Is the era of Photoshop ending? You might be forgiven for thinking so.

I'm sure we'll all be playing the world's smallest violin for Adobe. After years of locking users in with aggressive "cancellation fees" and extortionate prices for its oft-less-than-stable software suite, you could blame the firm's stock rout on karma. But, you'd be wrong. At least a little wrong.

You guessed it, the real reasons is all because of AI.

Traditional SaaS companies like Adobe, Salesforce, and others are seeing similar headwinds to gaming companies in some regards. As pressure from easier, cheaper, potentially lazier forms of their traditional offerings arrive via artificial intelligence and algorithms.

Adobe is of course known for products like Photoshop, Adobe Premier, and Adobe Acrobat Reader. In the previous tech epoch, if you wanted to manipulate photographs, create digital art or custom graphic designs, Adobe was the go-to platform. Whether you were designing graphics for games or flyers for your band's next gig, Adobe's software stack was (and generally, still is) the go-to productivity tool for thousands in the space. However, artificial intelligence is upending everything Adobe was, and is.

If you want a quick, professional-looking design for a newspaper ad or a letter header, free tools like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Grok, and Google Gemini will do it all far more quickly and far more cheaply than a traditional Adobe-powered human graphic designer will. Yes, it won't look anywhere near as good, but if you're wanting something cheap and cheerful for a side-gig it's not exactly cost-effective to pay someone on the high-end to do it. Increasingly, though, even major corporations are using AI tech to generate these types of assets, foregoing the need to pay Adobe's very expensive subscription fees.

As such, Adobe's near-future outlook looks pretty bleak for investors thinking long term. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly pivoting from adoption models to profitability plans in 2026, and a glance over the biggest movers and shakers in tech continues to revolve almost entirely around companies with strong artificial intelligence hooks.

The hyperscaler companies providing the infrastructure for artificial intelligence platforms, such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Google, have seen some of the biggest gains over the last three years as we all know. But companies that don't seem to have a strong or convincing value proposition in the AI universe seem to be under-performing the baseline stock market.

Investment banks like Goldman Sachs have downgraded Adobe stock to "Hold" or even "Sell" in some analyses as a result. The expectation that tools being offered by OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google will become increasingly effective and efficient, rendering programs like Adobe Photoshop essentially obsolete. Adobe's own AI tools like Firefly don't seem to be winning it users.

Tools offered by companies like Salesforce are also seeing AI-related jitters. Microsoft's "Agentic AI" push is creating the perception that many traditional software systems could end up being fully automated, with the cash flowing to companies offering these tools at scale, via Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, and Office 365. Microsoft is seeing rapid uptake of tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot at a nation state level, with many Fortune 500 companies backing the tech to automate workflows and documentation cataloguing without falling afoul of data protection laws and other aspects of regulatory compliance.

RELATED: Is SaaS dead? Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicts the collapse of software as a service, thanks to AI.

Companies that operation in more traditional means have struggled to react quickly enough to some of these pivots, at least in investor's eyes.

Some of these shifts could be chalked up to hype and post-Covid corrections, according to some analysts. Concerns about data sovereignty have risen to the fore given the state of global politics flowing from the United States, forcing major markets to reconsider investments in U.S.-originating tech. Many very major companies with sensitive, and massive operations are also hesitant about integrating AI for high-stakes operations, owing to its propensity for making huge, often catastrophic errors. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for example is often regarded as "fine" for small to mid size, more generalized businesses, but it doesn't compete with SAP for highly complex, global operations — AI or not.

Adobe is uniquely likely to suffer in this post-AI world, given that many of its tools are uniquely vulnerable to artificial intelligence solutions. It doesn't help that its home-grown AI Firefly is absolutely terrible. I used the prompt "generate me an article banner showing the Photoshop logo sinking into the ocean," and it spat out the above with garbled text that means absolutely nothing. The actual article banner was generated by Microsoft Copilot using OpenAI's DALLE-3, which nailed the prompt exactly as asked. I generally don't use AI for my article banners and prefer my own photographs, but here it felt pretty illustrative of the weak position Adobe finds itself in, sadly.

Adobe attempted to acquire its way out of its weak position by buying Figma, but the deal was blocked over competition concerns. Both Figma and competing products like Canva have been offering cheaper, simpler tools that give it an inarguably stronger position in the quick-and-easy AI universe.

Adobe is probably a good case study for what might happen to other traditional software companies. Younger cohorts are growing up expecting these types of tools and experiences. As the money in traditional high-end content creation becomes increasingly diluted and AI-driven, so too will the availability of users willing to pay for Adobe Suite, and other similar old-school products.

Perhaps it also offers an insight into why Microsoft has been rushing with an odd sense of panic to integrate AI into some of its products. But as Adobe is finding out, it's hardly a silver bullet to simply "integrate" AI — it has to actually be useful.

Today's trends could flip on a dime at any minute, though. Things are incredibly chaotic, with component costs and electricity availability putting a massive bottle neck on AI infra growth. Companies like OpenAI are under tons of pressure to begin delivering profitability, which is why they're integrating ads and hiking prices in some cases.

Perhaps traditional software services and good old human creativity will win in the end ... who am I kidding.

Adobe's world-famous Photoshop and other parts of its larger Creative Cloud suite are starting to function on Linux distributions via tweaks to the WINE compatibility layer. Curiously enough, developer "Phiality" initially has a GitHub pull request for Valve's fork of WINE in mind, built for its Proton layer in SteamOS and hardware like the well-loved Steam Deck gaming handheld (via Reddit).

Essentially, this means that Steam, the PC gaming launcher and storefront, makes it easier for Adobe users to work around an incompatibility roadblock and extend their workflow to Linux, rather than falling back on Windows 11 or macOS. Right now, this is extremely unofficial and has no involvement from Valve, and can be done without Steam at all, but it shows promise nonetheless.

Phiality's contributions to WINE target incompatibilities with Windows-centric 'mshtml' and 'msxml3' dependencies and core services that, at least so far, have hampered the ability to use Adobe's apps on Linux outside of a virtual machine. Now, the Creative Cloud appears to run with the latest release and has been tested "with Photoshop 2021 and 2025."

Update on the Adobe CC Installers Patch - Now the Collection Installer works too from r/linux_gaming

It sounds like a small hurdle, but overcoming issues where Adobe's installer expects missing parts of Microsoft's OS could open the floodgates to a wide variety of its apps running closer to natively on Linux. It's a big reason for keeping some users, including myself, in a dual-boot setup with Windows 11, and certain professions still demand the use of its Creative Cloud over any alternatives.

That might not be the case forever, as more users in creative fields are seemingly choosing artificial intelligence and generative AI models for visual work. Adobe's share price is already falling, and software-as-a-service in general is struggling to compete with the convenience and near-undetectable results of tools like Google's Nano Banana Pro, overtaking even ChatGPT's DALL-E.

Still, more platform choices for Photoshop only benefit the average consumer — Windows 11 is still my primary operating system, but Linux played a bigger role in my life throughout 2025 and remains a convenient (and free) alternative when I need it. While alternatives like GIMP and Krita offer native image editing software for Linux, Adobe still holds an undeniable advantage in the industry, and I'll be watching this development with a keen eye.

Do you use any of Adobe's Creative Cloud apps? Or have you already found an alternative that works for you? Let me know in the comments to give me an idea of how mainstream Photoshop is in 2026.

In a rather unexpected move, especially considering it is free and that the words free and Adobe rarely appear in the same sentence, the company has integrated its popular creative tools directly into ChatGPT.

Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat are now accessible inside the AI chat experience. This marks a new step for Adobe, allowing users to control and access Photoshop features using simple prompts.

By removing much of the traditional complexity, it significantly lowers the barrier to entry and could enable less experienced users to produce surprisingly competent edits without needing to learn the full application first.

What does Photoshop in ChatGPT mean to you?

Adobe’s full creative suite will set you back $54.99 a month, or $599.88 a year, for access to Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Acrobat, and more. It is an expensive ask, especially for casual users.

Adobe has also built a reputation for aggressively locking users into subscriptions, including charging fees for early cancellation. It is not exactly known as a consumer-friendly company, which makes this move all the more surprising.

So, what is actually going on here, and why are some of Adobe’s tools now accessible inside ChatGPT for free?

While this looks like a big win for users on the surface, there are some important trade-offs to be aware of. Connecting an Adobe account to ChatGPT means Adobe can access conversation history and memories (this may just be chats where Adobe apps are used), along with basic account information, IP address, and approximate location.

Data is a lucrative business, and this integration gives Adobe exposure to ChatGPT’s reported 800 million weekly users, assuming they choose to use the Adobe apps. What we are really looking at is a strategic partnership that benefits both sides, giving ChatGPT an edge over Google’s more advanced image generation tools for now, while helping position ChatGPT as an all-encompassing platform rather than just a chatbot.

How Adobe’s ChatGPT integration actually works

If you want to enable and use Adobe apps within ChatGPT, you can do so by following these steps:

• Open ChatGPT on desktop, web, or mobile. Click Settings, then go to Apps & Connectors.
• Scroll through or search the apps list and select Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Express, or Adobe Acrobat. Click Connect.
• When prompted, sign in with your Adobe account and confirm the connection. Once completed, the app will be linked to ChatGPT.
• Go back to the main chat screen. Click the + icon next to the message box.
• Select More and choose the Adobe app you enabled.
• You can also activate it by mentioning it directly in your prompt, such as asking Photoshop to edit an image or Acrobat to edit a PDF.

Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat are available for free inside ChatGPT on desktop, web, and iOS. Adobe Express is also available on Android, with the other apps expected to follow later.

This is not a replacement for the full native applications, but it is more capable than you might expect. From effects and adjustments to more involved edits, it offers an accessible way to achieve results that would normally require tutorials or prior experience.

If you want a clearer idea of what it can actually do, there is a solid YouTube video that walks through its capabilities in detail. If, however, you do want a different tool, Affinity is a free alternative that launched recently.

Is it useful, or a waste of time? Let me know if you'd use Photoshop inside ChatGPT in the comments!

Affinity, one of the only tools that competes directly with Adobe’s photo and design suite, is now completely free. It arrives as a single, reimagined app that unifies photo editing, vector design, and layout tools in one place. According to Affinity, it is free forever for everyone on Windows and macOS, with an iPad version coming soon.

Affinity is now part of Canva after last year’s acquisition, and the company is seemingly sticking to its promise to preserve the product’s power and feel. There is no stripped-back tier here. You can download it, use the full suite, and never touch a subscription if you do not want to.

There is an optional Canva Premium subscription, which unlocks Canva AI tools inside Affinity, but it is not pushed on you. I used Affinity Photo before this update, and this new all-in-one app feels great so far, especially for photo editing.

This move stands in sharp contrast to Adobe. Photoshop alone costs $22.99 a month if billed annually, or $34.99 if you pay month to month. Try to cancel, and you are hit with a fee for leaving early if you’re on the annual plan. If you thought Adobe’s pricing was already frustrating, this change from Affinity makes it look even more out of touch.

Affinity becomes free forever

This new Affinity app is an all-in-one workspace for vector, pixel, and layout tools. It includes RAW development, live filters, batch processing, smart selection, and more. Everything runs in real time, so edits feel smooth and responsive even on complex projects.

It also supports major design formats, including PSD, AI, PDF, SVG, and TIFF, and you can export directly into Canva for collaboration if you want to, but you can just export as normal, too. Some users online suggested you must sign in manually with a Canva account, but as far as I can tell, I was able to sign up via my Google account instead, which presumably creates a Canva account from the information in my Google account, just like anything else.

AI tools are available here, too, but only for Canva Premium subscribers. Canva has stated that Affinity work is not used to train AI features. That stance matters, especially after Adobe faced backlash over similar concerns, which pushed it to update its customer agreements and reassure users that it also does not use customer content for training generative AI.

