› › FROM THE EDITOR> KELBY ONE.COM
[ 7 ]All my best,Scott Kelby
KelbyOne President & CEO
Editor & Publisher, Photoshop UserPHOTOSHOP ENHANCEMENTS
When it comes to the development and growth of
Photoshop, there are three big things Adobe can do:
First, they can add new features. Photoshop has been
around for 30 years now, so I have to imagine coming
up with new features is much harder today than it was
even 10 years ago. Adobe has already added so many
features and, with the Creative Cloud, they now update
it even more frequently (the latest update was released
in late February). It’s such a mature product that I’d hate
for my job to be “the guy who thinks up new Photo-
shop features that nobody’s thought of before.” Second,
they can do bug fixes, which are always necessary for any
piece of software. But as important as new features and
bug fixes are, it’s number three that’s the most valuable
to me: updating existing features.
For example, take a look at what Adobe did to the
Lens Blur filter in this most recent update. Lens Blur has
been in Photoshop since 2003, and it’s pretty much
been unchanged since then. To be honest, it wasn’t that
awesome of a filter, which is why, as you’re reading
this, you’re likely thinking to yourself, “There’s a Lens
Blur filter in Photoshop?” Yeah, it’s not super popu-
lar. Well, I should say it “wasn’t super popular,” but
Adobe updated it, and it’s vastly improved. I think it’s
going to have a second life and become quite a popular
filter after all. I didn’t need a new Lens Blur filter, I just
needed the one we already had to look realistic enough
to actually be useful, and for me, that type of enhance-
ment is a home run.
Another nice improvement is the changes Adobe
made to one of my favorite (and most-used) features:
Content-Aware Fill. It now works better than ever, and
that’s no little thing. They also worked on speed, and
faster is always a good thing (though Photoshop never
felt sluggish to me), which also falls under “making what
we already have better.” In the most recent update, they
increased the responsiveness of your mouse (or pen) any-
time you’re panning or zooming.
Now, I’m not suggesting in any way that Adobe stop
making new features, because Adobe’s engineers arenot only magicians, but they’re also great at coming up
with new ideas for features that make our lives easier,
even when we didn’t know we needed a particular feature.
Content-Aware Fill is just one example. At the time, hav-
ing Photoshop analyze your image and decide what
should fill any gaps in your photo wasn’t even some-
thing I dreamed they’d be able to do, and now it’s been
there for so long that it just seems, well, regular. Content-
Aware Fill is magic (for the most part), and I’m still
wowed when Adobe comes out with features we didn’t
know we couldn’t live without. But I think making current
features in the program that we work in every day even
better, faster, and more useful is just as important, and
I applaud Adobe for going back and enhancing features
that are already there, giving new life to parts of Photo-
shop many folks have never discovered.
Before I sign off and you tear into the rest of the
magazine, here’s my pick for which filter I’d love to see
Adobe update next: the Lens Flare filter! I know many
of you just asked, “There’s a Lens Flare filter?” It’s there,
and it’s “okay,” but with a little bit of love, I think it
could be awesome. A new interface with a much larger
preview (or just an onscreen preview like the Lighting
Effects filter), and some really nice presets and a bit
more control would be sweet. There are a number of
iPhone apps that do great lens flare looks. I’d love to
see that kind of functionality in Photoshop. Hey, it could
happen. I would have lost a bet if you told me Adobe
would be updating the Lens Blur filter, so I’m holding
out hope. ☺
A Note from Scott