I have already stepped up to the counter, put my money down, and begged them to please send me Adobe Photoshop CS5 as soon as it comes out. In fact I am sitting on the front porch as I write this because I can't wait to get my hands on it.
Usually I hem and haw when it comes to upgrades, sometimes I will skip a version, buying software with every other major release.
Not this time, after hearing the opinions of photographers I respect I knew I was getting on the Adobe CS5 bandwagon.
Two weeks ago when Joel Grimes was here he displayed his workflow and it's obvious by his work that he uses Photoshop, but he uses third party programs to perform some of his tasks, like HDR and making complex selections. More than once he commented that he was looking forward to CS5 as it would eliminate the need to use other programs to perform these tasks.
One greatly improved feature people are raving about are the selection tools, you can watch Terri White separate a woman with long flowing (and blowing) hair from the background using the new edge detection tool here.
Wanna see more new (or improved) features in CS5 like noise reduction, layers improvement, content aware fill, and puppet warp in action? Scott Kelby (and friends) have put together a new Adobe Photoshop CS5 learning center that you will want to visit.
I am sure at this point you are thinking "Please, just tell me where I can get CS5 for $198!". If you are lucky enough to have a student or teacher in your house you can get the full (and boxed) version of Photoshop CS5 Extended at Journey ED for only $198 (Windows version here, MAC version here)!
Crazy, I know! And if you order by April 30th they will ship it to you for free.
You can compare what is new and/or different between "regular" Photoshop and Photoshop Extended at the Adobe website (extended version here and regular version here).
And just in case I haven't provided you with enough links, here's one more, probably the greatest collection of CS5 resources in one place.
I will leave you with a video, probably one of the most talked about features in CS5 is "content aware fill" and this video demonstrates just how well it works.
If you are a subscriber (and you know who you are) you know that videos are not pushed through with your subscription so you'll need to return to the blog or head directly to YouTube to watch it.
Enjoy...