Adobe’s subscription squeeze and failed Figma play

If you want access to all of Adobe’s creative tools, the full Creative Cloud plan costs $59.99 a month when you commit to a yearly subscription. Cancel within the first 14 days and you can walk away for free. Cancel after that, and Adobe charges 50% of the remaining contract value as an early-termination fee.

You can choose a month-to-month plan instead, which is more expensive, but it avoids early-termination fees.

It is a shame because Adobe’s software really is excellent and ahead of the curve in many areas. The frustration has never been about the quality of the tools; it has always been about the pricing and policies wrapped around them.

Adobe also attempted to acquire Figma for $20 billion, but the deal was terminated in 2023 following scrutiny from UK and EU regulators. That left the door open for tools like Canva and Affinity to grow, and now Affinity has moved to a zero-cost model that makes Adobe’s subscription approach look even tougher to justify.

A new era for creative tools?

Fortunately, it feels like we are entering a time where Adobe is no longer the only option for professionals and aspiring creatives. Affinity, which previously had a one-time purchase model, is now completely free and offers a full suite for design work.

There are strong alternatives across other creative categories, too. Davinci Resolve continues to dominate in the video space for many editors, and there are plenty of other tools out there if you are willing to look.

Choice could finally become part of the creative software landscape again, and that can only be a good thing for users.

FAQ

While digging around in Photoshop last week, I discovered that Adobe had released a new AI preview tool a few months ago that specifically includes Reflection Removal.

After using it, I was quickly blown away by how fast and how well this feature works, and I want to tell everyone about it since it's saved me so much editing time.

The thing is, this feature is hidden and has to be enabled before you can use it.

Don't worry. I'll explain how to use Photoshop Reflection Removal, and I'll show you how well it's worked on my own images further down on this page.

I've saved so much time using this reflection removal tool (see how well it works for yourself)

Seeing as how I spend my weeks testing hardware, it should come as no surprise that I was trying to remove distracting reflections from a desktop, specifically the beautiful beast that is the Alienware Area-51 Gaming Desktop.

This desktop has a glass panel on the side, so you can enjoy the colorful RGB illuminating the GPU, fans, CPU, and other components. But the reflections were making it hard to see all of this in my photos.

While not always perfect, Photoshop's Reflection Removal tool helped me tone down the reflections so the internals are far more visible. I'm sure this tool will only get better with future updates.

After using the tool to touch up various Alienware Area-51 pics, I then decided to touchup some images of my cat.

I have this one particularly cute photo of Dandy staring out at me through the sliding glass window while I'm in our backyard, but the reflections and water spots on the glass are really distracting.

To my surprise, the Reflection Removal tool not only seriously reduced the reflection of me bending forward with my phone, but it also eliminated several of the water spots while increasing the image's overall contrast.

This made it so that the time I had to spend with my healing brush afterward was seriously reduced, since there was far less to clean up. Plus, the contrast added by the reflection removal tool helped make my kitty's fur, eyes, and other details stand out far better than they did before.

I absolutely love this new feature and am excited for everyone else to experience it. If you have Photoshop, try it out for yourself and tell me about your experience in the comments.

How to enable Reflection Removal in Photoshop

Alright, enough blabbing. Now it's time to go over how to enable this Reflection Removal tool in Photoshop.

1. Open Photoshop and create a New File (it doesn't matter what size it is).
2. Go to the top menu panel and click on Filter, then select Camera Raw Filter. Alternatively, you can use the Shift + Ctrl + A hotkey.

3. Now, click on the Preferences cog at the top right of the Camera Raw window.
   

4. Select Technology Previews from the left tab and then check the box next to New AI Features and Settings Panel before pressing OK.

5. Next you'll need to completely close out of Photoshop and then open it again (this allows the new features to be added in).
6. Open an image that has reflections on it.
7. Once more, go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter or Shift + Ctrl + A.

8. Now, click on the Remove tool on the far right of the Camera Raw window. It will look like an eraser symbol.

9. At the bottom right of the window, click on the Reflections button under Distraction Removal, then click the dropdown menu and turn it to Best, then click Apply.
10. Wait while Photoshop removes reflections from your image. Even with my GTX 1660 SUPER GPU, this process usually only takes upto 20 seconds.

10. Once the reflection remove process finishes, adjust the slider between 0 to 100 to determine how strong the reflection removal is.

It's as easy as that. Now that you have Reflection Removal enabled in Photoshop, you can easily remove those distracting visual echoes from your photos in seconds.

Something cool to note about the end of the process is that if you put the reflection removal slider all the way to 0, it gets rid of the main image and only shows the reflections it detected.

It's a cool way to see how good of a job the feature did.

An Adobe Creative Cloud subscription gets you access to all of Adobe's creative apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Fresco, and more. The suite is the industry standard for creators and provides a robust set of features for making content. Right now, you can save 50% on Adobe Creative Cloud thanks to an early Black Friday deal. That discount drops the monthly price of the suite to $29.98 but note that the deal only secures that price for one year. That means you'll have to cancel your subscription before 12 months are up or be prepared to pay $59.99 per month.

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Is Adobe Creative Cloud worth it?

I trained on the Adobe creative suite at university and have used several Adobe apps over the years for work and my casual hobbies. I don't know any creators who question if Adobe apps are professional grade. They're not perfect and are a bit bloated for my liking, but they're the industry standard for a reason. The debate among many creators is if Adobe Creative Cloud is worth the subscription cost.

At its full price of $59.99 per month, Adobe Creative Cloud is expensive, though I'd argue its worth it to anyone who needs the apps. Back in the day you used to be able to purchase powerful applications once and then use them forever. Adobe shifted to a subscription model a long time ago though. The pricing model ensures that apps are up to date and get new features, but it also means there's a recurring cost of being in the Adobe ecosystem.

My answer to "Is Adobe Creative Cloud worth it?" is that you already know if you need an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. If you're a professional, you may not even have a choice as some companies and clients only use Adobe software. Even if not strictly required by a client or company, you may have spent years learning how to produce content using Adobe apps and not want to switch. If you fall into any of these categories, now is the perfect time to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud. A 50% discount adds up quickly and saves you just under $360 over the course of a year.

If you're a new creator, haven't learned the Adobe suite yet, or only create content casually, Adobe Creative Cloud is probably overkill. There are excellent apps available such as Affinity Photo, Luminar AI, and DaVinci Resolve. Many of the best photo editors and best video editing apps have flat, one-off pricing or even free versions with limits you can remove by paying.

If you need specific Adobe apps or a vast library of creative applications, the 50% off sale on Adobe Creative Cloud is an excellent deal. Getting over 20 apps for only a few dollars more than the normal monthly price of Photoshop or Premiere Pro is excellent value.

I've been using Adobe programs since college when I was working on my graphic design minor. You can talk to anyone in the professional arts industry, and you'll find that Adobe offers the best creative programs for photo editing, video diting, vector design, digital drawing, and more. The problem is that the subscription for Adobe programs can be a bit heavy on the wallet, but a current deal is making this membership much more affordable. 

From now until August 4, 2024, you can save 40% on Adobe Creative Cloud apps at Adobe for the first year subscription on both Trial with Purchase and Paid Up Front plans. 

If you want, you can even add a 30-day free trial for Adobe Stock to get up to 10 Standard Assets for your creative projects. If you decide you're not interested, you can cancel risk-free before the trial ends without incurring fees. 

What if I don't need that many programs?

Not sure you need all 20+ apps in the Creative Cloud suite? You might be better suited to a subscription to just one of Adobe's powerful programs. Here's a breakdown of the most popular Adobe software along with their capabilities. 

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What's so great about Adobe Creative Cloud?

Adobe offers the strongest creative programs because they are the most convenient and powerful apps available. That's why names like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, and Acrobat are so well-known even outside of the creative world. Many competitors have attempted to knock Adobe off its throne, but none can fully measure up. I know, I've checked. That's why even though people generally dislike the Adobe subscription plans, they end up using Adobe anyway, rather than one of the company's rivals. Thankfully, this current 40% off deal makes the subscription far more affordable. 

So, what makes Adobe Creative Cloud so good? There are a few things. First, I'll just reiterate that Creative Cloud is a group of over 20 creative programs and having access to each one allows users to take advantage of the special focus each one provides when working on their projects. 

Over the years, I've spent a great deal of time with the programs that make up Adobe Creative Cloud. Of these apps, the ones I use the most are Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Acrobat Pro. Although there is some overlap with the tools and capabilities of each of the Creative Cloud programs, each app has a different specialty, so I sometimes find myself jumping between different software when working on one project. For instance, I might want to digitally draw a raster image in Photoshop but then add a vector layer on top of my work using Illustrator. Once done, I might put the final image into Premiere Pro for a video. 

Something I really like is that Adobe does a fantastic job of updating its software regularly with refined tools or even new ones. Recently, we've seen an increase in artificial intelligence (AI) tools in Adobe apps thanks to the development and launch of Adobe Firefly. This program allows creatives to get the desired effects from their images and fonts using text prompts. There is a differentiation here from other generative AI programs in that Firefly is meant to help refine your creativity rather than doing all of the work itself.

Outside of generative work, Adobe Sensei, the company's long-time AI assistant, can help enhance your imagery. You can colorize black and white family photos, remove distracting pixelated artifacts from older images, quickly add interesting filters to your work, remove backgrounds, and much more.

It's true that Adobe programs can be complex, especially when you consider Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. I myself took several college courses to understand how to use this software. However, since these are such popular apps, there are tons of tutorials online (both in written and video formats) to help you learn how to use their tools. In fact, I often go online and learn new things I didn't know how to do. You can, too.

I'm fashionably late to the generative AI party, with plenty of others before me experimenting with extending iconic images past their original limits. Nevertheless, I finally jumped to Adobe Photoshop's generative AI beta after a lifetime of using the free and open-source alternative, GIMP.

Sure, the photo-manipulating software has many other uses for expertly retouching photographs and generally improving exports from my camera phone. Still, I couldn't help dabbling in some artificial intelligence shenanigans. The results were surprisingly impressive, since I never entered a single text prompt for any image.

Iconic Windows wallpapers in ultrawide 21:9

These wallpapers aren't old; they're retro. To be clear, I spent my formative years with Windows 98 (Second Edition, naturally) and later graduated to Windows XP for my MSN Messenger-addicted teens. Some of these aged desktop images were particularly memorable, but they look like hot trash if I assign them to my modern-day ultrawide monitors or fancy smartphones.

Thankfully, Photoshop's 'generative expand' uses AI to interpret practically any image or artwork you feed it and attempts to fill in the blanks in your chosen directions. Naturally, I had to start with the iconic 'Bliss' wallpaper, the default image users would see when booting up Windows XP for the first time.

It's a beautiful photograph that Charles O'Rear snapped (via GitHub) along the Sonoma Highway in California, with a 4:3 ratio matching the most common computer monitor shape of its time. Pulling the edges out to an ultrawide 21:9 aspect, it is possible to enter text-based instructions for the AI generator. However, I let Photoshop try its best without prompts, and it managed to avoid generating uncanny AI horrors.

It's not pixel-perfect, but it's hard to deny that Photoshop has done a fantastic job of expanding this natural landscape in both directions. Given the almost endless supply of landscape photography posted around the web, the generative AI engine has plenty of references to pull from. The mountain ranges on the extreme edges fall victim to some unusual blurriness, and parts of the grass show signs of repeated patterns. Otherwise, it's good enough for a desktop wallpaper.

Another of my favorite desktop decoration staples from Windows XP, the vibrant 'Autumn' wallpaper, had more visual noise to contend with. While it didn't spit out the above result without some help, I still didn't have to use any text-based prompts. The first few attempts generated some unusual interpretations of the wooden fence flanking on either side of the original photo, but each side became more natural-looking in ultrawide 21:9 after a few more iterations. 

