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Review published in LCCS newsletter, Random Bits, April, 2000

Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition Version 5.0
Evaluated by Allan Isham, LCCS Member

Adobe Photoshop LE is one of a series of image and photo editing programs marketed by Adobe Systems Incorporated. The flagship of the product line is Photoshop itself (without the LE). Photoshop is the standard of the industry and is recognized as the premier image editing software available anywhere in the world. Photoshop LE (the LE stands for Limited Edition) is just one step down from the flagship.

Photoshop LE provides the tools for editing and enhancing computer images in a wide variety of ways. Colors can be corrected and changed using commands to precisely adjust the brightness, contrast and color balance. Images can be modified with filters and special techniques to crop and combine selected areas. Original artwork can be created with special brushes and then modified with special filters achieve professional results without investing a lot of time.

Photoshop LE is available as a stand-alone package, or it can be obtained as part of the software bundled with Adobe’s PageMaker software for desktop publishing. That is where my copy came from. When I installed PageMaker on my computer, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had the option of installing Photoshop LE as well.

System Requirements for Adobe Photoshop LE: Pentium or faster processor, Windows 95 or Windows NT or later, 16 MB of RAM (32 MB recommended), 40 MB of available hard disk space, color monitor with 8-bit/256 colors or greater video card (24-bit color recommended), CD-ROM drive.

My system: Pentium 225 processor, Windows 98 Second Edition, 64 MB RAM, several GBs of hard disk space available, 17 inch Nanao color monitor with Diamond Stealth PCI video card with 4 MB RAM, 24X internal CD-ROM drive.

Along with Adobe Photoshop LE, the package also includes a copy of Adobe Reader 4.0 which is the software needed to read files with the pdf extension. Adobe Reader is also available as a free download from Adobe’s Web site and is bundled with several Adobe products. While not a vital part of the image editing software, Adobe Reader is required to view the 260 page Users Guide for Photoshop LE that is provided on the software CD.

Installation:

Adobe Photoshop must be installed on your hard drive. It cannot be run from the CD. In my case, the installation ran well without a hitch. Following the recommendations from Adobe, I first disabled my virus protection software. Following the prompts from the installation program on the CD, I selected the installation option called Typical. This option installed the complete set of files on my hard drive including about a half dozen sample graphics of professional quality.

Once the installation was complete, I placed a shortcut icon on my desktop so that Adobe Photoshop LE could be run with just one "double click". Otherwise, I would have had to use the conventional technique of pressing Start/Programs/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition.

Using Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition

As with most pieces of world class software, the options and variations when using Adobe Photoshop LE are very extensive. It certainly will be a long time before I will be able to call myself anything more than a casual user. I am neither a photographer, nor an artist and have limited experience with computer graphics. The first thing I found myself doing was reading the User Guide to try to understand the terminology. There are many new words (at least for me) associated with computer graphics, and I am still learning about these and trying to understand all their variations. I found that a better way to acquaint myself with the product was to open a graphic file that I had some interest in. Then I could learn to modify the image using the artistic controls of the software. I have only begun this process.

One image I chose was that of a Ford Thunderbird I owned in the 1950’s. The image file was provided at the last Windows SIG meeting when Phyllis Hartroft used her HP scanner to scan one of my old 35mm slides.

Adobe Photoshop opened the scanned jpg image with no hesitation. The software recognizes most of the image formats used around the world. It also can save images in most formats as well as the psd format, which is proprietary to Adobe. (The reader is cautioned, however, that other image software may not be able to open image files with the psd format. And Adobe Photoshop is not alone in this respect either. Using Photoshop LE, I have not been able to open clip art files in the wmf format used by Microsoft, or images formatted in the proprietary formats from Paint Shop Pro, a competing product, or Print Shop.)

The first new word I had to learn was "layer". When you create a new Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition document, the image consists of a background, which is analogous to the canvas under a painting. You can add one or more layers to the document. Layers let you edit specific areas of your image without affecting any other data. You can draw, edit, paste, use masks, and reposition elements on a layer without disturbing any other layers in the image. A Photoshop image can have as many as 99 layers.

A jpg image of a photograph is one layer. Looking at the image of my old Thunderbird, I first selected Image/Adjust/Variations from the menu bar to "tweak" the colors and the brightness. The nice thing about the Variations control is that several thumbnails of the image are shown at one time. These variations are displayed such that the user simply clicks on the thumbnail representing the desired change. For example, clicking on the image marked "more red" makes a slight change to the image reflecting that modification. The thumbnail on the opposite side reverses the effect, so that in order to make the image less red you click on "more cyan". This can continue for the three major color duos, red/cyan, yellow/blue, and green/magenta. The highlights, mid-tones and shadows of the picture are all changed in separate operations of the Variations. The more technically minded person can use a separate technique in which numerical values of the color changes from –100 to +100 are entered in a form. I found it much more efficient to use the Variations control.

Beyond this very simple color and brightness control, there are many more image editing controls which are used by graphics professionals worldwide. I tried "painting" my image of Thunderbird bright red (it was black when I owned it in the 50’s). This wasn’t too successful, but I need more practice.

Another photo I edited was sent to me by my daughter in Phoenix via Seattle Filmworks. Their service for developing film includes the ability to post the whole roll on the Internet. Only selected recipients can download the pictures. After saving a picture of my new grandson as a jpg file using Windows 98, I opened it with Photoshop. I quickly discovered that modifying a photo with a person in it is much harder than a picture with just a "thing", like the Thunderbird. My mental perception of what my grandson should look like greatly influenced how I used the image editing controls. Isn’t he cute?

Conclusion

I will never be a professional photographer or a computer graphics professional. Even so, Photoshop Limited Edition is a captivating piece of software. I think it is a fine piece of software for amateurs such as me who would like to use it to edit photos from friends, family and the Internet. If I should decide that I am ready to explore more advanced image design, I can easily upgrade to Adobe Photoshop 5.5 for even more precision and broader color support. To start with, though, I would recommend to my friends that the Limited Edition be tackled first.

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