Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3.4 serial key or number

It used to be so simple to buy Lightroom. Every couple of years, Adobe would release a new version for photographers to buy outright, or to upgrade their existing copy.

Now things are a bit more complicated…

If you’re confused about whether you can still buy Lightroom 6 outright, or whether to buy Lightroom Classic as a subscription, this is the guide for you!

In a hurry? check out our top pick! Lightroom Photography Plan✓ Great features ✓ Regular Updates ✓ Affordable

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Be warned, though – if you’re looking for one of the last remaining copies of standalone Lightroom, you may be disappointed…

However, all is not lost – keep reading on to see why you may change your mind and end up happily paying for a monthly subscription, just like me.

Best Way to Buy Lightroom in September 2020

Here in September 2020, photographers can only use the latest version of Adobe Lightroom by paying monthly or annually as part of a subscription plan.

These ‘Photography Plans’ include online cloud storage space for your photos to be backed up, shared, and edited remotely on desktop or mobile devices.

Also bundled in to the main photography plans is Adobe Photoshop, which can be used on the desktop and more recently via an incredible iPad app.

While there are several other good alternatives to Lightroom, none of them offer the same seamless multi-device integration, and no editing software comes close to the power of Photoshop.

Whether you’re a professional or an amateur photographer, or simply someone who just wants to make your photos look their best in the least amount time, Adobe Lightoom is still the best photo editing software.

Still having trouble deciding how to buy Lightroom? Keep reading…

How to Choose a Lightroom Photography Plan

Being able to edit and share your photos on a phone and tablet is incredibly liberating.

In this guide, I’ve done my best to simplify the ways you can buy Lightroom, so you can choose the most appropriate Photography Plan for your needs.

I’ve been using the software for over 10 years, and have recently published an in-depth Lightroom Classic review. I’m definitely qualified to recommend to you the best options ;-)

I’ve ignored the ‘Lightroom Only’ and ‘Photoshop Only’ plans, since they don’t represent the best value for money.

(I’m actually confused as to why Adobe would even offer them!)

Most photographers should choose the ‘Photography Plan 1TB‘ option, which is the exact plan I’ve been paying to use for over 2 years.

With 1TB of online storage space, the excellent Photography Plan 1TB lets you backup and sync approximately 20,000 RAWs or 200,000 JPEGs across your desktop and mobile devices, giving you the ultimate in editing freedom and peace of mind.

If you’re on a tighter budget, the ‘Photography Plan 20GB‘ option is great value for money too, and you can always upgrade your storage space to 1TB later on.

(20GB allows you to store and sync approximately 400 RAWs or 2,000 JPEG images.)

Then there’s the ‘All Apps Plan‘, which is popular with photographer-designers, and other creative professionals who need access to the entire suite of Creative Cloud apps.

(This includes Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush, and a total of over 20 creative apps.)

If you’re a Student or a Teacher, great news! You can get a 70% discount by using this link.

Finally, if you’re part of a team, school or university, there are various other ways you can take advantage of the entire Adobe Creative Suite – more info on that here.

Benefits of Buying Lightroom as a Subscription

Lightroom’s new Creative Profiles are one great reason to pay for the subscription version of Lightroom.

As of April 2019, Adobe Lightroom is only available as part of the Creative Cloud subscription. Lightroom 6 standalone is no longer available to purchase.

Initially, I was annoyed about this, but the more I used the subscription version, the more I understood why Adobe had made this decision.

I’ve been using the Lr Classic CC (and Lr Mobile) for a few years now, and I’m confident to recommend it to all photographers. If you’re still using the standalone copy of Lightroom 6, I strongly recommend you consider upgrading.

There are several significant pros of paying for Lightroom on one of Adobe’s subscription plans.

With the extra money generated since Adobe switched to its subscription models, they have invested a lot into making Lightroom much better.

Here are the main benefits:

1) You get the fastest, most optimized version of Lightroom

This is essential for most people. Lightroom Classic CC launches faster, generates previews faster, imports and exports faster, switches between modules faster, and generally feels much snappier than previous versions of Lightroom.

There’s still admittedly room for improvement, but for the average user, it’s plenty fast enough.

2) All of the most recent cameras are supported

If you own any camera released after Dec 2017, you need to buy Lightroom Classic CC to be able to edit your grainy photos.

I bought a Sony a7III earlier this year, and so I had to stop using Lightroom 6 and upgrade to their subscription plan.

Most photographers need their new cameras to be supported by Lightroom.

3) You get all the latest Lightroom features

This is a huge benefit. Creative Profiles, Expanded Tone Curve, Profile Management, Coloured Labeling, Folder Search, Range Masking, Boundary Warp… these are all incredibly useful features that you’ll use every day, and they simply won’t ever be available unless you buy Lightroom Classic CC (see all features here).

For example, the ‘Textures’ slider in the Lightroom Develop panel allows you to smooth or enhance textures in photos without destroying finer details or adding noise.

It’s genuinely a really useful tool which I find myself using to clean up noising high ISO images.

4) You get Lightroom CC (Lightroom Mobile)

Being able to sync and backup your imported photos to the cloud, then use a mobile device to cull, rate and edit photos is incredibly liberating.

You can also use Photoshop CC to perform more fine tuning on your images via your iPad, all from the cloud – very impressive.

I love the ability to create an online gallery of images to share in just a few clicks, using the Albums feature of Lightroom CC and the included Adobe cloud storage space.

Also, thanks to Apple iOS13, Lightroom Mobile is finally able to import photos from your camera direct to the Lightroom app, bypassing the camera roll.

This ‘direct import’ feature is a huge time saver to what was once a rather clunky process. Also added to the update are multiple export options, including options for file type, pixel dimensions, compression and watermarks,

The Lightroom Mobile app is 100% free to download and use whether you’re a paying Creative Cloud subscriber or not.

However, its functionality is limited, meaning some key features are only available to subscribers (see below), and you can’t take advantage of cloud syncing of your images across devices.

5) You get Photoshop CC (Photoshop on iPad)

The latest version of Adobe Photoshop now supports a fully completely mobile workflow, meaning that you can start editing a PSD on your desktop, have it saved to the Adobe cloud automatically, then continue editing on your iPad.

While anyone can download the Photoshop iPad app for free, it’s only with a Creative Cloud subscription that users can take advantage of all the cloud syncing benefits, and this is what makes it so powerful.

(If you’re confused at to why you might need both software, check out Lightroom vs Photoshop.)