Ever the trendsetter, I would always encourage my family and friends to switch up their desktop wallpaper based on the season, and 'Azul' was in regular rotation during summertimes spent using Windows XP. Unfortunately, it's one of the few classic wallpapers that exhibits a brutal level of JPEG image compression, and expanding the scene doesn't hide that. Still, this was generated without text prompts, and a few extra hours of touch ups could bring this ultrawide version closer to perfection.

Windows on my phone (but not like that)

Though it wasn't my primary intention to create vertical expansions of these classic wallpapers, it soon became my favorite method when I tried them out as backgrounds on my smartphone. Bliss looks incredible (of course it does), but some of the more atmospheric options like 'Ascent' seem well-suited to this taller aspect ratio.

It's not quite Windows Phone as we knew it, but seeing the iconic red desert scene with a moon peeking just over the horizon exactly as it was on my post-millennium desktop PC is made even better by having the top and bottom sections intelligently filled out with as few 'AI hallucinations' as possible. Besides, anyone can repair minor imperfections if you follow some beginner Photoshop tips and harness the outrageously versatile toolset.

Naturally, there are far more valuable reasons to pay the steep cost for Photoshop, but I love making AI do silly things like asking Bing Chat to read the news to me as if we were monkeys. At least with these retro Windows wallpapers, I'm almost certain I'm not alone in this enjoyment. There's something extra special about seeing what might lurk off the edges of these iconic images, and there are still plenty I never touched.

Did I miss your favorite Windows wallpaper? Let me know in the comments, and I'll fire Photoshop up for some more. Otherwise, you can try it out for yourself with an Adobe subscription.

What you need to know

• Adobe Firefly is the creative software company's AI generative program. 
• Today, Adobe announced that Firefly has been integrated into Photoshop allowing for Generative Fill, which lets users make edits, extend images, or remove objects using word prompts.
• Firefly's generative AI abilities will continue to be integrated into Adobe's Creative Cloud programs going forward.

Today, Adobe announced that Adobe Firefly is now integrated into Photoshop, making it so that users can quickly make non-destructive AI-generated edits and text effects to their work via text prompts (much like Bing Image Creator but with far more control in a creative capacity). 

This news comes six weeks after Adobe Firefly launched in a closed beta allowing those who were given access to check out the software company's brand-new AI generative program. Its purpose is to be a tool to help creators produce their work more conveniently rather than simply making everything for them. 

Chief among Adobe Firefly's integrative abilities with Photoshop is Generative Fill, which quickly adds, extends, or removes imagery from an image after a user gives commands via text prompts. The results are believable as the program "automatically matches perspective, lighting and style of images to enable users to achieve astounding results while reducing tedious tasks." 

For instance, widening an image of a family at a park beyond the scope of the original photo and then selecting that new area and typing "jungle gym" into the generative text prompt box should fill in that added space with a believable play area as well as trees and grass that match the original photo's surroundings. Bringing Firefly into Photoshop should make the photo editing software easier for home users, creatives, and businesses to use it. 

“By integrating Firefly directly into workflows as a creative co-pilot, Adobe is accelerating ideation, exploration and production for all of our customers,” said Ashley Still, senior vice president, Digital Media at Adobe. “Generative Fill combines the speed and ease of generative AI with the power and precision of Photoshop, empowering customers to bring their visions to life at the speed of their imaginations.”

As stated in Adobe's official announcement, Generative Fill accomplishes these speedy creative workflows by utilizing several things:

• Powered by Firefly: Firefly is designed to generate images that are safe for commercial use and is trained on Adobe Stock’s hundreds of millions of professional-grade, licensed, high-resolution images, helping ensure Firefly won’t generate content based on other peoples’ or brands’ intellectual property (IP).
• Magically leap from idea to image, with simple text prompts: Add, extend or remove content from images to achieve astounding results.
• Edit non-destructively: Create newly generated content in generative layers, enabling you to rapidly iterate through a myriad of creative possibilities and reverse the effects when you want, without impacting your original image.
• Create at a transformative rate: Experiment with off-the-wall ideas, ideate different concepts and produce boundless variations of high-quality content as fast as you can type.
• Available as a web tool: Generative Fill is also available as a new module in the Firefly beta for users interested in testing the new capabilities on the web.

The ethical nature of AI generative programs has been called into question a lot recently. The best AI image generators all rely on vast libraries of images in order to generate visuals, many of which have been added without artist's consent. Being aware of this and wanting to "ensure content and data transparency" Adobe explained that Generative Fill incorporates Content Credentials (developed by Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative). This way, people always know if art made using Adobe software was created by a human, if it was completely created via AI generator, or if it incorporates AI edits of any kind. 

This is all part of a plan to incorporate Adobe Firefly's AI generative abilities into other Creative Cloud programs going forward. Additional announcements regarding Firefly integration will undoubtedly come in the future. 

Windows Central's take

With its renewed focus on AI generative abilities, Adobe is finding a way to not only maintain its position as a relevant creative software company but is also ensuring its place above its generative AI image competitors. The thing most AI image generators lack is editing abilities, but Adobe is coming at the AI generator industry with powerful editing options that it has been building upon for decades. 

Additionally, this software company has long utilized AI technology by incorporating Adobe Sensei into Creative Cloud to allow for convenient, time-saving (and AI-assisted) edits. So really, adding generative AI to its repertoire isn't jumping on a trend but is really just the next obvious step for the company. However, Firefly takes things several steps further allowing for more complicated tasks like vector recoloring and Generative Fill to help make it easier for creators to alter their work while still keeping control over it. This is bound to make the software more appealing to beginners and will greatly enhance Photoshop's powerful editing options.

On another note, if you're already familiar with Photoshop, you might be wondering how Generative Fill differs from Content-Aware Fill. I'm happy to explain. Content-Aware Fill is somewhat like a superpowered healing tool that removes a selected area and then fills it back in by pulling visual data from the image. For instance, removing ugly telephone lines from the background of a photo and automatically patching the area up with sky samplings found around the selected area. 

Generative Fill, on the other hand, gives users far more control over what replaces the removed section of the image. As an example, you could select that ugly telephone pole and then type "flying red dragon" into the generative prompt box and Photoshop (assisted by Firefly) would remove the pole and put a dragon in the same space that was selected. It opens up so many new possibilities and since Firefly generates visuals by pulling from Adobe stock images, you don't have to worry as much about where the image references are coming from. 

What you need to know

• Stability Diffusion is a popular text-to-image AI generator that can create photorealistic images and digital art.
• The Stability AI plugin from Stability Fusion works with Adobe Photoshop and allows Photoshop users to quickly add new AI-generated effects, edits, or elements within a document.
• This fast ability to edit or create in Photoshop will change the digital design process. 
• DALL•E 2 can also be utilized in Photoshop through this plugin as long as users have an OpenAI API Key.

Adobe Photoshop has long been one of the biggest go-to programs for digital artists, thanks to its powerful editing abilities and many drawing tools. Now, with the latest Stability AI plugin, users don't have to draw or edit every little detail. Instead, they can easily add AI-generated elements or alterations to projects directly from within Photoshop after just making a few strokes and writing quick text prompts. 

As shown by @mrgreen on Twitter, "Stable Diffusion's Photoshop plugin lets you create, edit, and iterate AI images from within Photoshop." The attached video demonstrates how typing in a quick prompt and making vague brush strokes on a document can lead the plugin to generate artwork that matches. 

For instance, opening a new document, typing "mountain range" into the text prompt box, and clicking Generate leads to several mountain range options appearing for users to choose from. 

Photoshop users can also use the Stability AI plugin to perform edits or add complete details to an initial prompt in just a few seconds. The video @mrgreen shared demonstrates this by adding a flying red dragon over the mountain range image. Instead of taking hours, this was done simply by drawing quick red brush strokes in the sky, selecting the area around the red strokes, typing "red dragon" into the Prompt box, clicking Generate, and selecting one of the options that appeared.

But the Stability AI plugin isn't limited to just being a digital drawing tool. It can also create advanced photo edits in a way that looks very realistic. As @mrgreen shows in another video, quickly selecting the area around a woman's head and typing in a text prompt allows users to do things like change the woman's hair color or believably shorten her hair length in seconds. The plugin's abilities were further shown by changing the color of the woman's clothing and placing her in a different background setting.

The processes for photo editing and digital art creation can take hours of valuable time, so having a fast tool like this that gets the same kinds of results will free up artists so they can work on more projects. It also opens up the ability of creation to users who might not have as strong of a Photoshop skillset. 

More about Stability AI

Technically, the Stability AI plugin for Photoshop isn't new; it was released on September 2022. But, with more focus on AI and deep learning art generation in the past few months this tool has been getting more attention recently.

In order to download and use the Stability AI plugin in Photoshop, users must have a DreamStudio Account. Additionally, if users want to use the latest version of DALL•E 2 to generate art in Photoshop then an OpenAI API Key is also needed. 

Adobe Photoshop has been around for decades and is the undisputed photo editing and digital drawing champ within the industry. While a daunting software to pick up and start using, it really does give some of the very best control over projects. This allows users to improve their work immeasurably as long as they know how to use it. 

Whether you're brand new to Photoshop or have been a long-time user who wants to improve, here are the absolute most important Photoshop tips and tricks to make your work quickly look pro-level on Windows 10 or Windows 11 PCs. 

1. Master the healing brush

What is it?: A tool on the toolbar that lets you paint over minor imperfections in your image in order to fix them. Many people use it to clear up acne in portraits or get rid of other small blemishes like dust. 

Example: I took a picture of my cat while she was wearing a miniature antler headband. However, since I have three pets, there were several stray pieces of fur all over the shot, especially my pajama pants. I used the healing brush tool to clean these random fur strands up so they no longer distract from the main focus of the image. 

How to do it: Select the healing brush tool from the toolbar (a bandaid icon with a semi-circle next to it) or use the hotkey (J) to select this tool. Then paint over the areas that you want to fix. Remember, this is not intended to fix large areas, but rather small imperfections. Overdoing it can have a really unnatural effect on your work, so try to find a careful balance. 

Pro tip: The closer the brush size is to the size of the blemish you want to remove, the better the healing effect will be.

2. Remove unwanted objects believably with Content-Aware Fill

What is it?: The Content-Aware tool first released with Photoshop CS5 back in the days of disc purchases. This is a tool that everyone should master as it allows users to select an area of an image and then replace that area with believable new imagery using AI technology. It can really help tidy up your work.

Example: I took a picture of bottled water and a bowl of bread at a restaurant. However, my husband's hand moved into the shot. Using Content-Aware Fill, I removed his hand so the focus is back on the water and bread bowl. 

How to use it: In an open document you'll want to use one of the selection tools to select an area or object in your image that you want to remove. Make sure you have the correct layer selected when doing this. Next, you can either go to Edit → Content-Aware Fill or you can use the hotkey (Shift + F5 on Windows, Command + F5 on Mac) and then select Content-Aware in the Contents box to make the change. Just make sure the layer isn't locked or else it won't work properly. Content-Aware Fill isn't always perfect, so you might need to use it a few times to get the result you want.

Pro tip: If an object you want to remove is touching an object you want to keep in the image then you'll have to be a bit more creative. In these situations, I suggest that you first go to the selection tool that's fourth down on the toolbar and then click on the Select Subject button that appears in the top middle of the screen. Copy and paste the selected subjects on a new layer and then use Content-Aware Fill on the objects from the original layer. Then on the top layer, carefully use the eraser to remove the object you don't want. This is how I got my husband's hand to go away without removing the green glass in the bottom left of the image.

