Street Photography Magazine

In our opinion, these tool enhancements

are much more significant than 1,800 revised

icons or the much-vaunted new dark interface

(which can, by the way, be switched back to

its familiar gray theme with just a couple of

mouse clicks).

However, some of the new interface

enhancements are really quite useful. For

example, the Application Bar has been

scrapped to increase the space available for

image processing (although I miss it myself

because I often use it when teaching).

Another plus point is the new filter gallery

interface, which displays complex blur and

lighting effects and their controls at full size in

the tool window.

Blur Gallery

The Blur Gallery is one of our favorite

innovations, and offers not only a completely

overhauled Field Blur filter, but also the new

Iris Blur and Tilt-Shift filters and stackable blur

effects.

The Blur Gallery window no longer looks

like a filter interface at all, and you can adjust

your image directly from within the tool using

on-image controls. All three filters use the

same controls. Field blur uses user-selected

pins, the sharpness of which can be adjusted

directly using the tool’s slider. You can then

adjust the sharpness gradient using the

adjustment ‘ring’ positioned around each pin.

In Iris Blur mode, the slider adjusts the degree

of blur in its own immediate environment and

the shape of the iris you use determines

where exactly the blur zone is located. You

can alter the shape of the iris ellipse as well as

scaling and rotating it using the built-in

handles. Separate feather handles determine

Photoshop CS6 | Highlights

The Blur Gallery offers not only a completely new filter interface, but also includes three new filters

that allow you to intuitively adjust various aspects of a photo’s depth of field

Two new functions in one:

Mask adjustments and adjustment layer properties

can now be altered in the Properties panel. Auto

Correct adjustments can now be edited.