Can you Buy Lightroom 6 Outright?

In February 2019, Adobe stopped offering the standalone Lightroom 6.

For a few weeks, it was still possible to grab one of the last remaining copies on Amazon, but they all seem to be sold out now.

Aside from that, there may be the odd copy floating around the Internet, or you might even still be using Lr6 on your computer today.

However, as of May 2019, Adobe Creative Cloud no longer offers customers access to older versions of Lightroom and Photoshop.

Cons of Using Lightroom 6 (i.e Not Upgrading)

Useful features such as Range Masks are NOT available in Lightroom 6

I’ll admit it – I held off upgrading from my outdated standalone Lightroom 6 software for almost a year.

Along with many other photographers, I felt angry at Adobe for forcing users into their subscription model, and refusing to keep creating Lightroom standalone products.

If you own any of the previous versions of Lightroom, I understand your annoyance too…

After all, why should you have to pay a monthly subscription on top of the price you’ve paid for the original software?!

Just in case you do find one of the last remaining copies of Lr6, just consider the reasons below why buying Lightroom 6 outright may not be a good idea.

1) You won’t have the fastest, most optimized version of Lightroom

This is a huge con of buying Lightroom 6 in 2020. Why pay for software that’s outdated, and will run slower and slower over time?!

2) You’ll be stuck using older cameras

Lightroom 6 won’t be able to edit any photos taken with cameras released after Nov 2017*. Why limit yourself to old technology – there are so many new and exciting mirrorless cameras being released!

(*You can still use the Adobe DNG Converter, but it’s a rather clunky workaround for every single time you import images from newer cameras into LR6.)

3) You won’t have all the latest features

Perhaps you don’t think you need the latest Lightroom features, but trust me, when you see what more you can do to your photos with the latest updates, you’ll want them eventually!

4) Limited Lightroom CC/Mobile Functionality

The premium features that are missing from the free version of Lightroom CC (Mobile) are numerous and considerable:

• Cloud Storage
• Sync Presets & profiles
• Healing
• Selective Adjustments
• Sensei Search
• Geometry
• Editing Raw Photos
• Sharing Web Galleries
• Sort your People Photos

These are all are invaluable features for many photographers, and using an older standalone version of Lightroom means you can’t take advantage of any of the,.

Being able to cull, organise and even edit photos on a tablet is incredibly liberating, not to mention a lot of fun. Cloud storage (backup), and ability to create a shareable album within seconds, are both incredible useful features too.

In addition, Sensei Search is Adobe’s AI powered photo search feature – it’s particularly exciting to see how this will improve over the coming months.

5) No Photoshop/Photoshop for iPad Mobile Workflow

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether these are issues or not, since not everyone needs this software.

However, even if you think you may not need Photoshop, I must admit that for any image edits that simply aren’t possible in Lightroom, it’s still a great piece of software.

Just as there are lots of great Lightroom tutorials all over YouTube, the same is true for Photoshop, so getting up to speed isn’t too hard.

Also, the ability to work seamlessly across desktop computer to iPad with Photoshop CC really is impressive, and a real game changer for mobile creatives.

How Much does Lightroom Cost?

You used to be able to buy Lightroom 6 (the non-subscription version) from Amazon… but no longer :-(

Obviously, if you still manage somehow to buy Lightroom outright as a standalone product, there’s only one cost to you.

With the various Adobe Photography Plans, however, the actual cost of Lightroom to you the photographer is a little more vague.

Let’s try and put the cost a Lightroom subscription into perspective…

Obviously you can’t predict how long you plan to use Lightroom, but let’s assume you’ll use it for 1 year (then reassess and see what other options have appeared in that time).

On the Photography Plan with 1TB of Cloud Storage, you’ll have spent a total of about US$232 after a year.

Yes, it’s obviously more than a Lightroom 6 purchase (assuming you even manage to find one!), but how relevant is this to you?

Is the cost of Lightroom Classic CC (as a monthly subscription) justifiable to you?

If you’re a professional, using the latest version of Lightroom is a necessity. You owe it to yourself and to your clients to use the best version of a software, which will also support the latest camera technologies.

In addition, having access to Photoshop for those photos you can’t edit completely in Lightroom is also essential as a working pro.

The premium features of Lightroom CC (‘Mobile’) are also really useful to so many photographers –  the ability to import RAW files straight from your camera into an iPad, then make selective adjustments just by tapping the screen, and have all edits synced back to your main computer – it’s like magic!

The Adobe Photography Plan is a cost of doing business as a photographer in 2020, and for the huge benefits, I’m happy to deduct is as an expense to my photography business.

But how about if you’re an amateur photographer, or even a beginner? Is it still worth paying Adobe each month for the privilege of using their software? Well yes, I think so.

Even if you’re not a professional photographer, a subscription to Lightroom is incredibly useful and liberating. Photographers of all standards can benefit enormously from the latest image editing and cloud syncing technologies.

Despite the emergence of several alternative image editors and an alluring Luminar 4 discount, I still believe paying for the subscription version of Lightroom is still the number one option.

How to get a Lightroom Discount

The Adobe Student Discount is the cheapest way to get all the Adobe Apps.

Occasionally, Adobe decides to give a discount on Lightroom and its Creative Cloud products.

If you don’t mind waiting, you can keep checking this link to see if there are any good offers.

Another option is if you’re a student or a teacher (check eligibility here). If eligible, you can save up to 70% on Creative Cloud products using this link.

Finally it’s worth mentioning that you can download Lightroom to trial from here, and have a play around with the other Adobe products too.

How to get an Adobe Student Discount

As mentioned above, if you’re a student or a teacher, you can save a up to 70% on a Creative Cloud All Apps plan using this link.

This can mean a huge reduction of US$52.99 to $19.99 a month! This is a generous offer from Adobe, in an effort to support anyone in full time education and encourage the development of creativity.

(You didn’t hear it from me, but there are ways to take advantage of the Adobe Student Discount... even if you’re not a student or teacher!)

I don’t want to spell it out for you here, but let’s just say it’s easier than you might think – head over to this link and get a little ‘creative’ with your application ;-)

How to get a Creative Cloud All Apps Discount

If you aren’t a student or teacher, you can use this Adobe Photoshop Lightroom discount to save 15%.

Adobe are kindly offering all Shotkit newsletter subscribers an exclusive 15% discount on the first year of the Adobe CC All Apps plan.