3. Get comfortable with Layer Masks

What is it?: A Layer Mask allows you to change the look of an image without permanently changing the original layer. This is done by doing things like showing elements from more than one layer at the same time, hiding a section of the layer, adding an effect, adjusting lighting, and much more. It's one of Photoshop's most powerful tools because it allows these effects to show up without destroying any original images. 

Example: I used a Layer Mask and a Clipping Mask Layer to make a photo I took in Florence come through a layer of text. The Layer Mask specifically allows the top of The Duomo cathedral to come through while the Clipping Mask lets us see the image through the letters.

How to do it: You can do a million different things with layer masks, but here is one of the most basic ways to use one. Select an object on a layer that you want to add a layer mask to then go to the bottom of the layer box and click the Layer Mask icon (a rectangle with a circle in the middle). A rectangle will appear next to the layer thumbnail on the layer list with the selected object inside. To get the see through lettering, Add a text layer with a word under an image layer then select the image and add a Clipping Mask Layer by using the hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows, Command + option + G Mac). 

Pro tip: Although layer masks allow for non-destructive edits, it's always a good idea to work on a duplicate of the original layer just in case.

4. Adjustments perfect everything!

What is it?: The Adjustments tab is filled with 16 different tools which include Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Exposure, Levels, and much more. These tools come built-in with Layer Masks and can help change the look of your images in a variety of ways without changing your original layer. 

Example: I created a cartoony profile image of myself in Photoshop. The initial overall coloring was green, but I decided I wanted to change it to pink, so I used a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to change the colors without actually changing the original layer at all.

How to do it: Selecting any of the tools in the Adjustments box will create a specific type of Adjustment Layer Mask above any layer you currently have selected. If you cannot find the Adjustment tab, then go to Window → Adjustments to get it to show up. Play around with each of the sliders within each Adjustment tool and see how they affect your images to get a better feel for them. 

5. Magical hotkeys save time

What are they?: These quick button presses allow you to make specific tools appear or they can make edits happen to your work without requiring you to go through the menus. You'll come to rely on these and will appreciate the time they save you. 

Most important Keyboard shortcuts:

There are literally hundreds of shortcut keystrokes in Photoshop, but these are the most basic ones that you'll want to know. Once you've memorized these hotkeys, you can continue to learn additional ones.

Photoshop hotkeys for Windows

• Copy — Ctrl + C
• Paste — Ctrl + V
• Cut — Ctrl + X
• Undo — Ctrl + Z
• Redo — Ctrl + Shift + Z
• Zoom — Z
• Zoom in — Ctrl + + button
• Zoom out — Crtl + - button
• Pan over zoomed in image — Spacebar + drag mouse
• Fit Screen — Ctrl + 0
• Select all — Ctrl + A
• Deselect all — Ctrl + D
• Show/Hide rulers — Ctrl + R
• Change image size — Ctrl + Alt + I
• Change canvas size — Ctrl + Alt + C
• Free transform — Ctrl + T
• Magic Wand — W
• Brush — B
• Lasso — L
• Marquee — M
• Eyedropper — I
• Crop — C
• Eraser — E
• Text — T
• Spot Healing Brush — J
• Gradient — G
• Pen — P
• Clone Stamp — S

Photoshop hotkeys for Mac

• Copy — Command + C
• Paste — Command + V
• Cut — Command + X
• Undo — Command + Z
• Redo — Command + Shift + Z
• Zoom — Z
• Zoom in — Command + + button
• Zoom out — Command + - button
• Pan over zoomed in image — Spacebar + drag mouse
• Fit Screen — Command + 0
• Select all — Command + A
• Deselect all — Command + D
• Show/Hide rulers — Command + R
• Change image size — Command + Alt + I
• Change canvas size — Command + Alt + C
• Free transform — Command + T
• Magic Wand — W
• Brush — B
• Lasso — L
• Eyedropper — I
• Crop — C
• Eraser — E
• Text — T
• Spot Healing Brush — J
• Gradient — G
• Pen — P
• Clone Stamp — S

Bonus: It's OK not to know everything

I've been using Adobe Photoshop regularly since 2009, but there are several things about the software that I still don't know. That's partially because it's such a massive software and partially because more gets added to it every year. Fortunately, you don't have to know everything about Photoshop to use it effectively. 

There are hundreds of free Photoshop tutorial videos on YouTube as well as thousands of guides across the web to help teach you any new tricks you might not know. When in doubt, look online and you're more than likely be able to find someone that can help you. 

Improve your work with minimal effort

Photoshop is my most-used software of all time. I use it every single day for work and personal projects. If you've never used it before, all of the buttons and commands at your fingertips will seem like a lot. However, don't feel overwhelmed. By simply learning a few small tricks, you'll get a feel for the program and can improve upon your photos and projects to an immeasurable degree. 

What you need to know

• Adobe announced several new features for its Creative Cloud apps at Adobe MAX.
• Photoshop and Illustrator files will be reviewable on the web, and Creative Cloud subscribers will be able to make light edits within a browser.
• Adobe unveiled new ways for Behance members to profit from their artwork and skills.

Adobe unveiled a long list of new features for its Creative Cloud apps at Adobe MAX 2021. All of its major apps received updates, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro. In addition to expanding capabilities within Creative Cloud applications, Adobe introduced new ways for Behance members to make money. These new features and options should allow creators to fully utilize the best PCs for the Adobe Creative Cloud.

Photoshop and Illustrator will now be accessible through the web. Artists can create a URL and invite people to comment on a file from either program. People don't need a Creative Cloud subscription to add comments or to see the file. If a reviewer does have a Creative Cloud subscription, they can make light edits to files directly within their browser. This functionality is in public beta for Photoshop and private beta for Illustrator.

Adobe also announced Creative Cloud Spaces and Canvas. This creates shared repositories for files, libraries, and links to improve collaboration. Creative Cloud Spaces and Canvas is in private beta now and should arrive next year.

While the acquisition was completed earlier this month, Adobe highlighted its addition of Frame.io. It's a cloud-based platform for video collaboration. The company states that "the combination of Frame.io's platform with Creative Cloud opens new paths for innovation in video that we're excited to explore, both within our products and in other video editing tools beyond Adobe."

Photoshop has improved masking capabilities powered by Adobe Sensei. The program can automatically pick out subjects from an image. Creators can then hover over an object to mask it out. Adobe also introduced a Landscape Mixer feature to Photoshop that lets artists switch a landscape image from summer to winter or a meadow to a desert.

Videos will render more quickly in After Effects thanks to support for multi-frame rendering. Adobe states that this feature speeds up performance by as much as four times. Premiere Pro will be able to add automated speech-to-text more quickly as well.

Here are some other highlights from Adobe Max:

• Illustrator for iPad has a preview of Vectorize, which can convert any image into a vector graphic.
• Lightroom has a reimagined selective adjustment tool.
• Fresco now has perspective guides, motion effects, and other new features.
• Adobe XD gained the ability to add playable videos and Lottie animations to prototypes.

In addition to new features, Adobe introduced new ways for creators to profit from their work. Behance is a social media platform owned by Adobe that's built to showcase artwork. Adobe announced that Creative Cloud subscribers can offer subscriptions that provide access to livestreams, source files, and other content on Behance. Creators can also add a "Hire Me" button to their profiles.

Adobe MAX runs through October 28, 2021 and includes hundreds of sessions. You can check out the free event on Adobe's website.

Whether you're taking fun family photos or capturing cool stunts on video, Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements can help you enhance your shots and make them look amazing. Both have received a number of important updates including new Guided Edits so you can easily make your work more dynamic-looking in just a few seconds. It's easy to see why these two are respectively one of the best photo editing software and best video editing software out there.

It's a whole lot easier to get the editing results you want if you get the most out of your camera when taking the shot to begin with. But these latest improvements make the editing process much simpler. We'll dive into all of the new aspects starting first with Photoshop Elements and then jumping into Premiere Elements.

What's new with Photoshop Elements 2022

With this latest version, Photoshop Elements has gotten some really snazzy features to help you make your photos look even better.

Artistic effects: Give your pictures a painted look

The latest effects transform your favorite photos so they look like paintings. There are several filter styles from famous artists and their iconic work. Play around with the options and see what looks you like best.

Animated overlays: Breathe more life into your pics

The best part about animated overlays is that you get to determine where the animations go. For instance, if you don't want the moving parts to ever obscure your subject matter, simply select the area you don't want the overlays to go. For instance, you can make falling snowflakes surround someone without ever actually going in front of their face.

Warp photos into new shapes: Endless editing possibilities

Give your photos a completely different feel by warping existing photos or even placing those warped images in new projects. For instance, you can take a picture with someone wearing sunglasses and then warp another image to fit the shape of the lenses to make it look like that's where they are.

2 new guided edits

Adobe Photoshop Elements makes the editing process easier by providing guided edits that help you make specific changes to your images. Two new options have been added with this latest version.

Perfect pet pics:

• Make your furry friend's fur stand out by adjusting color and lighting settings designed specifically for pet colors and shapes. You can also remove any reflective pet-eye issues or use the healing tools to get rid of any distracting elements like collars and leashes.

Extended photo backgrounds:

• Ever take a picture and wish that background was wider? Well, now you'll easily be able to fix that problem with just a few short clicks. This can help shift the focus of your images or even allow you to crop the image in such a way that the subject matter is more centered.

Slideshow styles: Show off your pics in new ways

What's the point of making stunning photos if you're not going to share them? Adobe updated Photoshop Elements' slideshow options so there are more styles and layouts to choose from.

GIF playback in Organizer: View GIFs in the user interface

Up until now, any GIFs in the Organizer remained static. However, with the 2022 version, you'll be able to see the GIF playback while in this thumbnail or focused view.

Automatic software updates: Always have the latest version

It's rather annoying coming to your computer only to see that the software you want to use needs to update. Adobe understands this pain, so from now on Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022 automatically updates without you needing to interact with any dialog boxes. You'll always have the latest version of the software.

What's new with Premiere Elements 2022

Touching up your videos and making them look more professional is easily accomplished with Premiere Elements. Now, even more features have been added to make the process that much more convenient.

Auto-reframing: Focus on a specific spot in your videos

Ever record something and then the main subject of your recording goes off to one side? Premiere Elements' new auto-reframing feature allows you to easily select someone or something and then focuses on it throughout your video without any complicated frame-by-frame edits.

Perfect aspect ratios: Get the right dimensions for Instagram

You've made an awesome video, now you have to share it with others! With the new aspect ratio options, you can easily change the dimensions of your videos so they show up to their best advantage on social media sites. You can even add fun effects like backgrounds to vertical videos, motion titles, and mattes.

2 new guided edits

Premiere Elements makes editing your videos incredibly easy thanks to the 27 guided edits it contains. Two of these are brand-new with the 2022 version.

Animated overlays:

Give your videos a fun twist by adding animated effects over them. The latest update includes animations for snowflakes, hearts, butterflies, and more.

Adjust shadows and highlights in videos:

Every shoot a really cool video only to realize that the lighting isn't quite right? With just a few clicks, Premiere Elements will step you through how to fix shadows and highlights so it's easier to see the fun things you've captured.

Export slideshows: Perfect social media sharing

Show off your fun trip or family event with the perfect slideshow. Premiere Elements helps you prepare it for social media postings by providing fun new styles and templates.

Compress video files: Easily share your videos

Ever try to upload a video to social media only to get a notice saying your file is too big? That won't be an issue with the new video compression feature. Simply use the slider to change the size of your videos so they're ready to go up on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or even in your text messages.

GIF playback in Organizer: View GIFs in the user interface

Up until now, GIFs couldn't playback in the Organizer. Fortunately, this has been updated so you no longer have to completely open the files to view them.

