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What is Adobe Photoshop And What Does It Allow You To Do?

Written by Timothy Brauning | November 27, 2021

Adobe Photoshop is a software application for photo editing. Adobe Photoshop has been around since 1990 and was created by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Photoshop is the best-selling image editing program in the world today. 

Adobe Photoshop is used to edit photos, graphics, text, videos, and 3D models. It's also possible to use Adobe Photoshop to create art digitally or work with virtual reality content creation software like Unity3d or Unreal Engine 4.

Table of Contents

  1. What uses can I get out of Photoshop?
  2. What are the benefits of Adobe Photoshop?
  3. What is photo editing?
  4. How does Photoshop work?
  5. Where can I get Photoshop, and is it easy to install?
  6. How much does Adobe Photoshop cost?
  7. What is Adobe Creative Cloud?
  8. Why use Adobe Photoshop?
  9. Are there Photoshop plugins available, and what are they?
  10. What version of Adobe Photoshop do you need?
  11. How Long Does it Take to Learn Adobe Photoshop?
  12. Summary
  13. More on Adobe Photoshop

What uses can I get out of Photoshop?

Adobe Photoshop is useful for photo editing, graphic design, photo restoration/retouching, photo-realistic drawings, and matte paintings. Nowadays, Adobe Photoshop is used to edit photos on mobile devices as well.

What are the benefits of Adobe Photoshop?

Adobe Photoshop has many benefits, including an easy user interface, quick photo rendering time, and powerful tools like Content-Aware Fill and Adobe Camera Shake Reduction. 

Adobe Photoshop has an Adobe Exchange panel. The Adobe community is where users can get help with how-to videos, tutorials on using tools in Adobe Photoshop or even download free templates for Adobe InDesign or Illustrator.

What is photo editing?

Photo editing, photo retouching, and photo restoration are all different types of photo editing that can be done with Adobe Photoshop. Photo editing involves manipulating or changing a photograph to make it look better; photo retouching means restoring old photographs by removing dust spots and scratches from them; photo restoration means fixing faded colors in old or damaged photographs.

How does Photoshop work? 

Adobe Photoshop works by using Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw, and Adobe Mini Bridge. Adobe Bridge is used to view images on your computer or connected devices like USB flash drives. 

Adobe Camera Raw allows you to open RAW file formats from your camera that other photo editing software applications do not support. . You could also start tweaking your photos with light photo editing such as editing the brightness, saturation, or contrast.

Adobe Mini Bridge helps the user make edits in a larger preview mode without having Adobe Photoshop open. Adobe Mini Bridge also allows the user to add Adobe Photoshop effects and layers while working in Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign.

Where can I get Photoshop, and is it easy to install?

Adobe Photoshop is available for Windows and Mac operating systems. The software requires a minimum of 64MB video memory, 500MB free disk space, and internet access to download Adobe Creative Cloud if you don't already have it installed on your machine. Adobe Photoshop also works best when using an Intel Core Duo or better CPU with at least 512Mb RAM (or higher) Adobe Photoshop is available with Adobe Creative Cloud membership or as a standalone application purchase (Photoshop Elements). The download size of Adobe Photoshop is approximately 600MB (or larger depending on the version).

Adobe Photoshop is available via the Photographer Adobe Creative Cloud package which includes Lightroom.

How much does Adobe Photoshop cost? 

  • The full version of Adobe Photoshop is available as an annual plan for $20.99/month (or $239.88 if prepaid annually).
  • Photoshop is available as a standalone application known as Adobe Photoshop Elements for only $99.99 with an option to upgrade from a previous version of Photoshop for only $79.99.

Photoshop is also available in a package deal that includes Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements, and Adobe Lightroom via a subscription model. Pricing starts at $19.98/month or $239.76/year.

What is Adobe Creative Cloud?

Adobe Creative Cloud includes all of Adobe's creative products like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Muse for creating websites and mobile apps with Adobe Edge Animate, and many other popular applications used in design today. Adobe Creative Cloud includes Photoshop CS or Adobe Photoshop CC for photo editing, graphic design, and image retouching.

Adobe Creative Cloud allows its users to receive access to all applications in their subscription plan, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and more.

Why use Adobe Photoshop? 

There are many reasons people choose to use Adobe Photoshop, including:

  • Adobe Photoshop's intuitive interface and tools make it easy to learn.
  • industry’s choice for photo editing
  • photo restoration/retouching, photo-realistic drawings, and matte paintings.
  • Photoshop can be used to edit photos on mobile devices.
  • Adobe Photoshop has many benefits, including an easy user interface, quick photo rendering time
  • Adobe Photoshop can be used across various platforms like Windows, Android, Mac OS X, and iOS.
  • Adobe Photoshop is the most popular photo editing software globally, with an extensive support community on forums like Adobe Forums or Stack Overflow.

Are there Photoshop plugins available, and what are they? 

Adobe Photoshop plugins are software programs that can extend the capabilities of Photoshop like content-aware fill, smart sharpen, or liquify.

These plugins are add-on utilities that allow the user to extend or modify Adobe Photoshop. Many plugin options are available, like Alien Skin Eye Candy, and Topaz Labs also offers several different plug-ins, including PhotoFXlab, Detail Pro, Re.

What version of Adobe Photoshop do you need? 

When choosing Adobe Photoshop, you have to decide if you need photo editing software or photo manipulation software. If photo editing is what you are interested in, then the standard version of Adobe Photoshop would meet your needs. Still, if photo manipulation is more important than photo creation/editing capabilities, then the Creative Cloud subscription might be better for the features included.

How Long Does it Take to Learn Adobe Photoshop?

With interest in learning the basics of photo editing, like using layers or resizing photos, it takes about 60-150 hours (or more), depending on your current knowledge of Photoshop.

Anyone can learn how to use basic photoshop skills with enough time, patience, and determination.

Summary

If you would like to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop then Click here. We hope this blog post has been informative and provided you with all of the details you need when considering purchasing Adobe's top-rated photo editing software. We hope you found these tips helpful! Our teachers are ready and waiting to take you to the next level, so contact us today.

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More on Adobe Photoshop