If you’re a multi-discipline creative, a production agency, or even just someone who requires more than just the Photography Plan, the All Apps Plan is by far the most cost effective way of getting everything you need.

I’m a huge fan of the cross-device video editing app Adobe Premiere Rush CC, so in order to get the most out of it, I needed to upgrade to the All Apps plan (since I already subscribe to the Photography Plan).

There are 20+ Adobe apps that I’ll be able to take advantage of, including apps that have nothing to do with photography, e.g. Adobe Acrobat and Dreamweaver.

To get the 15% discount for yourself, just sign up to the free Shotkit weekly newsletter here and you’ll gain access to a coupon code in the exclusive member’s area.

How to get Lightroom with Photoshop

A source of some confusion is just how users can get Lightroom with Photoshop – it’s not immediately apparent that when subscribing to the one of the Creative Cloud Photography plans, you also get Photoshop included.

If you opt for the Photography Plan + 1TB of Cloud Storage like me, you get Lightroom with Photoshop, as well as the other features mentioned previously (see top of article for more info).

Similarly, if you get the Photography Plan + 20GB of Cloud Storage you get the same benefit, just with 1/50th the online storage capacity.

Finally, with the Creative Cloud All Apps, it’s pretty self-explanatory – you get Lightroom, Photoshop, and all the other Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

(This option is for power-users, or agencies which require their employees to have access to everything.)

Free Adobe Lightroom Download Warning

I imagine some people reading this post will be searching for ways to get an Adobe Lightroom crack, or trying to uncover a free Lightroom download. I won’t lie – many moons ago I tried to do the same thing!

You might find success on certain shadier sites, but I’d strongly recommend you steer clear of anything but the genuine Lightroom from the Adobe website, or a reputable dealer.

Whether you’re a professional photographer or an enthusiast, you definitely shouldn’t be entrusting all your most precious memories to a dodgy copy of Lightroom.

Anything could happen, from a corrupted database to images displaying differently – the latest cameras may not even be supported.

In summary, please do the right thing. Do NOT download Lightroom from any source other than Adobe.

I know it’s nice to get software for free, but it’s far better to pay a little money for software that helps you achieve your goals, particularly if that software is frequently updated with useful features.

Adobe Lightroom trial

Adobe offers a free 7 day Lightroom CC Trial

The one official way to get a ‘free’ version of Lightroom is via the Adobe Lightroom Free Trial, which is only available on the Adobe website here.

The only drawback is that you only get 7 days to have a play around with the software, but at least it’s a fully functional version of Lightroom CC with all the latest updates.

You can convert your free trial to a paid Creative Cloud membership during the 7 day period, or after the trial expires.

The Adobe Lightroom Trial works on both macOS and Windows – I recommend you give it a go if you’re in two minds about whether to upgrade your standalone Lightroom 6 copy to the subscription plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Since writing this post, I’ve had a lot of questions regarding the various options available. Here are some answers to the most common queries:

How much is Adobe Lightroom?

You can purchase Lightroom on its own or as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan, with both plans starting at US$9.99/month. Lightroom Classic is available as part of the Creative Cloud Photography plan, starting at US$9.99/month.

What is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

Sometimes Lightroom is referred to rather confusingly as ‘Photoshop Lightroom’. It is the same thing.

Can you Just Buy Lightroom?

No you cannot. Amazon and B&H Photo hasve sold the last remaining copies of Lightroom 6, so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to find it elsewhere.

Can I get Lightroom Free?

Only for 30 days ;-) Click here to download a free trial of Lightroom Classic.

Is Lightroom only available by subscription?

Lightroom Classic CC is only available by subscription. Lightroom 6 (the previous version) is no longer available to purchase outright.

Which is better Photoshop or Lightroom?

Lightroom is like a ‘lite’ version of Photoshop, but it also offers image organisation features that Photoshop lacks. One is not technically better than the other – they are intended to be used for different purposes, often in unison.

Typically, a Lightroom user will only use Photoshop to edit or manipulate images in a way that Lightroom cannot. Similarly, a Photoshop user will use Lightroom in order to organise, cull and add keywords to a library of images.

What is Adobe Lightroom used for?

Lightroom has two main uses – the first is as an image management software. The second is as an image editing software.

Is Lightroom CC free?

Yes, on mobile it is :-) You can download the app for iOS and Android devices, and use it for free to edit and share your images.

The desktop version of Lightroom CC isn’t available as a free, standalone product – it comes bundled with the Photography Plan, which includes Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC.

What’s the difference between Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC is the renamed version of the original Lightroom application. It is optimised for desktop-focused workflows, including local storage of your photos in files and folders on your computer.

Lightroom CC is the new cloud-based photo service that works across desktop, mobile and web. Lightroom Classic CC is the desktop-focused digital photography product. Slightly confusing, right?! ;-)

Is Adobe Lightroom Mobile free?

Yes, it’s 100% free to download the Lightroom CC mobile app onto your smartphone. However, there are certain features that are missing:

• Cloud Storage
• Sync Presets & profiles
• Healing
• Selective Adjustments
• Sensei Search
• Geometry
• Editing Raw Photos
• Sharing Web Galleries
• Sort your People Photos

Some of these features are unnecessary for the average photographer, but others are genuinely very useful, e.g. RAW editing, sync presets and cloud storage.

The premium features are only only available to users who subscribe to the Creative Cloud.

What happens to my photos if I cancel my Adobe subscription?

Lightroom CC: Adobe stores your original images for an additional year after your membership lapses. During this time, you can continue to launch Lightroom CC to download your original files from the cloud .

Lightroom Classic: You’ll still have access to all your photos on your hard drive through Lightroom Classic CC. You can continue to import and organise photos, as well as export your edited photos through Export, Publish, Print, Web, or Slideshow. However, access to the Develop & Map modules and Lightroom Mobile are not available after your membership ends.

Is there a Lightroom 7?

Nope! Lightroom 6 was the last stand-alone (i.e. non-subscription) version of Lightroom that could be purchased outside of a Creative Cloud membership… but now even that has been phased out.

All the advantages of Lightroom lie in the subscription versions, with regular updates, powerful new features and helpful support.

If you have any other questions, please leave them in the comments below so I can consider adding them to this list.

Final Recommendations

No one likes the idea of paying each month for a subscription… especially when that product or service used to be available as a one-off payment.

However, once you’re committed to buying Lightroom Classic CC, you’ll soon realise just how many huge benefits there are by paying for Lightroom in this way… whether you’re an amateur or a pro photographer.