Automatic software updates: Always have the latest version

For the past two decades or so, we've had to wait for a notice to pop up on our computers letting us know when an update released for our version of Premiere Elements. However, going forward the software will update itself. Huzzah!

Enhance your life

Adobe knows how to make editing photos and videos a whole lot easier with Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. There are a lot of convenient changes with the 2022 versions that could help you make even better projects. You can buy them separately or purchase them in a bundle.

Adobe Photoshop Elements is more friendly to beginners than its professional sibling. It can guide you through edits and has simplified tools that help you improve your photos. While it's built to be easy to use, it still has a long list of features. Unlike some photo editing apps, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 doesn't require a subscription. Right now, you can pick it up for $40 off through the Microsoft Store.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 launched in October 2021, so it's about due for a refresh. That being said, it's still a solid app for editing images. That's especially true if you factor in its value with its current discount.

Photoshop Elements 2021 includes options for tilting and correcting faces, can automatically back up your catalog structure, and supports quote graphics. It also has an option to add motion to static images, allowing you to create animated GIFs from your photos. Many of its features utilize Adobe Sensei, an AI technology that simplifies the photo editing experience.

The photo editing app can guide you through how to edit landscape images, including removing haze and erasing unwanted objects from images. It also has guides on how to create modern duotones and how to move, scale, and duplicate objects.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 is geared towards everyday users that want to edit and improve images without having to learn a complicated interface. If you prefer a more powerful offering, you can check out our list of the best photo editing apps on Windows 10.

What you need to know

• Adobe just rolled out updates to Photoshop for desktop and iPad.
• Photoshop on the desktop has an improved Sky Replacement feature with the option to import up to 5,000 skies at once.
• Transform Warp has more fine-tuned controls on Photoshop on the desktop.

Adobe Photoshop has updates available on the desktop and the iPad. We'll focus on the desktop changes here, but you can head over to our sister site iMore to read about the huge Photoshop update for iPad. Adobe outlines all the changes in a recent blog post.

The update to the desktop versions of Photoshop improves the Sky Replacement feature. You can now import up to 5,000 skies at once. Here's Adobe's description of the feature:

When you replace a sky in Photoshop, you can adjust its position, temperature, and other elements to fit your photo. You can also change the foreground of the image to bring colors from the new sky into the rest of the picture.

The Transform Warp feature is also improved with the update:

Adobe emphasizes that this feature can be used in conjunction with the new color and opacity options for warp guidelines that rolled out earlier this year.

In total, there are over 500 fixes available, according to Adobe. Here are a few that the company highlights:

Across the application:

• Canvas movement smoother when zoomed in at maximum levels
• Puppet warp mesh visualization improvements
• Smoother handling of jitter opacity when painting
• Error for scratch disk full provides link to troubleshooting document

Neural Filters:

• Preset images now included for Style Transfer to provide a starting point
• Use any custom image and apply the style of that image to your document
• Superzoom now operates on the entire layer instead of only a cropped portion of the image. Use output>new document to apply superzoom to the entire document.

Photoshop also has a new Discover panel that makes finding content related to what you're working on more accessible.

If you'd like to test out new features before they ship, Adobe has a Photoshop Beta program that starts this month. You can grab Photoshop Beta from Adobe's website if you're a Creative Cloud member.

Photoshop is available for $10 per month. If you're a student or teacher, you can get the entire Adobe suite for $20 per month.

What you need to know

• Windows 10 on ARM devices can natively run Adobe Photoshop as of this month.
• Photoshop on Windows 10 on ARM supports almost all of the same features as other versions of the app
• Native Windows 10 on ARM support brings Photoshop to devices such as the Surface Pro X.

Adobe Photoshop can natively run on Windows 10 on ARM PCs, such as the Surface Pro X starting this month. Native support brings one of the best Windows 10 photo editing apps to a growing collection of devices built for working on the go. A help page from Adobe specifies that native support rolls out for Photoshop this month and outlines all of the details.

Photoshop supports the vast majority of the same features as the version available on non-ARM PCs. There is, however, a small list of features that aren't available on Photoshop running natively on Windows 10 on ARM:

• Import, Export and playback of embedded video layers
• Shake Reduction filter
• Invite to Edit workflows are not supported. To learn alternative ways to send invitations via Web, see Access and edit shared cloud documents.
• Preset Syncing is not on by default
• Windows Dial Support
• Generator and related features
• Opening or placing U3D files
• Starting Photoshop from Lightroom 'Edit In' command
• Oil Paint Filter
• Spell Checking and hyphenation for Hebrew and Arabic languages
• Plugin Marketplace panel

Microsoft started beta testing Windows 10 on ARM support for Photoshop back in November 2020. Now, it's rolling out to everyone this month.

What you need to know

• Photoshop for Windows 10 on ARM is now available.
• This first release is beta and available for Creative Cloud subscribers.
• More Adobe apps should be coming to ARM in the future.

Adobe has released the first beta build of Photoshop for Windows 10 on ARM, bringing with it native support for ARM64 versions of Windows 10 that runs on devices like the Surface Pro X. Adobe announced support for Windows 10 on ARM over a year ago, and the first of Adobe's Creative Cloud suite to get official ARM support is Photoshop.

The ARM version is available now for Creative Cloud subscribers in the "Beta app" area in the Cloud Desktop app. Once installed, Photoshop will run natively on a device powered by Windows 10 on ARM. In our early testing on a Surface Pro X with Microsoft SQ2, the application is quick to launch, and pen usage is no longer laggy. Exactly how it should be!

Adobe should be bringing more of its applications to Windows 10 on ARM in the future, including Adobe Fresco which it demoed at Microsoft's Surface Pro X unveiling a year ago. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on Photoshop coming to Windows 10 on ARM? Let us know in the comments.

What you need to know

• Today Adobe released both Photoshop Elements 2021 and Adobe Premiere Elements 2021.
• Photoshop Elements focuses on image manipulation while Premiere Elements focuses on video editing.
• The updates for both programs include several new features and tutorials.

Today, Adobe announced that Photoshop Elements 2021 and Premiere Elements 2021 have released. Both programs are more beginner-friendly versions of Adobe's more powerful software with the first one focusing on image enhancements while the second focuses on modifying videos.

This update brings several new editing features in Photoshop Elements 2021 and Premiere Elements 2021. The most notable additions for Photoshop Elements 2021 are the ability to tilt and adjust faces as well as the addition of several helpful Guided Edits to do things like help you swap out the sky in your images or to convert an image into two colors.

As for Premiere Elements 2021, you can now select objects in your videos and apply edits plus there are two new Guiding Edits to help you place matte overlays or create double exposures for your video projects. Photoshop Elements 2021 and Premiere Elements 2021 are both currently available for purchase.

Now that Adobe has released both Photoshop Elements 2021 as well as Premiere Elements 2021, you're probably wondering just what additions have been added to either program. Adobe's Elements titles are known for making it easier to edit your favorite photos and videos. I'm absolutely giddy after seeing the most recent updates since they make it even more feasible to create the perfect photos in little time. Here are the most important features added to both Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements.

To keep things organized, this page is divided into two sections. If you're only interested in the updates for Photoshop Elements or the updates for Premiere Elements, skip down to the one you want to learn about.

What's new with Photoshop Elements 2021

Several features and tutorials have been added to Photoshop Elements. I'll go over the best additions and explain just why they are so important.

Moving Photos

Photography is a gorgeous medium, but sometimes giving images a bit more movement can really add to their charm. Adobe makes this easier with the Moving Photos feature, which allows you to choose from both 2D and 3D effects that basically turn your photos into GIFs.

For example, let's say you have a picture of your dog sitting in a boat. Choosing the Clockwise effect within the Moving Photos menu will cause Photoshop Elements to assess the image and identify the foreground and background. When that's done, the software will apply the effect, making it look as though there's depth with your dog bobbing up and down with the waves. There are several different effects, so you can experiment with them and see what fun ideas you come up with.

Adjust Face Tilt

Source: Adobe

I don't know how many times I've tried to take the perfect picture of family members and friends only to discover that someone has blinked, didn't smile at the right moment, or got distracted and is looking away from the camera. This is often the difference between a good photo and an undesirable one. Now, Photoshop Elements already had tools that allowed you to fix ill-timed blinks and lackluster expressions, but now the new update brings with it the ability to turn faces with just a few clicks.

Select the area that needs to be adjusted and then use the sliding tools to adjust the angle of the face, move the face left or right, or shift the face-up or down. This even works when people's faces are pressed together like when two people are hugging. In little time, you can get everyone looking in the right direction to turn that nearly-good photo into an amazing photo.

Quote Graphics

If you adore inspirational quotes, have a passion for graphic design, or love making your own photo cards, then the new Quote Graphics feature will be very exciting for you. To start, you select the style of graphics you want to use along with the dimensions you want for your project. Then you drag and drop the image you want to use into the software.

These graphics are customizable, meaning you can change the font, color, size, or even add effects to the letters. There are also a number of static and animated photo effects at your disposal if you want to add a certain feel to your work. These options really make it easy to create Christmas cards, special family photos, or announcements.

When you're done, you can send your completed photo to someone via social media. Or, if you're willing to pay for a tangible copy of your completed work, the software allows you to send your project straight to FujiFilm Prints & Gifts.

3 New Guided Edits for Photoshop Elements

One of the things that makes Photoshop Elements so easy to use is the long list of editing instructions it provides for users. Here are the Guided Edits that have been added to Photoshop Elements.

1. Duotones: This allows you to create a cool effect where an image is represented in two colors. It's kind of like a greyscale image, but instead of just going from white to grey tones, you choose which two hues get used, like a light blue and a dark purple.

2. Perfect Landscapes: I hate it when I take a picture of a beautiful location only to realize that my image is hazy or that something in the background is distracting from the overall view. This guided mode will help you quickly remove unwanted objects, remove haze, or even swap out the sky for a more dynamic one.

3. Move, Scale and Duplicate Objects: The steps found in this guide will teach you how to select and reposition objects in your photos. Want to make it, so people are standing closer together or farther apart? Easy peasy.

What's new with Premiere Elements 2021

Several features and tutorials have been added to Premiere Elements. I'll go over the best additions and explain just why they are so important.

Select Objects

Users can now make selections around objects and people in their photos before applying effects. That way, you can make someone stand out or create an artistic video rather easily. This is a great effect to use during special occasions like birthdays, weddings, or other celebrations.

Better Performance

This is a wonderful change, but it's something that will best be appreciated by someone who has already been using Premiere Elements on a regular basis. Simply put, you'll be able to view the effects made on your videos without having to wait for the edits to render. That way, you can get your projects looking beautiful and complete them a whole lot faster.

New music tracks

Music is a magical medium that can influence our reactions, so having the right tracks for various occasions is super important. To help make it easier to match up tunes to your videos, Adobe has added 21 music tracks to Premiere Elements.

2 New Guided Effects for Premiere Elements

One of the things that makes Premiere Elements so easy to use is the long list of editing instructions it provides for users. Here are the Guided Edits that have been added to Premiere Elements in the latest update.

1. Animated Matte Overlays: A matte overlay is basically an effect you can place over your videos to give them a little more depth or make them look more interesting. The new Guided Effect will help you learn how to apply one of several different animated matte overlays over your cherished recordings to give videos a certain feel or help draw viewer's eyes to specific areas.

2. Double Exposure: This guide teaches you how to place a video within a photo, effectively making a shape in a photo act as a viewing window. This can be very tricky to pull off effectively. Done too much, it can become a bit tacky, but done properly. These effects can help make a special moment even more magical.

More updates to look forward to

Knowing Adobe, the company is already hard at work, trying to find ways to make their software even more user-friendly and instructive. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next for Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements alike.

