Photoshop News

From Adobe:

Today (February 19) is Photoshop’s 30th birthday! For 10,950 days, artists, designers, photographers and many others have inspired the world with their imaginations using the practical magic of Photoshop.

Share the love with #PsILoveYou30 On this milestone day we celebrate the evolution that brought us here, from the first use of Photoshop (before Photoshop 1.0) to create visual effects for James Cameron’s movie, The Abyss … to the invention of the healing brush in Photoshop CS2 … to the wizardry of Content-Aware Fill … and all the amazing innovation in between. In 2016 we introduced Sensei AI and machine learning magic, resulting in many even more fantastic features including Select Subject, with of course much more to come. In 2019, Photoshop won an Academy Award, and we expanded it to new devices like the iPad.

We honor our long-standing collaboration of artists and engineers, where working together and with your feedback and inspiration we have built a tool that enables you to make the world a more beautiful place.

In celebration of this birthday, today we also release many great new features in both versions of Photoshop – on the desktop and on the iPad. Happy birthday, Photoshop! We will keep the magic rolling.

Photoshop on the desktop

Content-Aware Fill Workspace Improvements

Now you can make multiple selections and apply multiple fills without leaving the workspace. Use the new “apply” button to iterate your fills before committing. Click “OK” only when you are finished. In this release we’ve addressed a big customer request to sample all layers in the CAF workspace. These workflow enhancements are designed to reduce clicks, give you more control, and speed you to great results.

The most magical secrets of how Content-Aware Fill works are locked in a vault deep inside Adobe so I can’t tell you a lot about that. But I talked with the research scientists behind the feature to understand their approach to what we added today. A few releases ago we packaged all the CAF capabilities into a workspace. Since then we’ve worked closely with customers to further improve it, using customer-supplied images to ensure we solve your real-world problems. One of your top requests was to stay in the workspace to refine fills that need multiple CAF iterations – imagine removing something from behind many tree branches, or other tricky scenes with visual diversity. To do that, we now enable you to break the fill region into sub-parts to give you more iterative control to achieve a more realistic fill.

Lens Blur improvements

We’ve improved the output quality and performance of Lens Blur and put it on the GPU. This significantly improves the overall realism, including the sharpness and edges when using Lens Blur to synthetically blur the foreground, background or even the middle of an image.

The feature also now delivers more colorful bokeh via the specular highlights. This produces more realistic and pleasing results.

It’s a little boggling to me how we can add such realistic blur to a 2D image after capture. So I talked with one of our research scientists to get an idea of how the new and improved, GPU-driven Lens Blur works. The results are created by an algorithm the team built by studying the first principles of physics and how light interacts with objects in the real world. It is carefully tuned to simulate a 3D environment to create the most realistic results possible, while also consuming the least amount of compute power so you don’t burn up your machine. Lots of research and iteration occurred to make the feature. Several PhDs were involved. And now you can synthetically adjust the depth of field by dynamically manipulating the blur of a 2D image after capture in milliseconds.

Mac OS Dark UI support

Dark UI has been one of the more popular features of the Catalina Mac OS. Photoshop now supports the new dark mode. System dialogs like File>Open and File>Save now match the settings of your Mac OS.

If you have dark UI enabled, system dialogs will also be dark.

Performance improvements

You’ll discover some key performance improvements with a more buttery and seamless mousing experience. Clicking interactions like panning and zooming will feel smoother and more responsive. You’ll notice the biggest boosts on larger documents and when using the hand tool to zip around the canvas.

If you want to geek out, for stylus customers on Windows, you no longer need to use WinTab (you know who you are).

Photoshop on the iPad

Reminder: Photoshop on the iPad is included in all Creative Cloud plans that include Photoshop. If you are already a member, all you have to do to get started is download Photoshop on the iPad and sign in.

We promised you a continuous stream of new features in the iPad version of Photoshop and today we release a fresh batch.

This is a major release for Photoshop on the iPad. With the addition of the Object Selection tool, selections on the iPad takes a huge leap forward beyond anything available in any other apps on the device before today. Check out the video above by our own Russell Preston Brown that shows the power of this new feature. And, give it a try! Photoshop on the iPad is built using the same code base as Photoshop on the desktop. As you can see from the multiple releases we’ve delivered since we shipped the first version just three months ago, we are able to add new features with deep and rich capabilities and high quality output that matches that of the desktop very quickly. We are shipping these new capabilities as soon as the user experience has been adapted to the iPad and reimagined to take advantage of touch and mobility.