Many believe that with the massive revenue Adobe has created by encouraging its users into this model, it is now more able to invest heavily into the improvement of Lightroom, Photoshop and every other creative program we all rely on.

As a Lightroom subscriber, I’m happy to keep paying the subscription fee, as I feel the benefits hugely outweigh anything else.

I hope this article has put some things in perspective for you too. Leave me a comment with your thoughts :-)

Highly Recommended Lightroom Photography Plan✓ Great features ✓ Regular Updates ✓ Affordable

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Disclaimer: All recommendations are impartial and based on actual user experience, with no bias to the products or the brand. The products in this post may contain affiliate links.

Original author(s)
Developer(s)	Adobe Inc.
Initial release	February 19, 1990; 30 years ago (1990-02-19)
Stable release	2020 (21.2.3[1]) (September 9, 2020; 13 days ago (2020-09-09)) [±]
Operating system	Windows 10 version 1809 and later macOS 10.13 and later[2] iPadOS 13.1 and later[3]
Platform	x86-64
Available in	26 languages[4]
Type	Raster graphics editor
License	Trialware, SaaS
Website	www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster graphics editing, but in digital art as a whole. The software's name has thus become a generic trademark, leading to its usage as a verb (e.g. "to photoshop an image", "photoshopping", and "photoshop contest") although Adobe discourages such use.^[5] Photoshop can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models including RGB, CMYK, CIELAB, spot color, and duotone. Photoshop uses its own PSD and PSB file formats to support these features. In addition to raster graphics, Photoshop has limited abilities to edit or render text and vector graphics (especially through clipping path for the latter), as well as 3D graphics and video. Its feature set can be expanded by plug-ins; programs developed and distributed independently of Photoshop that run inside it and offer new or enhanced features.

Photoshop's naming scheme was initially based on version numbers. However, in October 2002 (following the introduction of Creative Suite branding), each new version of Photoshop was designated with "CS" plus a number; e.g., the eighth major version of Photoshop was Photoshop CS and the ninth was Photoshop CS2. Photoshop CS3 through CS6 were also distributed in two different editions: Standard and Extended. With the introduction of the Creative Cloud branding in June 2013 (and in turn, the change of the "CS" suffix to "CC"), Photoshop's licensing scheme was changed to that of software as a service rental model. Historically, Photoshop was bundled with additional software such as Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Device Central and Adobe Camera RAW.

Alongside Photoshop, Adobe also develops and publishes Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop Express, Photoshop Fix, Photoshop Sketch and Photoshop Mix. As of November 2019, Adobe has also released a full version of Photoshop for the iPad, and while initially limited, Adobe plans to bring more features to Photoshop for iPad.^[6] Collectively, they are branded as "The Adobe Photoshop Family".

Early history

Photoshop was developed in 1987 by two brothers Thomas and John Knoll, who sold the distribution license to Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1988. Thomas Knoll, a Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan, began writing a program on his Macintosh Plus to display grayscale images on a monochrome display. This program (at that time called Display) caught the attention of his brother John, an Industrial Light & Magic employee, who recommended that Thomas turn it into a full-fledged image editing program. Thomas took a six-month break from his studies in 1988 to collaborate with his brother on the program. Thomas renamed the program ImagePro, but the name was already taken.^[7] Later that year, Thomas renamed his program Photoshop and worked out a short-term deal with scanner manufacturer Barneyscan to distribute copies of the program with a slide scanner; a "total of about 200 copies of Photoshop were shipped" this way.^[8][9]

During this time, John traveled to Silicon Valley and gave a demonstration of the program to engineers at Apple and Russell Brown, art director at Adobe. Both showings were successful, and Adobe decided to purchase the license to distribute in September 1988.^[7] While John worked on plug-ins in California, Thomas remained in Ann Arbor writing code. Photoshop 1.0 was released on February 19, 1990 for Macintosh exclusively.^[10][11] The Barneyscan version included advanced color editing features that were stripped from the first Adobe shipped version. The handling of color slowly improved with each release from Adobe and Photoshop quickly became the industry standard in digital color editing. At the time Photoshop 1.0 was released, digital retouching on dedicated high-end systems (such as the Scitex) cost around $300 an hour for basic photo retouching. The list price of Photoshop 1.0 for Macintosh in 1990 was $895.^[12][13]

Photoshop was initially only available on Macintosh. In 1993, Adobe chief architect Seetharaman Narayanan ported Photoshop to Microsoft Windows. The Windows port led to Photoshop reaching a wider mass market audience as Microsoft's global reach expanded within the next few years.^[14]

File format

Photoshop files have default file extension as .PSD, which stands for "PhotoShop Document".^[15] A PSD file stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g., .JPG or .GIF) that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. A PSD file has a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels, and a length limit of two gigabytes.

Photoshop files sometimes have the file extension .PSB, which stands for "PhotoShop Big" (also known as "large document format").^[16] A PSB file extends the PSD file format, increasing the maximum height and width to 300,000 pixels and the length limit to around 4 Exabytes. The dimension limit was apparently chosen arbitrarily by Adobe, not based on computer arithmetic constraints (it is not close to a power of two, as is 30,000) but for ease of software testing. PSD and PSB formats are documented.^[17]

Because of Photoshop's popularity, PSD files are widely used and supported to some extent by most competing software, including Open-source / Free software such as GIMP. The .PSD file format can be exported to and from Adobe's other apps like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and After Effects.

Plugins

Photoshop functionality can be extended by add-on programs called Photoshop plugins (or plug-ins). Adobe creates some plugins, such as Adobe Camera Raw, but third-party companies develop most plugins, according to Adobe's specifications. Some are free and some are commercial software. Most plugins work with only Photoshop or Photoshop-compatible hosts, but a few can also be run as standalone applications.

There are various types of plugins, such as filter, export, import, selection, color correction, and automation. The most popular plugins are the filter plugins (also known as a 8bf plugins), available under the Filter menu in Photoshop. Filter plugins can either modify the current image or create content. Below are some popular types of plugins, and some well-known companies associated with them:

• Color correction plugins (Alien Skin Software,^[18] Nik Software,^[19] OnOne Software,^[20] Topaz Labs Software,^[21] The Plugin Site,^[22] etc.)
• Special effects plugins (Alien Skin Software, Auto FX Software,^[23] AV Bros.,^[24] Flaming Pear Software,^[25] etc.)
• 3D effects plugins (Andromeda Software,^[26] Strata,^[27] etc.)