Are you excited about any of these additions? Any effects you can't wait to use? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

What you need to know

• Adobe just announced a large collection of updates and improvements for Adobe Creative Cloud.
• The updates include several features that improve collaboration and streamline the editing process.
• Some of the updates are already available, with the rest rolling out later this year.

Adobe announced major updates across Adobe Creative Cloud today. The updates deliver a long list of new features and changes, many of which Adobe emphasizes are in response to customer feedback. The updates include improvements to image editing in Photoshop and Lightroom and video editing in Premiere Pro and Adobe Rush. Adobe emphasized collaboration with others during its press briefing going over the new features. Many of the features center around working together, such as the ability for people to see other Lightroom users' images and edits. Many of the updates are available as part of the June Creative Cloud update, but some of the features will roll out later this year.

Photoshop

First up, Adobe has some new tools to utilize on Photoshop on the desktop and the iPad. With more creators working on the iPad, it can be a bit clunky to jump between creative apps. Adobe's adding an option to smooth that process out, the ability to jump back and forth between Photoshop and Lightroom on the iPad with a single button. When in either program, you can send files to the other program to continue editing.

On the desktop versions of Photoshop, people will have the ability to rotate patterns. Previously, you'd have to create separate patterns to make a pattern at a different angle.

Adobe also highlighted its new Select Portrait Optimization during its press briefing. The feature allows you to select a complex subject from a background, such a person with fine edges created by hair. Selecting objects can be a tedious process that can take quite a bit of time, so an automated tool should greatly reduce editing time for some projects.

Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom has several changes that make it easier to collaborate with other people and across devices. Following its update, people will be able to save versions of an image. These are similar to Snapshots from Lightroom classic but have some useful differences. You can view versions of an image on other devices, for example, on your phone you could see the color and black and white versions of an image that you created.

Lightroom is also gaining the ability to share the edits of an image with other people, such as team members. This is useful for seeing how people reached a point within an edit and can also be instructive. Adobe is also adding the option to share an image with edits for anyone to see. Lightroom has images with edits already in the form of interactive tutorials, but you will soon have the option to submit your own artwork to be a viewable tutorial. This should provide people with a wide range of images and edits to study and learn from.

Best PCs for Adobe Creative Cloud

In addition to collaboration improvements, Lightroom is also gaining some UI changes, the option to center a crop overlay, and the ability to change hues from an image locally rather than globally. The hue editing feature was shown off in the press briefing during a demo that had a creator change the colors of flowers within an image. After creating the mask of what needs to be changed, the hue editing feature can be used to edit the colors of specific objects in an image rather than adjusting the hue of the entire image.

Premiere Pro and Adobe Rush

On the video side of things, Adobe has several new features for Premiere Pro and Adobe Rush. Within Premiere Pro projects, people will be able to preview and license audio tracks without having to jump around to third-party websites. There are several ways to do this within the app, including right clicking an audio files and selecting license. When you license an audio file through Premiere Pro, the program automatically replaces lower quality preview files with licensed high-quality audio files. With the ability to preview audio files, you can play around with different sounds and audio without having to license tracks or download previews from a third-party website. You can thin easily license them before your final export.

Adobe Rush gains one of Premiere Pro's most recent features as part of its update, Auto Reframe. This feature can be used to track a subject as it moves throughout the video. For example, if you filmed an athlete moving around in landscape orientation but need to crop it to portrait or other aspect ratios. People often film content for YouTube in wider aspect ratios but may want to share the same video content on TikTok or Instagram. With auto reframe, creators can crop a video to a square or portrait mode without making the subject get chopped off. Adobe Rush will also let you manually reframe a video if you prefer or if auto reframe doesn't perform in a way that you like.

Illustrator

Many of Adobe Illustrator's improvements focus on speed and collaboration. Illustrator 24.2 supports Cloud documents, that allow you access your Illustrator files anywhere you have the app installed. Additionally, the files save automatically and much more quickly than manually saving. Cloud documents can also be labelled and reverted to previous versions.

Illustrator also sees several improvements to editing. First the canvas for projects within Illustrator is now 100 times larger, covering up to five million inches of space. Additionally, while editing documents, you can select an object to preview edits as you make them. This allows you to see what an edit will look like before committing to it, such as resizing a set of vectors on a page. You can read more about the updates to Illustrator on Adobe's website

Photoshop Camera

The goal of Photoshop Camera is to allow anyone to take an image they want with a single tap rather than having to add effects afterward. The app applies Photoshop effects even before you take an image, allowing you to preview what the effects will look like. The end result is that when you take images, they already have effects.

If you prefer to add effects after taking a photo, Photoshop Camera focuses on allowing you to make edits with simple gestures and options. In the press briefing, a creator added a bouquet effect and edited a subject's face with two gesture.

Adobe XD

Adobe XD has several new features that should make editing content much faster. Its upcoming Stacks feature creates content aware stacks that allow you to create stacks of objects. With this feature you can rearrange content within a group without having to worry about spacing. You can just swap objects around and XD sorts out all of the spacing to maintain your layout. The stacks are content aware, meaning if you delete an object from the group the other content in the group adapts to fill the gap.

Support for scrollable groups is also coming to Adobe XD. Scrollable groups allow you to create and preview content in Adobe XD such as book listings. You can customize how content within a group is displayed, either horizontally or vertically.

Adobe XD is also adding an option for design tokens. Design Tokens is a new feature that arrives in Adobe XD in the June update to the app. You can save the names of colors and character styles in a way that's easily shareable to designers and developers. When working on documents among a team, it's important to make sure the same language, content, and descriptions are used. Design Tokens help avoid confusion and unify a workflow across a team.

Adobe showed off these three new Adobe XD features within a project. While creating a listing page for books, a creator swapped the order of books around a stack, scrolled through the content within the group, and used design tokens to make sure that everyone within a team had the same colors.

Plenty of other changes

This is an overview of the major changes rolling out to Adobe Creative Cloud this year and as part of the June update, but there are other changes rolling out as well. Adobe Fresco is gaining the ability to live stream and Photoshop and InDesign will now auto-activate Adobe Fonts. There are also several UI changes and improvements rolling out to Adobe's creative apps. You can read more about the updates on Adobe's blog.

With all this extra time at home that self-isolation and working from home has granted you, it's time to upgrade your photo editing game. In a timely deal, the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 software is down to $59.99 at Amazon today. This deal is part of Amazon's deals of the day which means it's a temporary price that will expire tonight. The software normally sells for around $100 at Amazon and other retailers like Best Buy and B&H. Today's drop matches a low set during Black Friday sales so it's a good chance to snag a saving if you missed out late last year. The deal applies to the physical disc version of the software, as well as Mac and PC downloads.

The deal given is no longer valid and we do not have a better one. However, we have found some similar deals

Adobe Creative Cloud for Individuals All Apps plan

$359.88 $600.00 Save $240 1619529371

For individuals who are new customers. Includes all the major apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and more. Get access to all the latest features and updates as they release. You'll also get 100GB of cloud storage.

Adobe Creative Cloud 12-month subscription + $10 Amazon Gift card

$40 a month with $10 gift card 1605971411

Comes out to $480 total for a year instead of the regular price of $600. The gift card is mailed to you so you can either apply it to your account or give it away to a friend. The subscription auto-renews. Includes 20+ desktop and mobile apps.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 for Mac or Windows

$69.89 $99.99 Save $30 1569902400

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 [PC Online code]

$69.89 $99.99 Save $30 1570075200

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 [Mac Online Code]

$69.89 $99.99 Save $30 1570075200

Photoshop Elements acts as a comprehensive photo editor, and it includes interactive step-by-step guided edits. You don't have to be a photo expert or someone with much knowledge of editing at all to use this program. That's sort of the point, actually. It walks you through what you need to know and gives you the tools you need to do the basics like fixing red-eye and removing backgrounds and things like that.

It has both automated and in-depth workspaces so you can let the program work for you until you've learned what you need to know. Switch between Quick Edit, Guided Edit, and Expert Edit. You can do so seamlessly so you can get help when you need it and work on your own when you don't. Quick Edit does some stuff automatically for you, Guided Edit gives you some interactive step-by-step guides you can use, and Expert Edit lets you do stuff manually.

Some of the other things you can do with this editor include adding textures and frames, correcting images by whitening teeth, opening closed eyes, and more. You can add watercolor or sketching effects. Create calendars and greeting cards and collages with your photos. The 2020 version of the software adds new features like skin smoothing, automatic photo colorization, and more. It even uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the experience.

What you need to know

• You can get two free months of Adobe Creative Cloud right now.
• To get the offer, you have to act like you're going to cancel your subscription.
• It's unclear at this time if the offer is related to coronavirus.

You can get two free months of Adobe Creative Cloud right now. The offer appears to only be available for existing customers who try to cancel their subscription to the service. PetaPixel spotted the offer first and shared how to take advantage of it.

To get the offer, you need to follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Creative Cloud account.
2. Select Cancel plan.
3. Follow the steps to cancel your plan, such as explaining why you're canceling.
4. Click the offer for two free months that appears.

We've followed these steps and received two free months on a Creative Cloud subscription in the UK. The offer appears to be valid in at least the U.S. and the UK.

Petapixel points out that the offer might not work or appear for certain accounts. Petpixel reports that subscribers that pay annually do not see the offer.

Adobe hasn't widely advertised the offer as far as we can tell. It seems like an offer to dissuade people who are considering canceling their subscription to save some money. It's worth noting, however, that Adobe has waived several fees and made some services free during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Adobe breaks down the changes here, including students gaining free in-home access to the Creative Cloud so they can continue their studies.

We've reached out to Adobe for clarification regarding this specific two-month offer. Regardless of the cause, it appears that at least some customers can get two free months of a Creative Cloud subscription, which is worth almost $20, or potentially more depending on your subscription.

What you need to know

• Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 is now available through the Microsoft Store.
• Photoshop Elements 2020 came out last month but was not available through the Microsoft Store until today.
• Photoshop Elements 2020 is on sale in the Microsoft Store for 40 percent off.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 is now available through the Microsoft Store. To celebrate its launch in the store, the app is 40 percent off, bringing the price down to $60. Photoshop Elements 2020 launched last month, but was only available through Adobe's website until today.

Photoshop Elements 2020 brings several new features to Adobe's photo editing software. Many of the features center around easy editing that looks clean and professional, including automatic colorization, one-click subject selection, and automatic skin smoothing. The app also includes a guided mode that can help you remove unwanted objects and eliminating distracting features like power lines.

Photoshop Elements 2020 uses Adobe Sensei technology to power intelligent features like object removal.

Unlike the full version of Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements 2020 does not require a subscription.

Microsoft's new Surface Pro X represents the company putting its full weight behind Windows 10 on ARM. It's the biggest overhaul in design that the Surface Pro line has seen in years, and Microsoft has even developed a custom ARM chip, based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx, to power it all.

Still, there remain concerns about how well ARM chips can handle traditional desktop app emulation. While there will certainly be performance hits when running x86 apps, a new report about Adobe's progress on Photoshop for iPad makes clear that the Surface Pro X's ability to emulate desktop apps gives it a significant advantage.

A rough start

Adobe's work on creating a native, full-featured version of Photoshop for iPad dates back to last year. The company announced Photoshop CC for iPad ahead of the launch of Apple's revamped iPad Pro in October 2018, and it's expected to launch in full by the end of 2019.

A new report from Bloomberg claims that the app will debut with several missing features, however. Citing conversations with current beta testers, Bloomberg states:

Bloomberg further ads that testers have called Photoshop for iPad "rudimentary" in its current state, adding that apps like Procreate and Affinity Photo for iPad are currently superior options. "Feature-wise, it feels like a beefed-up cloud-based version of their existing iPad apps and not 'real Photoshop' as advertised," one tester said.