Object Selection tool

This feature was just released in Photoshop on the desktop at MAX 2019, three months ago. On the iPad we give you the same functions, with the same options and settings.

We’re hearing from customers that Photoshop on the iPad “helps them get closer to the pixels.” This feature is a great example of that, where the experience really shines in a touch environment when using the Apple Pencil. I encourage you to try it out.

Here’s a primer on how the new Object Selection tool relates to the Select Subject tool (which was released on the iPad in December). Both features are now in Photoshop on desktop and iPad. Both use Sensei AI and machine learning to automatically make a great selection. They each radically reduce the steps to results and each is tuned for common, but different use cases.

Select Subject finds and selects the main subject in your image with one click with no input or guidance from you. This is best used when you have one primary object you want to quickly isolate.

The Object Selection tool is designed to give you speed, but also more control over the selection process on more complex images. For example, it is the right tool if you have images with multiple objects, or when selecting a part of an object, or if you want this part but not that part, or need to isolate more than one object in an image. With the Object Selection tool, you draw a rectangular region or even a crude lasso around the area you want to select, and the tool automatically finds and selects the primary objects inside the defined region. This is demonstrated in the video at the top of the iPad section, where we have a selection that requires getting this part but not that part of the oranges.

Type settings

Type settings in this release brings many of the typographic controls you use in Photoshop on the desktop to the iPad. We added type layer, character and options properties. This includes tracking, leading, scaling, and formatting things like all/small caps, super/subscript. Kerning will ship in a future release.

How to give input on the iPad roadmap

We are so happy to get Photoshop on the iPad into your hands! Your experience, feedback and point of view have always been a critical part of our process, and we take that very seriously as we chart a path forward with the iPad. Please join our community forum to give feedback on what you would like to see in the future: feedback.photoshop.com. We look forward to your thoughts.

Cloud documents

In December we began rolling out major performance improvements to the upload and download experience of cloud documents for PSDs of 75mb and larger. On January 14, we expanded the improvements to apply to PSDs of 10MB or larger. Depending on the size of your file and your network performance, you can see up to 90% faster uploads and downloads with these updates.

Thank You

The new decade is off to a great start. Thank you to all our customers throughout all the years for your partnership and inspiration.

B&H carries Adobe Photography Plan subscriptions.

Adobe has released Photoshop CC (v.20.0.4) which fixes the issues found below. You can initiate the update using the Creative Cloud app management console.

Photoshop CC March 2019 (version 20.0.4) Release

• Photoshop crashes when trying to use Perspective Warp
• Select and Mask workspace freezes while making a selection or painting on an image while zoomed in
• Program error when pasting over a selection in the Timeline panel
• When working on a layer with the mask disabled, using Undo enables the mask
• Photoshop crashing frequently
• (Windows-only) Content-Aware Fill workspace freezes on releasing a pen stroke with Microsoft Surface Pen or Wacom pen

B&H carries Adobe Photography Plan subscriptions.

Adobe has released a new version of Photoshop CC with the following reported changes:

• This update addresses several high priority issues discovered since the last release.
• Photoshop Camera RAW 10.2(CC): Update to Camera Raw plug-in that ships with Photoshop CC. Adds raw support for new camera models.

Unfortunately, we cannot elaborate more on what "high priority issues" mean because... Adobe hasn't made that information publicly available yet (as far as we can tell).

The new version of Photoshop CC can be downloaded via the Creative Cloud desktop app.

B&H carries Adobe Photography Plan subscriptions.

From Adobe:

Today we are excited to announce the release of Photoshop 19.1, with improvements for customers on both Mac and Windows. Here is a quick list of all the new features. Read about the complete release below or scroll to your favorite parts:

• Select Subject
• Select and Mask Improvements
• Better SVG Compatibility with Adobe XD
• Support for Microsoft High-Density Monitors and Improved Surface Dial Support

Windows High-Density Monitor Support

With this release, Photoshop on Windows 10 Creator’s Edition now offers a full range of choices for UI scale factors from 100% through 400%, in 25% increments. This means that the Photoshop user interface will look crisp, beautiful, and the right size no matter the density of your monitor. Photoshop will now automatically adjust itself based on your Windows settings, making it simple to set up.

We collaborated closely with Microsoft to enable this important functionality so you (and I) can wring maximum value out of every tiny pixel on our high-end, high-density screens. This is one of the top requests from Photoshop customers on Windows devices. It’s been a huge improvement for me on my screens, and I hope it is for you, too.