Adobe Camera Raw (also known as ACR and Camera Raw) is a special plugin, supplied free by Adobe, used primarily to read and process raw image files so that the resulting images can be processed by Photoshop.^[28] It can also be used from within Adobe Bridge.

Photoshop tools

Upon loading Photoshop, a sidebar with a variety of tools with multiple image-editing functions appears to the left of the screen. These tools typically fall under the categories of drawing; painting; measuring and navigation; selection; typing; andretouching.^[29] Some tools contain a small triangle in the bottom right of the toolbox icon. These can be expanded to reveal similar tools.^[30] While newer versions of Photoshop are updated to include new tools and features, several recurring tools that exist in most versions are discussed below.

Pen tool

Photoshop includes a few versions of the pen tool. The pen tool creates precise paths that can be manipulated using anchor points. The free form pen tool allows the user to draw paths freehand, and with the magnetic pen tool, the drawn path attaches closely to outlines of objects in an image, which is useful for isolating them from a background.

Clone stamp tool

The Clone Stamp tool duplicates one part of an image to another part of the same image by way of a brush. The duplication is either in full or in part depending on the mode. The user can also clone part of one layer to another layer. The Clone Stamp tool is useful for duplicating objects or removing a defect in an image.^[31]

Shape tools

Photoshop provides an array of shape tools including rectangles, rounded rectangles, ellipses, polygons and lines. These shapes can be manipulated by the pen tool, direct selection tool etc. to make vector graphics. In addition, Photoshop provides its own shapes like animals, signs and plants.

Measuring and navigation

The eyedropper tool selects a color from an area of the image that is clicked, and samples it for future use.^[29] The hand tool navigates an image by moving it in any direction, and the zoom tool enlarges the part of an image that is clicked on, allowing for a closer view.^[29]

Selection tools

Selection tools are used to select all or any part of a picture to perform cut, copy, edit, or retouching operations.

Cropping

The crop tool can be used to select a particular area of an image and discard the portions outside the chosen section. This tool assists in creating a focus point on an image and unnecessary or excess space.^[32] Cropping allows enhancement of a photo's composition while decreasing the file size. The crop tool is in the tools palette, which is located on the right side of the document. By placing the cursor over the image, the user can drag the cursor to the desired area. Once the Enter key is pressed, the area outside the rectangle will be cropped. The area outside the rectangle is the discarded data, which allows for the file size to be decreased.^[33] The crop tool can alternatively be used to extend the canvas size by clicking and dragging outside the existing image borders.

Slicing

The slice and slice select tools, like the crop tool, are used in isolating parts of images. The slice tool can be used to divide an image into different sections, and these separate parts can be used as pieces of a web page design once HTML and CSS are applied.^[34] The slice select tool allows sliced sections of an image to be adjusted and shifted.

Moving

The move tool can be used to drag the entirety of a single layer or more if they are selected. Alternatively, once an area of an image is highlighted, the move tool can be used to manually relocate the selected piece to anywhere on the canvas.^[29]

Marquee

The marquee is a tool that can make selections that are a single row, single column, rectangular and elliptical.^[29] An area that has been selected can be edited without affecting the rest of the image. This tool can also crop an image; it allows for better control. In contrast to the crop tool, the marquee tool allows for more adjustments to the selected area before cropping. The only marquee tool that does not allow cropping is the elliptical. Although the single row and column marquee tools allow for cropping, they are not ideal, because they only crop a line. The rectangular marquee tool is the preferred option. Once the tool has been selected, dragging the tool across the desired area will select it. The selected area will be outlined by dotted lines, referred to as "marching ants". To set a specific size or ratio, the tool options bar provides these settings. Before selecting an area, the desired size or ratio must be set by adjusting the width and height. Any changes such as color, filters, location, etc. should be made before cropping. To crop the selection, the user must go to the image tab and select crop.^[35]

Lasso

The lasso tool is similar to the marquee tool, however, the user can make a custom selection by drawing it freehand.^[29] There are three options for the lasso tool – regular, polygonal, and magnetic. The regular lasso tool allows the user to have drawing capabilities. Photoshop will complete the selection once the mouse button is released. The user may also complete the selection by connecting the end point to the starting point. The "marching ants" will indicate if a selection has been made. The polygonal lasso tool will draw only straight lines, which makes it an ideal choice for images with many straight lines. Unlike the regular lasso tool, the user must continually click around the image to outline the shape. To complete the selection, the user must connect the end point to the starting point just like the regular lasso tool. Magnetic lasso tool is considered the smart tool. It can do the same as the other two, but it can also detect the edges of an image once the user selects a starting point. It detects by examining the color pixels as the cursor move over the desired area. Closing the selection is the same as the other two, which should also should display the "marching ants" once the selection has been closed.^[36]

The quick selection tool selects areas based on edges, similarly to the magnetic lasso tool. The difference between this tool and the lasso tool is that there is no starting and ending point. For this reason, the selected area can be added onto as much as possible without starting over. By dragging the cursor over the desired area, the quick selection tool detects the edges of the image. The "marching ants" allow the user to know what is currently being selected. Once the user is done, the selected area can be edited without affecting the rest of the image. One of the features that makes this tool especially user friendly is that the SHIFT key is not needed to add more to the selection; by default, extra mouse clicks will be added to the selection rather than creating a new selection.^[37]

Magic wand

The magic wand tool selects areas based on pixels of similar values. One click will select all neighboring pixels of similar value within a tolerance level set by the user. If the eyedropper tool is selected in the options bar, then the magic wand can determine the value needed to evaluate the pixels; this is based on the sample size setting in the eyedropper tool. This tool is inferior to the quick selection tool which works much the same but with much better results and more intuitive controls. The user must decide what settings to use or if the image is right for this tool.^[38]

Eraser

The Eraser tool erases content based on the active layer. If the user is on the text layer, then any text across which the tool is dragged will be erased. The eraser will convert the pixels to transparent, unless the background layer is selected. The size and style of the eraser can be selected in the options bar. This tool is unique in that it can take the form of the paintbrush and pencil tools. In addition to the straight eraser tool, there are two more available options – background eraser and magic eraser. The background eraser deletes any part of the image that is on the edge of an object. This tool is often used to extract objects from the background. The magic eraser tool deletes based on similar colored pixels. It is very similar to the magic wand tool. This tool is ideal for deleting areas with the same color or tone that contrasts with the rest of the image.^[39]