Living up to "Pro"

This isn't entirely unexpected, as Adobe stated Photoshop for iPad will build out features over time, but will lack some capabilities at launch. Still, it highlights one of the big advantages of the work Microsoft has put in to make sure traditional desktop apps can run on Windows 10 on ARM devices at all.

From launch, Surface Pro X will be able to run the full Photoshop experience, as well as any other x86 desktop apps out there. Given that the Surface Pro X is in a bit of a nebulous space where it's likely to be compared to both other PCs as well as the iPad Pro, that's an important distinction.

As we've seen with previous Windows 10 on ARM PCs, there will ultimately be a performance hit imposed by emulation. As an example, Windows Central senior editor Zac Bowden recently got a look at Photoshop booting up on a Surface Pro X, and it certainly wasn't what one would consider snappy.

With the work Qualcomm and Microsoft have put into tailoring the Snapdragon 8cx and Microsoft SQ1 chips for PC workloads, it will be interesting to see just how noticable any performance hits will be across a variety of desktop apps. For Photoshop users, this might not be a long-term concern, either. During the Surface Pro X unveiling earlier this month, Adobe revealed that it is working to build native Creative Cloud apps for the Surface Pro X and Windows 10 on ARM.

Ultimately, one could argue that the iPad Pro and Surface Pro X aren't necessarily making plays for the same markets, which renders this all moot. Those who are already immersed in the Apple ecosystem aren't likely to jump to Surface Pro X just for some missing Photoshop features. But it's still an interesting differentiator for creatives who may be on the fence.

No matter where you stand, it should be fascinating to see how all of this will shake out. I'm particularly looking forward to some head-to-head tests once native versions of Photoshop are available for both platforms.

For those who need a serious photo editor on Windows 10, you'll be pleased to see Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 is now available. This is the full desktop version of the app that can be bought direct from Adobe and has no limitations. Users can also install it on all their PCs making the Store license just a tad more valuable.

While there is no upgrade discount from the 2018 edition, Adobe is running a sale on it for 22 days knocking the price from $100 down to just $80 to help compensate.

Adobe has been putting Photoshop Elements in the Microsoft Store for a few years now, but this 2019-edition comes just a little over one month since it was first announced. That makes it one of the faster releases for Adobe with this app and a welcome one.

As to what's new with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 the company details all the changes in a recent blog post, but some of the highlights include:

• Brand-new Elements Home Screen.
• New auto-creation photos slideshows powered by Adobe Sensei AI.
• Redesigned photo collages.
• Guided edits including meme maker support.
• Better performance and HEIF support.
• Redesigned Quick Edit mode.

Unfortunately, there is still no release for Adobe Premiere Elements 2019, which also came out for PC, but is not available in the Microsoft Store for whatever reason.

And like the last version, the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 has yet to be recompiled for ARM64, which means devices running Windows 10 on ARM like the new Samsung Galaxy Book2 won't be able to install the app just yet. Hopefully, that will change with the new Visual Studio release.

Finally, for those concerned about space, the entire program is about 5.5GB in size, which is quite massive.

See at Microsoft

Adobe has launched Photoshop version 19.1 today, bringing along several notable new features. But alongside general updates to some of its tools, Photoshop has added some specific improvements for Windows users: support for Surface Dial and high-density monitors.

Support for Microsoft's Surface Dial accessory actually appeared in Photoshop in October of 2017, but it was only available as part of a technical preview. With Photoshop version 19.1, Surface Dial support is available for everyone. The Dial can be used to zoom in and out of the canvas or change brush settings on the fly. From Adobe:

In addition, Photoshop 19.1 improves support for high-density displays on PCs with the Windows 10 Creators Update or newer. This includes a "full range" of choices for UI scale factors, allowing you to move from 100 percent to 400 percent in 25 percent increments. Photoshop also now supports per-monitor scaling across monitors with different scale factors. "This means that a high resolution (HiDPI) laptop now works seamlessly alongside a lower resolution desktop monitor (or vice versa)," Adobe says. "One monitor can have a scale factor of 175% and another a scale factor of 400%."

Other new features and improvements in Photoshop 19.1 include a new "Select Subject" tool, which allows you to more quickly select specific objects in a photo, as well as better SVG compatibility with Adobe XD. Adobe has also added a decontamination slider to Select and Mask.

If you're already a Photoshop user, you can grab the latest update with the Creative Cloud app. New users can get started with Photoshop at Adobe.

Surface Dial support hasn't exactly been widespread since Microsoft first introduced the accessory in late-2016, but some apps, particularly in the design space, have added novel support. One heavy hitter, Adobe Photoshop, has technically supported the Surface Dial, but in a pretty limited way: The accessory could only be used to zoom in and out on the canvas. Fortunately, Adobe is stepping things up a little more with its latest Photoshop release by adding the ability for the Surface Dial to tweak some select settings on the fly.

Announced as part of a broader set of updates to its suite of design apps (via The Verge), Adobe revealed that Photoshop will now allow Surface Dial to "change tool parameters without taking your attention from the canvas." This essentially just lets you change brush settings like opacity, hardness, and size by rotating the dial as you work.

It's still a fairly limited implementation, but it makes the Surface Dial far more useful in Photoshop than it was previously. As The Verge points out, other apps like Sketchable, which was one of the first to support Surface Dial, have enabled far more robust integrations.. Still, the added support arrives with convenient timing, just ahead of the launch of the new Surface Book 2. At the same time, Microsoft has also announced that anyone who buys a Surface from now through January 18 will get a free three-month trial to an Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan with 1TB of cloud storage.

The promise of Windows 10 S is that it provides a more secure environment by restricting users to apps downloaded from the Windows Store. Unfortunately, that also leaves users without any alternatives when an app is hit with a nasty bug that prevents it from running, as has been the case for Adobe Photoshop Elements 15.

Thankfully, Adobe has now provided a workaround for the issue (via Paul Thurrott), and it involves a pretty simple process. All you have to do is create a few folders with the correct names, and you should be good to go. Here's a look at the steps involved:

• Navigate to the ProgramData folder in your installation directory. For example, if your installation directory is C then navigate to C:\ProgramData. (If you can't find the location, probably the ProgramData folder is hidden on your computer. To show hidden files and folders, see Show hidden files.)
• Create a new folder and name it Adobe.
• Create a new folder inside Adobe and name it Elements Organizer.
• Create a new folder inside Elements Organizer and name it 15.0
• The folder structure should be C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\15.0
• Launch Photoshop Elements 15.

It's not exactly clear why Adobe isn't currently able to fix the issue without action on the user's part, but Windows 10 S users willing to get their hands dirty will finally be able to actually use the app. Hopefully an official fix from Adobe will land soon for those who might not think to dig into Adobe's help articles.

It seems like Adobe's Photoshop Elements 15 is rarely without a discount in the Windows Store. But if you have yet to give it a shot, another sale has recently kicked off. Right now, you can grab Photoshop Elements 15 at a solid $30 discount. For those keeping track, that drops the price down from $99.99 to $69.99.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 includes a number of tools for organizing and editing photos. It's definitely not a full professional solution like Photoshop itself, but it makes it simple to add effects to your photos and make quick edits. Smart photo tagging is also included, which is pretty handy, as are batch photo edits.

We've seen this discount quite a bit on Photoshop Elements 15, so it's not all that surprising to see it once more. Still, if you can justify the $70 for what Elements offers, it's worth checking out. As of this writing, the sale is set to run for 14 more days, so you've got some time to decide.

Download Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 at the Windows Store

Adobe's productivity suite is a powerful set of tools and Photoshop and Premiere Elements are available for just £55 at Amazon UK for today only. Not only can you bag a piece of software to help you perfect photos and more, but also a video editing platform to take creativity to the next level. Elements is a starter version of Adobe's more full-featured applications. You're not buying the main suite here, but light and more affordable variants.

Here's a list of features:

• Organize: It's easier than ever to find photos by the people in them, the places they were taken and the events they depict.
• Edit: Make any snapshot extra-special with everything from one-click fixes to artistic looks, and turn rough clips into real movies you'll watch over and over.
• Create: Surround yourself with your memories by making beautiful photo slideshows, calendars, scrapbook pages, and cards, and bring collages to life with photos and videos together.
• Make your photos look terrific: Make any snapshot extra-special with everything from one-click fixes to artistic looks that will wow friends and family.
• Share: Share with friends and family the way that works for you-Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, and more.

It's a great deal and one that should be taken advantage of if you're looking to start some photo or video editing. The £55 promotion ends today.

See at Amazon

One of the things that caught our attention during the Samsung MWC press event was the announcement that the Galaxy Book's S Pen would specifically integrate with Adobe Photoshop.

Hands on with the Galaxy Book

Working with Microsoft and Adobe, Samsung built support for full-brush tilting into Photoshop. We saw a great demonstration of how the S Pen worked with various tools and brushes, and it certainly looked impressive. This is in addition to Samsung's take on the Windows Ink Workspace, which provides access to written notes, annotation and sketching on a blank page or a screen capture and even animated GIF creation. Samsung appears to be taking advantage of the S Pen's 4,096 pressure sensitive levels in ways that are useful, as well as fun.

Maybe the most impressive thing is that you can use the same S Pen on your Galaxy Book, and your Samsung tablet and phone. This is a great way to pull people into the Samsung ecosystem with something that's unique to the Galaxy line.

See all of our Mobile World Congress coverage

We knew this one was coming eventually, but Adobe has now finally released Photoshop Elements 15 into the Windows Store. Better still is that for the launch week you'll be able to snag a fairly healthy discount on it.

You take pictures of all your special moments and milestones. Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 automates the organizing and editing so you can have fun creating and sharing your amazing photos.

In the U.S. the regular price is $99.99, cut to $59.99 for the next 6 days. Over in the UK there's a similar 40% discount taking it down from £77.29 to £46.39, so similar discounts should hopefully apply in other regions, too.

Photoshop Elements is just the latest Win32 app brought to the Windows Store, and while it's not as full-featured and outright powerful as Photoshop CC, it's still a great piece of photo editing software.

If it sounds like a deal for you grab it at the link below while the discount is hot!

Download Photoshop Elements from the Windows Store

Thanks Amir for the tip!

Adobe has rolled out a major update to Photoshop CC 2015, introducing a flatter user interface. The image-editing app now sports a launch screen called Start that shows a list of recently viewed files, presets and Library contents. Also new is the ability to customize the main toolbar on the left, giving you quick access to the tools you use the most.

From Stephen Nielson, Adobe's senior product manager:

The new Start screen has made its way to other Adobe CC apps, including Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. Other new additions include support for multiple artboards within a file, ability to favorite fonts, and tweaks to the touch-based interface for devices such as the Surface Pro 4.

Speaking of Adobe's other apps, a number of new features have been added to apps across the Creative Cloud lineup. Illustrator has a new Shaper tool and new Live Shapes, while InDesign has made it easier to create and distribute new layouts. Premiere Pro has added comprehensive format support for 4K-to-8K footage editing. After Effects now features more powerful color tools, while Audition has introduced a Remix feature for automatically rearranging music.

A major change that comes with these updates is the rebranding of Flash Professional. Beginning next year, the app will be called Adobe Animate CC, and while it still supports both Flash and AIR formats, the change reflects the shift of content, and use of the app, to web standards like HTML5. You can find out more about Animate CC here.

Adobe has also launched a new 3D modeling app called Fuse, which lets you create and animate 3D objects. Tight-knit integration within Creative Cloud means that you can then import the 3D models into Photoshop and manipulate camera angles, lighting and more. Still in preview form, Adobe is making Fuse available to anyone with an Adobe ID for free.

Download Adobe Fuse CC (Preview)

Source: Adobe (1), (2)

Adobe has unveiled new features that will be making their way to a future version of Photoshop CC. The app will be adopting three major features geared towards 3D imaging and printing. For instance, the new 3D mesh simplification tools will allow for faster processing and printing, and will expand options for sharing.

