Photoshop CS4 - Elegant Engineering

I'm sitting here with the official Reviewer's Guide for Photoshop CS4, and application that has been my constant companion for the last three months. As I'm flipping through the guide, I'm thinking, "Oh, yeah, that's nice. And yes, I like that too." But it doesn't get to the heart of this application.

And this version has heart. It's not often in the world of software that we get to enjoy something so complicated and refined at the same time. Working in CS4 is like driving a top-tier German sports car. It's responsive, elegant, handsome, and yes, very enjoyable.

But that's not an easy pitch for software in today's economy. You can't just put "CS4 Is Friggin' Remarkable" on a bumper sticker to make it a hit. You actually have to use it, and I mean use all of it: Photo Downloader, Bridge, ACR, and Photoshop. They work together like gears and pistons.

I'll be specific about some of these joys:

• When you make your first Collection in Bridge, you'll smile.
• When you discover the Graduated Filter tool in ACR, you'll want to show your friends.
• You'll become addicted to Open GL zooming and rotating.
• The first time you use the Targeted Adjustment tool in a Curves layer that CS4 created automatically for you, you'll feel like an expert.
• And if you don't try the new Auto Align and Auto Merge technologies, you're missing a true technology treat.

So there's a mere scratching of my CS4 surface. You can learn more about this release in many ways. I'd start with a few including Deke's latest dekePod, Buy or Die: Photoshop CS4 and my podcast, Top 10 Photoshop CS4 Features.

And then there's my pride and joy, the book that covers my Photoshop CS4 approach just for photographers and no one else: The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers. If you read this book, you'll see why I'm so excited about this release of Photoshop.