Video editing

In Adobe CS5 Extended edition, video editing is comprehensive and efficient with a broad compatibility of video file formats such as MOV, AVI and MPEG-4 formats and easy workflow. Using simple combinations of keys video layers can easily be modified, with other features such as adding text and creating animations using single images.^[40]

3D extrusion

With the Extended version of Photoshop CS5, 2D elements of an artwork can easily become three-dimensional with the click of a button. Extrusions of texts, an available library of materials for three-dimensional, and even wrapping two-dimensional images around 3D geometry.^[40]

Mobile integration

Third-party plugins have also been added to the most recent version of Photoshop where technologies such as the iPad have integrated the software with different types of applications. Applications like the Adobe Eazel painting app allows the user to easily create paintings with their fingertips and use an array of different paint from dry to wet in order to create rich color blending.^[41] In October 2018, it was announced that the full Photoshop engine will be released for iPad next year. The program will feature cloud syncing with other devices and a simpler interface than the desktop version.^[42]

Camera raw

With the Camera Raw plug-in, raw images can be processed without the use of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, along with other image file formats such as JPEG, TIFF, or PNG. The plug-in allows users to remove noise without the side-effect of over-sharpening, add grain, and even perform post-crop vignetting.^[40]

3D printing tools

From version 14.1, users can create and edit designs for 3D printing. Artists can add color, adjust the shape or rotate the angles of imported models, or design original 3D models from scratch.^[43]

Color replacement tool

The Color Replacement Tool allows the user to change the color, while maintaining the highlights and shadows of the original image, of pieces of the image. By selecting Brushs and right clicking, the Color Replacement Tool is the third option down. What is important to note with this tool is the foreground color. The foreground color is what will be applied when painting along the chosen part of the image with the Color Replacement tool.

Cultural impact

Photoshop and derivatives such as Photoshopped (or just Shopped) have become verbs that are sometimes used to refer to images edited by Photoshop,^[44] or any image manipulating program. Such derivatives are discouraged by Adobe^[5] because, in order to maintain validity and protect the trademark from becoming generic, trademarks must be used as proper nouns.

A landscape photo composited and manipulated in Photoshop

A self-portrait photo merge, created using Photoshop

Version history

This section needs expansion with: more info on pre-CS versions. You can help by adding to it.(September 2019)

Older versions

Photoshop's naming scheme was initially based on version numbers, from version 0.07 (codename "Bond"; double-oh-seven), through version 0.87 (codename "Seurat" which was the first commercial version, sold as "Barneyscan XP"), version 1.0 (February 1990) all the way to version 7.0.1. Adobe published 7 major and many minor versions before the October 2003 introduction of version 8.0 which brought with it the Creative Suite branding.

Notable milestone features would be: Filters, Colour Separation, Virtual Memory (1.0), Paths, CMYK color (2.0), 16-bits-per-channel support, availability on Microsoft Windows (2.5), Layers, tabbed Palettes (3.0), Adjustments, Actions, Freeform Transform, PNG support (4.0), Editable Type, Magnetic Lasso and Pen, Freeform Pen, Multiple Undo, Layer Effects (5.0), Save For Web (5.5), Vector Shapes, revised User Interface (6.0), Vector Text, Healing Brush, Spell Check (7.0), Camera RAW (7.0.1).

In February 2013 Adobe donated the source code of the 1990 1.0.1 version of Photoshop to the Computer History Museum.^[45][46]

CS (version 8)

The first Photoshop CS was commercially released in October 2003 as the eighth major version of Photoshop. Photoshop CS increased user control with a reworked file browser augmenting search versatility, sorting and sharing capabilities and the Histogram Palette which monitors changes in the image as they are made to the document. Match Color was also introduced in CS, which reads color data to achieve a uniform expression throughout a series of pictures.^[47]

CS2 (version 9)

Photoshop CS2, released in May 2005, expanded on its predecessor with a new set of tools and features. It included an upgraded Spot Healing Brush, which is mainly used for handling common photographic problems such as blemishes, red-eye, noise, blurring and lens distortion. One of the most significant inclusions in CS2 was the implementation of Smart Objects, which allows users to scale and transform images and vector illustrations without losing image quality, as well as create linked duplicates of embedded graphics so that a single edit updates across multiple iterations.^[48]

Adobe responded to feedback from the professional media industry by implementing non-destructive editing as well as the producing and modifying of 32-Bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) images, which are optimal for 3D rendering and advanced compositing. FireWire Previews could also be viewed on a monitor via a direct export feature.^[48]

Photoshop CS2 brought the Vanishing Point and Image Warping tools.^[48] Vanishing Point makes tedious graphic and photo retouching endeavors much simpler by letting users clone, paint and transform image objects while maintaining visual perspective. Image Warping makes it easy to digitally distort an image into a shape by choosing on-demand presets or by dragging control points.^[48]

The File Browser was upgraded to Adobe Bridge, which functioned as a hub for productivity, imagery and creativity, providing multi-view file browsing and smooth cross-product integration across Adobe Creative Suite 2 software.^[48] Adobe Bridge also provided access to Adobe Stock Photos, a new stock photography service that offered users one-stop shopping across five elite stock image providers to deliver high-quality, royalty-free images for layout and design.

Camera Raw version 3.0 was a new addition in CS2, and it allowed settings for multiple raw files to be modified simultaneously. In addition, processing multiple raw files to other formats including JPEG, TIFF, DNG or PSD, could be done in the background without executing Photoshop itself.^[48]

Photoshop CS2 brought a streamlined interface, making it easier to access features for specific instances. In CS2 users were also given the ability to create their own custom presets, which was meant to save time and increase productivity.^[48]

CS2 activation servers' shutdown: In January 2013, Adobe Photoshop CS2 (9.0), with some other CS2 products, was released with an official serial number, due to the technical glitch in Adobe's CS2 activation servers (see Creative Suite 1 and 2).

