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Sometimes the adjustments will not work after using the layer adjustments - Adobe had to be re-booted to work properly. Photomerge is much improved with the addition of two more ways to merge your shots. Still, a great program. High price for update with not that much improvement. The healing brush tools do some good work but are still rather quirky. Could use a reminder box when saving 16 bit jpg file that you need to change mode to 8 bit.
I attach a 250 Gb external drive to my computer and tell Photoshop to use it as scratch space. By using both Adobe applications, I had good success with the images, but still had difficulty in targeting specific areas of the photograph to make changes. My graphics card was fast a few years ago, but not up to Photoshop CS4 standards. I have been using both Photoshop CS2 and Lightroom 1 for several years now to perform the manipulation.
In Photoshop CS2, if you closed the file, you lost all record of what adjustments you had made unless you wrote them down.I upgraded to Photoshop CS4 four months ago and really regret that I didn't upgrade a long time ago. I certainly recommend the upgrade. I also recommend the training offered by Lynda.com, or the Lynda DVD's (Photoshop CS4 for Photographers is one of the titles) to learn about the new features of Photoshop and how to use them. Great training for the beginner or the more advanced user. I am an amateur photographer who competes in competitions internationally. Years ago, I only used Photoshop to make small tweaks to my photos like shadows and highlights. The jump from CS2 to CS4 is huge because you now have adjustment layers at your disposal. Your combination of graphics card, disk space and RAM will affect the performance of the software.
The only downside is that when you save the layers in a TIFF or PSD file, the file size can become quite large (I have files with dozens of adjustment layers that are in excess of 1Gb in size).The only downside to the upgrade is that it is a memory hog. By doing so, I can avoid problems like the lag that others have written about. However, in my opinion the layers and the ability to edit them in CS4 were definitely worth the cost of upgrading if you are using Photoshop CS2 or lower. The adjustment layers combined with masks allow you to make changes to specific areas of your images and the adjustments are changeable. There may be other fixes as well, but this is what works for me.Photoshop is the industry standard and the upgrade or new version is not inexpensive.
However, these days, judges expect the photographs to be technically perfect. I have 2 Gb or RAM in my laptop and so I am heavily dependant on scratch disk space. You also have access to smart filters which allow you to apply adjustments such as shadows and highlights that you can later go back and change if you like. I actually preferred to use Lightroom because there was a clear list of the changes that you had made so that you could change the saturation, for example if you didn't like the effect. You can close and open the file and all of your adjustment layers are still there and editable.
I especially liked the ability to import photos, re-name, edit and rank them, and to add information globally (similar to Lightroom). This was an added bonus.
There are many more upgrades. The change to slide bars in tools, e.g., curves, was great too.
CS4 Photoshop definitely lives up to the hype. Another feature I liked: being able to have all layers.i.e., the changes, inlcuding non-destructive, in one file, and to group them.
If you are considering buying CS4 vs Lightroom, may I suggest reading about CS4 before buying either. I was using CS2 and read about all the upgraded features in CS4.
Being able to compare 4 photos at once and have the use of a magnifying box to examine each photo was amazing.
I have only used it a little but it seems an easy common sense approach, a little confusing at the start as we need to relocate things in different areas then we are use too, but over all its good for me and I only have a very limited experience in Photo Shop. I do like many new and better organize areas in this upgrade.
The product would not install, it kept telling me that I didn't have a qualifying application, even though I have CS2 installed.Please send me the information I need to return the product.Thanks In Advance, I need to return this item. My boss has "filed" the paper work that came with it.
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