In addition, we worked very closely with Microsoft to provide per-monitor scaling across monitors with different scale factors. This means that a high resolution (HiDPI) laptop now works seamlessly alongside a lower resolution desktop monitor (or vice versa). One monitor can have a scale factor of 175% and another a scale factor of 400%. This allows Windows users to choose either the highest-end 13-inch laptops with 4k screens, the more affordable 1080p models, or tap into the new 8k desktop monitors, each with an uncompromised experience within Photoshop. It is wonderful to work with Microsoft and its hardware partners to make that long-desired WYSIWYG dream come true.

“The desire to support and create beautiful experiences is something the teams at Adobe and Microsoft have in common. It’s one of the reasons we’ve been working together closely to ensure Photoshop scales perfectly on any Windows 10 device, from the 12.3-inch Surface Pro all the way to the 28-inch Surface Studio. Details matter, both in the creation of products and the creation of art, and we’re excited to continue our partnership to deliver visually exquisite experiences for all our shared customers,” said Panos Panay, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Devices.

For resolution geeks who want to know more about pixels and density, go here.

While I was focused on pixels, the rest of the Photoshop team was also hard at work and today we deliver even more exciting and useful new features for both Mac and Win customers, including:

Select Subject

It’s available in all the places you start selections:

• Select > Subject.+
• Select the Subject button in the Quick Selection tool and Magic Wand options bar.+
• Select the Subject button in the Select & Mask workspace options bar while using the Quick Selection tool.

For more info, go here.

Select and Mask Improvements

A decontamination slider has been added to Select and Mask that allows the user to control the amount of decontamination applied to an image. This feature was also available in Refine Edge and has now been brought to the Select and Mask workspace.

Better SVG compatibility with Adobe XD

Previously, when copying text with multiple styles and effects, only the first-used style was getting copied. Now, when Photoshop users copy and paste SVG from Photoshop to XD, multiple text styles and effects are supported.

Improved Microsoft Surface Dial support

Now you can change brush settings while you paint using the Microsoft Surface Dial. Previously, brush settings could only be changed between brush strokes. Now you can assign the Microsoft Surface Dial to control opacity and then adjust opacity as you paint. Assign any dynamic control in the Brush Settings panel to Microsoft Surface Dial, including size, roundness, angle, scatter, texture depth, foreground and background color, opacity, flow, wetness, and mix.

Microsoft Surface Dial support is no longer a Technology Preview. (Learn more about tech previews here.) It is now enabled for all users. Enjoy!

Customer-Reported Bugs

This release also fixes a long list of customer-reported bugs. You can see the full list here.

After 21 years on the Photoshop team, every new release is still a pleasure to deliver to our customers. Thank you for continued support.

B&H carries Adobe Photography Plan subscriptions.

From Adobe:

Just a few weeks ago, Apple revealed the all new MacBook Pro featuring a breakthrough new interface that replaces the traditional row of function keys with a Retina-quality Multi-Touch display called the Touch Bar. We’ve been working hard to build custom support for the Touch Bar, and I’m pleased to announce that, as promised, it is available in today’s update to Photoshop.

I’ve had a chance to use the Touch Bar a bit and I find it exciting for two reasons. First, the Touch Bar is useful for surfacing a contextual “next step”. This is helpful both for a beginner who might not know how to navigate Photoshop, and for an experienced user in giving them speedier access to the desired next action. Second, the Touch Bar is useful for accessing controls in a new way, especially controls that were sometimes clumsy with a keyboard and mouse.

In designing the interaction with the Touch Bar, we imagined three distinct categories of functions that would be useful to our customers: Layer Properties, Brushes, and (true to Photoshop’s ethos) your customizable Favorites.

The Brushes section gives you quick access to brush color, size, hardness, opacity and flow. Each of these commands has a movable slider to pick just the right value.

The Favorites sections allows you to configure your own set of favorite actions. This includes any combination of actions from the previous sections, or other commands like Full screen mode, Flip Horizontal/Vertical, and launching the macOS share menu.

More details on of the new Touch Bar capabilities are available here.

It’s an exciting time in computing, bringing all new ways to interact with your content and control your device. The Photoshop team is constantly evaluating new technologies and thinking of ways to make our customers more productive. As we continue to evolve our support for the Touch Bar and other alternative input methods, we would love to hear your feedback. Please let us know your feedback and suggestions here.

To install the update, choose Help > Updates… More info here.

For a complete read me including fixed customer issues, see here.

B&H carries Adobe Photography Plan subscriptions.