CS3 (version 10)

Smart Objects display filters without altering the original image (here on Mac OS X)

CS3 improves on features from previous versions of Photoshop and introduces new tools. One of the most significant is the streamlined interface which allows increased performance, speed, and efficiency. There is also improved support for Camera RAW files which allow users to process images with higher speed and conversion quality. CS3 supports over 150 RAW formats as well as JPEG, TIFF and PDF.^[49] Enhancements were made to the Black and White Conversion, Brightness and Contrast Adjustment and Vanishing Point Module tools. The Black and White adjustment option improves control over manual grayscale conversions with a dialog box similar to that of Channel Mixer. There is more control over print options and better management with Adobe Bridge. The Clone Source palette is introduced, adding more options to the clone stamp tool. Other features include the nondestructive Smart Filters, optimizing graphics for mobile devices,^[50] Fill Light and Dust Busting tools.^[49] Compositing is assisted with Photoshop's new Quick Selection and Refine Edge tools and improved image stitching technology.^[51]

CS3 Extended includes everything in CS3 and additional features. There are tools for 3D graphic file formats, video enhancement and animation, and comprehensive image measurement and analysis tools with DICOM file support.^[52] The 3D graphic formats allow 3D content to be incorporated into 2D compositions. As for video editing, CS3 supports layers and video formatting so users can edit video files per frame.^[49]

CS3 and CS3 Extended were released in April 2007 to the United States and Canada. They were also made available through Adobe's online store and Adobe Authorized Resellers. Both CS3 and CS3 Extended are offered as either a stand-alone application or feature of Adobe Creative Suite. Both products are compatible with Intel-based Macs and PowerPCs, supporting Windows XP and Windows Vista.^[49] CS3 is the first release of Photoshop that will run natively on Macs with Intel processors: previous versions can only run through the translation layer Rosetta, and will not run at all on Macs running Mac OS X 10.7 or later.

CS4 (version 11)

CS4 features smoother panning and zooming, allowing faster image editing at a high magnification. The interface is more simplified with its tab-based interface^[53] making it cleaner to work with. Photoshop CS4 features a new 3D engine allowing the conversion of gradient maps to 3D objects, adding depth to layers and text, and getting print-quality output with the new ray-tracing rendering engine. It supports common 3D formats; the new Adjustment and Mask Panels; Content-aware scaling (seam carving^[54]); Fluid Canvas Rotation and File display options.^[55] The Content-aware scaling allows users to intelligently size and scale images, and the Canvas Rotation tool makes it easier to rotate and edit images from any angle.^[53]

Adobe released Photoshop CS4 Extended, which has the features of Adobe Photoshop CS4, plus capabilities for scientific imaging, 3D, motion graphics, accurate image analysis and high-end film and video users. The faster 3D engine allows users to paint directly on 3D models, wrap 2D images around 3D shapes and animate 3D objects.^[53] As the successor to Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS4 is the first x64 edition of Photoshop on consumer computers for Windows.^[56] The color correction tool has also been improved significantly.^[53]

CS4 and CS4 Extended were released on October 15, 2008. They were also made available through Adobe's online store and Adobe Authorized Resellers. Both CS4 and CS4 Extended are offered as either a stand-alone application or feature of Adobe Creative Suite. Both products are compatible with Intel-based Mac OS X and PowerPCs, supporting Windows XP and Windows Vista.^[53]

CS5 (version 12)

A 2D landscape designed in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended

Photoshop CS5 was launched on April 12, 2010.^[57] In a video posted on its official Facebook page, the development team revealed the new technologies under development, including three-dimensional brushes and warping tools.^[58]

In May 2011, Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 (CS5.5) was released, with new versions of some of the applications. Its version of Photoshop, 12.1, is identical to the concurrently released update for Photoshop CS5, version 12.0.4, except for support for the new subscription pricing that was introduced with CS5.5.^[59]

CS5 introduces new tools such as the Content-Aware Fill, Refine Edge, Mixer Brush, Bristle Tips and Puppet Warp. The community also had a hand in the additions made to CS5 as 30 new features and improvements were included by request. These include automatic image straightening, the Rule-of-Thirds cropping tool, color pickup, and saving a 16-bit image as a JPEG. Another feature includes the Adobe Mini Bridge, which allows for efficient file browsing and management.^[60]

CS5 Extended includes everything in CS5 plus features in 3D and video editing. A new materials library was added, providing more options such as Chrome, Glass, and Cork. The new Shadow Catcher tool can be used to further enhance 3D objects. For motion graphics, the tools can be applied to over more than one frame in a video sequence.^[60]

CS5 and CS5 Extended were made available through Adobe's online store, Adobe Authorized Resellers and Adobe direct sales. Both CS5 and CS5 Extended are offered as either a stand-alone application or a feature of Adobe Creative Suite 5. Both products are compatible with Intel-based Mac OS X and Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.^[61]

CS6 (version 13)

Photoshop CS6, released in May 2012, added new creative design tools and provided a redesigned interface^[62] with a focus on enhanced performance. New features have been added to the Content-Aware tool such as the Content-Aware Patch and Content-Aware Move.^[63]

Adobe Photoshop CS6 brought a suite of tools for video editing. Color and exposure adjustments, as well as layers, are among a few things that are featured in this new editor. Upon completion of editing, the user is presented with a handful of options of exporting into a few popular formats.^[64]

CS6 brings the "straighten" tool to Photoshop, where a user simply draws a line anywhere on an image, and the canvas will reorient itself so that the line drawn becomes horizontal, and adjusts the media accordingly. This was created with the intention that users will draw a line parallel to a plane in the image, and reorient the image to that plane to more easily achieve certain perspectives.^[64]

CS6 allows background saving, which means that while another document is compiling and archiving itself, it is possible to simultaneously edit an image. CS6 also features a customizable auto-save feature, preventing any work from being lost.^[64]

With version 13.1.3, Adobe dropped support for Windows XP (including Windows XP Professional x64 Edition); thus, the last version that works on Windows XP is 13.0.1. Adobe also announced that CS6 will be the last suite sold with perpetual licenses in favor of the new Creative Cloud subscriptions, though they will continue to provide OS compatibility support as well as bug fixes and security updates as necessary.^[65]

Starting January 9, 2017, CS6 is no longer available for purchase, making a Creative Cloud license the only purchase option going forward.^[66]

CC (version 14)

Photoshop CC (14.0) was launched on June 18, 2013. As the next major version after CS6, it is only available as part of a Creative Cloud subscription. Major features in this version include new Smart Sharpen, Intelligent Upsampling, and Camera Shake Reduction for reducing blur caused by camera shake. Editable Rounded Rectangles and an update to Adobe Camera Raw (8.0) were also included.^[67]

