Content-Aware Fill - enables you to remove an element from an image and automatically replaces it with a background that matches the scene in tone, lighting, and noise of the surrounding area. You can use Content-Aware Fill with the Spot Healing brush or as an option of the Fill feature to replace content in an active selection. When used with the Spot Healing brush, it will account for more of the content and structured detail providing for a cleaner result. This feature works best on areas where there is plenty of sample content for Photoshop to interpret the background from.
HDR Pro - will allow you to take bracketed images – images shot at multiple exposures - and then combine them into a single image that is able to capture the full tonal quality of the scene. There are also extended controls that will allow you to adjust your image from photo-realistic to totally surreal. For High Dynamic Range (HDR) to work correctly each image shot must be non-moving and so usually requires the use of a tripod, but sometimes even with the use of a tripod, something in the scene may be moving, like a wire or a tree. This can result in ghosting. HDR Pro has a feature that allows a single image to be a sole reference and by brushing over the object that contains the ghost, the ghost is eliminated.
HDR Toning - gives you the ability to create an HDR image from a single shot instead of a series. It is for those times where you were not able to create a bracketed image, but you still want to enhance the tonal qualities, the new HDR Toning will give you the ability to mimic the look of an HDR result quickly and easily.
Mixer Brush - gives you drastically new painting qualities from within Photoshop CS5. This new brush gives you the ability to define multiple colors on a single tip and then mix and blend them with the underlying hues on your canvas. You can start with a blank canvas, or you can use a photo original to blend the colors, giving the image a painterly look. There is extensive control over the wetness of the canvas colors as well as if the brush is refilled, cleaned, or a combination of both after each stroke.
Article comments
1 - Tim
It is fantastic that Adobe are continually updating and adding to the already fantastic photoshop suite. I am sure that it is worth every penny of the asking price with all the development time that goes into such a feature rich package.
However it is priced way out of the reach of the average user.
It would be great if adobe released the old versions free of charge or highly discounted to enable the vast majority of the general public to use these tools
2 - T. Michael Testi
Thanks for the comment Tim.
While I do think that there are many who cannot afford the price, the focus of this product is for the professional who can justify it for their work. The Adobe Elements has a lot of the basic features that Photoshop has and is sort of like the younger sibling.
In between you have Adobe Lightroom that is for the hobbyist as well as the pro photographer. It doesn't have all the bells, but is extremely powerful in its own right.
The other thing is once you shell out the $699 for the standard, then the upgrade is only $199. While that may seem high considering they put out a new release every 18 months or so, Adobe has a pretty liberal upgrade policy of "three versions back." Which is why you won't see free prior version.
What that means is that if you purchased Photoshop CS2 in October 2003 for $599 (I think that was the price), between now and when CS6 is released (probably in late 2011 early 2012) you can upgrade to CS5 for around $200. If you can handle the $200 more often, so much the better.
Sometimes you can find older stock versions at a reduced price as well.
T.
3 - Billy
I agree. It depends on the user and their needs. For some, a $699 price tag can be justified if it serves them well.
For the rest, who would only use it on occasion, they would be better to pay someone else or find a cheaper alternative such as Gimp 2.6 or Gimpshop 2.2.11
With that being said, Adobe Photoshop is the best on the market and the industry standard when it comes to graphic design.
4 - Levi
I am with you Tim, I love Adobe's products. I use them daily to make my living, but I wonder about the lack of innovation in the community of users, barred by the lack of hundreds and thousands of dollars to drop on this admittedly awesome software suite.
I like to think I am a pretty good designer and I work hard at it, but I just imagine the hundred or so kids in the US right now, who statistically would be phenomenal designers, who never will know that, because of the cost to entry.
Makes me wonder if Adobe has any sort of charities? I know they give limited packages to college students, but donating a full suite to a high school for student use? Things like that would be tremendous, but I guess if I was the decision maker at Abobe, I might have bigger fish to fry.
5 - Phillip
Call me a cynic but I'm willing to bet that many of those young would-be Photoshoppers are using it without paying anything at all.
Given Adobe's liberal upgrade policy, and that you can find cheap reportedly-sealed older versions on Ebay, it's hard to bitch legitimately.
Re: charity... you did note that there are very inexpensive academic versions. (Which if you buy the soon-to-be-older version at "major release time" they often give (!) the new full version to the student buyer.)
It's never been clear to me that so-called academic versions (from any software maker) are any different from the full versions, except for the box label and lower cost.
6 - Tink
Academic versions "expire" a few months after your "graduation" date. I n other words it WILL stop working and upgrading after it has reached a certain date.
I did not know this, so I put in my actual grad year for my CS3. I can know longer use, save, or even open files in my program. WTF?
Now I wish I could have afforded the Pro version. I can't even get an upgrade from my student version to professional.
So, yes, there is a difference in the student and professional versions.
7 - ps cs5 user
August 6, 2010
I was surprised to read "Tink's" comment, as I've not found it to be true. I sratred with the academic version of PS 7, and had no problem purchasing the CS version.
Please look at the following url. If you're leery about utilizing these url, go to adobe.com and put "student and teacher edition faq" in the search box in the upper right corner. Hope this clears up the confusion. Student and Teacher Edition FAQ.
Are the Student and Teacher Edition products the same as the commercial products?
Yes. Adobe Student and Teacher Editions are the same full-version software products.
Is there a time limit on using an Adobe Student and Teacher Edition?
Eligible users who purchase an Adobe Student and Teacher Edition receive a perpetual license that does not have a time restriction.
8 - Creative Almanac
I agree with Tim. Adobe products are fantastic tools for creative hobbyists and professionals like me but the new CD release is very prohibitive. No wonder, a lot of people in Asia relies on reversed engineered Adobe products for about less than a quarter percent of an actual and original Adobe product with the same performance. Adobe should free-up their previous versions and let their consumers decide if they are willing for an upgrade. This of course needs a price. Nonetheless, I believe this is a more consumer friendly and competitive business strategy that Adobe itself should make or maybe this will only happen if a stronger competitor bites a golden bullet and makes Adobe products less valuable. Only time knows. It happened to Microsoft, who knows if it will happen to Adobe.