There are big changes afoot in the world of Photoshop this month with Adobe announcing Photoshop ‘CC’, the successor to CS6. The update has plenty of new features (see below), but the one that’s sure to generate most interest is that it’ll only be available on Adobe’s Creative Cloud platform. This means you pay a monthly subscription for the software, rather than buying it outright, and the cost is tailored to different types of user, from individuals to businesses. You don’t have to be online to use it, just to install and occasionally validate your purchase.
Most notable of Photoshop CC’s new features are what Adobe claims to be the most advanced deblurring and sharpening technologies to date. Where previous sharpening tools could only add contrast to unsharp areas, a new Camera Shake Reduction feature analyses and corrects for blur from camera movement to actually deblur an image – and judging by previews it works amazingly well. And if you want to make big enlargement from your shots, the Smart Sharpen tool uses intelligent upsampling to increase the size of an image while reducing pixilation, haloing or added Noise.
There have also been developments to Adobe Camera Raw – it’s now on version 8, bringing three new capabilities to Photoshop CC. The Advanced Healing brush allows you to draw irregular shapes for healing rather than being limited to a circular area as before and this works a lot more like the regular Healing brush tool in Photoshop itself. Elsewhere, the Radial Gradient offers a more adaptable way to apply vignettes, and the Upright tool helps straighten horizons and correct perspective without distorting the image. Camera Raw edits can also be made to any layer or file within Photoshop CC.
Photoshop CC will be available to Cloud subscribers in June and cost varies by subscription type, although a discount is currently available for users of CS3 and above. Creative Cloud membership for individuals is £46.88 per month based on annual membership, but a single-app subscription of Photoshop CC would come at £17.58. For more info visit adobe.com/uk