Since the initial launch, Adobe has released two additional feature-bearing updates. The first, version 14.1, was launched on September 9, 2013. The major features in this version were Adobe Generator, a Node.js-based platform for creating plug-ins for Photoshop. Photoshop 14.1 shipped with two plug-ins, one to automatically generate image assets based on an extension in the layer name, and another to automatically generate assets for Adobe Edge Reflow.^[68]

Version 14.2 was released on January 15, 2014. Major features include Perspective Warp, Linked Smart Objects, and 3D Printing support.^[69]

CC 2014 (version 15)

Photoshop CC 2014 (15.0) was released on June 18, 2014. CC 2014 features improvements to content-aware tools, two new blur tools (spin blur and path blur) and a new focus mask feature that enables the user to select parts of an image based on whether they are in focus or not. Other minor improvements have been made, including speed increases for certain tasks.^[70][71]

CC 2015 (version 16 and version 17)

Photoshop CC 2015 was released on June 15, 2015. Adobe added various creative features including Adobe Stock, which is a library of custom stock images. It also includes and have the ability to have more than one layer style.^[72] For example, in the older versions of Photoshop, only one shadow could be used for a layer but in CC 2015, up to ten are available. Other minor features like Export As, which is a form of the Save For Web in CC 2014 were also added. The updated UI as of November 30, 2015 delivers a cleaner and more consistent look throughout Photoshop, and the user can quickly perform common tasks using a new set of gestures on touch-enabled devices like Microsoft Surface Pro.^[73] CC 2015 also marks the 25th anniversary of Photoshop.^[74]

CC 2017 (version 18)

Photoshop CC 2017 was released on November 2, 2016. It introduced a new template selector when creating new documents, the ability to search for tools, panels and help articles for Photoshop, support for SVG OpenType fonts and other small improvements. In December 2016, a minor update was released to include support for the MacBook Pro Touch Bar.

CC 2018 (version 19)

Photoshop CC 2018 (version 19) was released on October 18, 2017. It featured an overhaul to the brush organization system, allowing for more properties (such as color and opacity) to be saved per-brush and for brushes to be categorized in folders and sub-folders. It also added brush stroke smoothing, and over 1000 brushes created by Kyle T. Webster (following Adobe's acquisition of his website, KyleBrush.com^[75]). A Curvature Pen tool, similar to the one in Illustrator, was added, allowing for faster creation of Bézier paths. Other additions were Lightroom Photo access, Variable font support, select subject, copy-paste layers, enhanced tooltips, 360 panorama and HEIF support, PNG compression, increased maximum zoom level, symmetry mode, algorithm improvements to Face-aware and selection tools, color and luminance range masking, improved image resizing, and performance improvements to file opening, filters, and brush strokes.^[76]

CC 2019 (version 20)

Photoshop CC 2019 was released on October 15, 2018. Beginning with Photoshop CC 2019 (version 20.0), the 32-bit version of Windows is no longer supported. This version Introduced a new tool called Frame Tool to create placeholder frames for images. It also added multiple undo mode, auto-commitment, prevent accidental panel moves with lock work-space. Live blend mode previews are added, allowing for faster scrolling over different blend mode options in the layers panel. Other additions were Color Wheel, Transform proportionally without Shift key, Distribute spacing like in Illustrator, ability to see longer layer names, match font with Japanese fonts, flip document view, scale UI to font, reference point hidden by default, new compositing engine, which provides a more modern compositing architecture is added which is easier to optimize on all platforms.

2020 (version 21)

Photoshop 2020 was released on November 4, 2019. Version 21 has many new and enhanced features like the new object selection tool for better automate complex selections, new properties panel, enhanced transform warp, new keyboard shortcuts for paint & brush and background image removal option. It added several improvements to the new content-aware fill and to the new document tab. Also added were animated GIF support, improved lens blur performance and one-click zoom to a layer's contents. It introduced new swatches, gradients, patterns, shapes and stylistic sets for OpenType fonts. With this version users now can easily convert smart objects to layers and also can adjust 32-bit layers for brightness/contrast and curves. Presets are now more intuitive to use and easier to organize.

With the February 2020 update (version 21.1) Photoshop now can iteratively fill multiple areas of an image without having to leave content-aware fill workspace. This version improved GPU based lens blur quality and provided performance improvements such as accelerate your workflow with smoother panning, zooming and navigating documents.

Version 21 was the first version where the iPad version was released. With Photoshop on the iPad, combined with the new Cloud PSD file format, a user can save cloud documents and work across Windows, Mac and iPad.^[6] Photoshop on the iPad does not have all the features of the desktop Photoshop.^[6] Adobe promises to update Photoshop on the iPad at "a much more aggressive pace than it has with its current Creative Cloud apps for the desktop".^[6] Adobe has provided a timeline for enhancing Photoshop on the iPad to have more of the features of desktop Photoshop.^[77]

With the desktop June 2020 update (version 21.2), Photoshop added faster portrait selection, Adobe Camera Raw improvements, auto-activated Adobe Fonts, rotatable patterns, and improved Match Font.^[78]

Photoshop Mix

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.(June 2012)

Photoshop Mix is an application designed as a replacement for Photoshop Touch specifically for tablets and touchscreen devices. It includes many of the features of the personal computer version, including layers, selection tools, adjustments, and filters. Edited files could be synced with Adobe Creative Cloud. Photoshop Mix is available on iOS and Android. It has 2 siblings, Photoshop Fix (a Photo Correction app), and Photoshop Sketch (a light drawing tool). All require iOS 9.0 or later. Android versions could be installed on any Android handset (4.0 and up) and tablets (3.1 and up).^[79]

See also

References

• The Lightroom application file is named Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.app and is in the //Applications/ folder.
• The preference setting file is com.adobe.Lightroom4.plist and is in //Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/.
• The //Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom/ folder contains the following files:
  • Lightroom 4 Catalog.lrcat: the Lightroom database file
  • Lightroom 4 Catalog Previews.lrdata: contains preview data for your photos
  • Lightroom 4 Catalog.lrcat.lock: prevents overwriting the catalog while it is in use
  • Lightroom 4 Catalog.lrcat-journal: crash recovery file

• Catalog backups are saved to //Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom/[catalog name]/Backups/.
• Saved and imported presets and templates have filenames ending in .lrtemplate and are in the //Users/[user name]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/ folder.
• Registration data (serial number) is in //Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Lightroom 4.0 Registration.

Important: Apple made the user library folder (//User/Library/) hidden by default with the release of Mac OS X 10.7. If you require access to files in the hidden Library folder to perform Adobe-related troubleshooting, see Access hidden user library files.