photoshop in 1990.
Adobe is a great success story of the internet. Adobe's presence dominates the internet, and there are few computers that do not have some form of Adobe software for example. The free Adobe Reader is as common as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Everyone is aware of these programs, and the PDF reader is yet another instance in which Adobe has taken over a section of the online industry.
To become a master of Photoshop, you should find a copy that you can try things out with. Someone you know probably has it on their computer, so use their copy to try things out and get used to how Photoshop works. If your friend knows how to use the program, let them impress you with how powerful Photoshop can be. After that, you'll be hooked on Photoshop forever.
Eventually you'll want to get a copy for your own use. You can get a trial version that will give you a lot of the features, but for full access you have to get the licensed version. Photoshop is everywhere, so buying a copy will save you a lot of hassle. Now that you have your own copy you'll probably play around with it for hours trying out all the cool features. While you will learn this way, there is something to be said for taking a class in Photoshop. These will be streamlined to give you the information you need to improve your skills. Once you've covered the fundamentals, experimenting will expand your horizon, but without the basics, you will not be as effective at enhancing images as you could be.
After you are used to Photoshop there is nothing stopping you from creating whatever images you want. There are infinite possibilities for what you can make. Experiment and remember to have fun!
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