You'll also be able to create 3D bump maps, and edit colors and textures for your objects before printing them:

• Create and apply 3D Bump Maps from any photograph to add texture to 3D objects: Convert textures from a photograph into a bump map, with flexibility to control desired height and depth of embossment or imprint to create a custom, textured 3D object.
• Edit colors from 3D scans with Vertex color to texture conversion: While 3D scanning is expected to become increasingly prominent, many 3D scanning solutions capture color data as vertex color, which is not editable within Photoshop. The new Vertex Color to Texture Conversion will interpret and allow users to edit and change colors through creation of a Photoshop Texture.

Adobe didn't specify when these features would be available, saying only that they would come to Photoshop CC in a future update.

Adobe made a number of announcements today as part of their Adobe MAX 2014 conference, including the launches of new desktop versions of many of their powerful applications. Two of them in particular, Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC, have received improvements for touchscreen devices running Windows 8.1 such as the 12-inch Surface Pro 3.

While Adobe has released apps made specifically for Windows 8.1 in the past such as Photoshop Express, these new versions of the Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC desktop apps will allow more touchscreen gestures to be supported. For example,. Photoshop CC lets users pinch, zoom, pan, and rotate the app with their fingers.

As far as Illustrator CC, the app now allows touch-based users to select objects in the app and even to join lines with a finger touch. The company also offered up some new features in the Curvature tool. It states:

Today's updates to Creative Cloud are expected to be available to Creative Cloud members by the end of the day as part of their membership at no additional cost.

If you use Photoshop CC and/or Illustrator CC, what do you think of these improvements specifically for Windows 8.1 touchscreen device owners?

Source: Adobe

Don't you love it when big-name apps make it to the Windows Phone Store? Earlier today, we told you about the arrival of Adobe Photoshop Express. It has been available on iOS, Android, and even Windows 8. Now, Windows Phone users can join the fun. We've installed it on our Nokia Lumia Icon. Head past the break to watch our hands-on video.

There are already several image-editing apps for Windows Phone. Some of our current favorites are Nokia Creative Studio, Fhotoroom, and Camera360. But having options is great! After spending some time with Adobe Photoshop Express, we think many of you are going to make this app your primary photo editor.

Features:

• Basics: Crop, Straighten, Rotate, and Flip your photos. Remove red eye.
• Auto-Fix: One-touch adjustment for Brightness, Exposure and Shadows.
• Color: Slider controls for Exposure, Contrast, Clarity, Vibrance and more.
• One-touch filters "Looks": Choose from over 20 eye-catching effects!
• Share easily to social sites like Instagram and Facebook, and via SMS text.

You can send a photo to Adobe Photoshop Express directly from the Windows Phone camera roll. With the image open, click the three dots on the lower right corner, tap edit, and then select Photoshop Express. You can also open existing photos from within the app.

Like all other editing apps, you have options to adjust several things such as exposure, contrast, clarity, vibrance and more. There are also sliders to adjust the strength of the adjustments. Despite all these available controls, our favorite feature is the quickfix button. With one click, Adobe Photoshop Express automatically adjusts several options. It does it really well. If you're still not happy with the quickfix, you can jump in and make your own little adjustments. There's a toggle at the bottom that let's you see the original photo.

We also really like the red eye removal and noise reduction tools on Photoshop Express. With the red eye tool, there's an automatic fix, but it works much better manually. Just tap on the person's eyes. Noise reduction also works great, but it's available as an in-app purchase. It costs $4.99, but we're really pleased with the results. Just remember that applying too much reduction decreases the sharpness of your image.

If you prefer filters, Adobe Photoshop Express has them too. There are several looks to choose from, although you're not able to adjust the strengths of the looks applied. There are over 20 looks that are available for free and additional 20 premium looks available for purchase.

When you're done editing, you can save, share, or upload to Adobe Revel. Saving the photo keeps it in your camera roll, while share allows you to send it over to other apps like email, Instagram, OneDrive, Facebook, Twitter, and more. The third option lets you upload to Adobe's Revel service.

Adobe Revel (adoberevel.com) is a service that lets you collect, preserve, and share a digital photos and videos with other people. You can invite friends and family to join a Group Library so you can all create a huge collection of everyone's photos and videos.

Adobe Photoshop Express is a free download from the Windows Phone Store, but we highly recommend purchasing the Noise Reduction Pack for $4.99. You can do without the additional premium looks. This app is also available on Windows devices.

Will Adobe Photoshop Express become your main photo editor for Windows Phone? Let us know in the comments!

Are we having another influx of major apps? It sure feels like it. Yesterday Roku officially came to Windows Phone and Windows 8. Skype just gained Cortana support on Windows Phone. Zappos finally came a few days ago. It was also just yesterday that A&E, History and Lifetime dropped official apps for their channels into the Windows Phone Store.

You know where this is going. It's time to finally welcome Adobe Photoshop Express into the Windows Phone family.

It was over a year ago that Adobe Photoshop Express came to the Windows Store. It allowed folks on their Surface tablets to make basic photo edits while on the run. That same functionality is now available on Windows Phone for free.

Here's what you can do with Adobe Photoshop Express for Windows Phone:

• Basics: Crop, Straighten, Rotate, and Flip your photos. Remove red eye.
• Auto-Fix: One-touch adjustment for Brightness, Exposure and Shadows.
• Color: Slider controls for Exposure, Contrast, Clarity, Vibrance and more.
• One-touch filters "Looks": Choose from over 20 eye-catching effects!
• Get creative by adding the Looks Pack* and Noise Reduction Pack*
• Share easily to social sites like Instagram and Facebook, and via SMS text.

You'll want to set aside a few bucks if you want to buy the Look Pack and Noise Reduction Pack. These are in-app purchases to unlock more filters and the ability to make noise adjustments to your photos.

Take Adobe Photoshop Express for spin and let us know what you think! We'll have a hands-on shortly.

• Download Adobe Photoshop Express for Windows Phone
• Download Adobe Photoshop Express for Windows 8

Thanks for the tip Tech King and Devin M.!

Adobe's flagship Photoshop image editor is in for a big update. Details of the upcoming Adobe Creative Cloud 2014 were revealed today, with some notably cool update coming to everybody's favorite image editor, Photoshop. The CC 2014 version of Photoshop is getting a new Focus Mask tool (you can see it in the video above), which will automatically select the in-focus portion of a photo so you can apply effects to just it or the out-of-focus area.

Photoshop is also getting two new blur effects in Spin Blur and Path Blur, and improved content aware fill with smarter color adaptations for better-looking patching and blending. Users will also be able to link smart objects across multiple documents, and share them all together in a single package.

Touch-enabled Windows 8 devices are getting improved smart guides, layer comps, and overall performance improvements.

Last year Adobe introduced a pilot $9.99-a-month plan for those that only wanted their photography apps, and this year that plan is sticking around (though the cloud storage for new customers is dropping down to 2GB from the previous 20GB). For that price you get the latest version of Photoshop, Lightroom, and Creative Cloud integration with Adobe's mobile apps (including the just-announced Lightroom for iPhone and Photoshop Mix for iPad). If you want the complete Creative Cloud suite, the full $49.99/month plan still isn't going anywhere.

Source: Adobe

While Microsoft may be dominating the Windows news today with the announcement of the Surface Pro 3 hardware, partner Adobe is also targeting creative professionals of the slate with an updated Photoshop experience that brings a better touch experience to the slate. Given the capabilities of the Surface Pro 3 such as an Intel Core i7 processor, an accurate pen for drawing and writing, and a capacious 12-inch display, the Surface Pro 3 may serve as a great Photoshop tool for users who need to draw and manipulate photos and images.

The updated version of Photoshop that will debut with the Surface Pro 3 brings larger buttons, more accurate pen support, and gestures to accommodate the touchscreen user experience of Windows on the Surface Pro 3.

Reflecting on using Creative Suite's Photoshop program on a touchscreen, Microsoft wrote on its Surface blog, "Historically, using Photoshop on Surface Pro has been a painful experience, with tiny UX controls and no touch support, but artists have been willing to accept that pain to use the software they need on the device they love. That all begins to change today."

Along with Microsoft's Surface Pen, Microsoft says that the pen is even more accurate than the pen support on Surface Pro 2. "Photoshop is doing higher frequency sampling so the line is the line you intended to draw," Microsoft said.

Additionally, Photoshop will also support gestures and touch. According to Adobe, the touch area for the button controls of the new UX is 200 percent larger than the current Photoshop.

Both companies are saying that this is just the beginning of the partnership and we should expect to see more changes as Windows incorporates both mouse and keyboard inputs as well as touch.

Source: Microsoft Surface Blog

Microsoft’s Surface Pro line of tablet devices can be seen as the perfect companion for the traveling Photographer. No longer is there a need to carry around a bulky laptop powerhouse, Wacom tablet, and never-ending power cords. With the Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2’s Core i5 processors, large amounts of RAM, long battery life, and Wacom powered display – there is a new Photographer’s best friend on the market.

However, as wonderful as the Surface Pro is out of the box, we can make a few tweaks and changes to make it the absolute best for those looking to make it their Photoshop companion device. Follow our guide below as we upgrade your graphics drivers, install extra Wacom software, and turn your tablet into a device Annie Leibovitz would be proud to use.

Updating your graphics driver

Whether you are using Microsoft’s Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2, your graphic experience is being powered by Intel’s integrated chipset. The problem is that Microsoft only wants you to run the latest tested and verified version of the graphic driver on your device. While this is great for stability in most cases, it can hold you back from getting the latest and greatest performance.

Some Surface Pro users have actually complained that the current Intel driver being distributed by Microsoft crashes when Photoshop CC is launched (we are not sure if this issue is present on past issues of the software suite). Not all experience this problem, but if you are one of them, or you just want to best performance from your machine, you can bypass the verification process of installing the latest driver and install it manually. Here is how to do so:

1. Head over to Intel’s support website by clicking here.
2. You have a few ways to get to your appropriate driver. We suggest using Intel’s Driver Update Utility, which will automatically scan your system. Note: you may be required to install a small piece of software to run the wizard.
3. Once the wizard is done running, Intel will display a list of their hardware currently installed within your machine. One of those options should be a “Graphics Driver” and it should say that it is out of date.
4. Click on the plus next to the “Graphics Driver” option and you should be presented with Intel’s HD Graphics version 10.18.10.3496. Click and save the driver to your PC.
5. While the driver downloads, we are going to have to grab one more piece of software. Download and install 7-Zip for free by clicking here (if you do not already have it). Allow 7-Zip to install its contextual menus onto your system.
6. Once 7-zip is installed and the graphics driver has been downloaded, head over to your “Downloads” folder and right click on the Intel Driver Setup file. This will produce a context menu and you will select the option to extract the files from within the 7-Zip menu option.
7. Now you will have a folder, with all of the files that were once tucked away within the Setup file itself.
8. Head to device manager by going to the Start Screen and typing “device manager” and hit Enter.
9. Once inside the device manager, click the tiny arrow next to “Display Adapters” to show “Intel® HD Graphics Family”. Right click on the Intel hardware and select “Update…”
10. A wizard will appear (a setup wizard that is, not Gandalf). Select the option to “Browse my Computer for driver software”, then select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers…”, finally select “Have Disk…”
11. Now navigate to where we extracted the Intel Graphics Driver and select the driver file. Driver files end in “.inf” and this specific one will be located under the “Graphics” folder.
12. Now complete the driver update wizard and restart your computer to experience a more stable and graphic accelerated Photoshop experience.

Make your digitizer pressure sensitive

There are different drivers that allow your digitizer to communicate pressure with various applications on your PC. When the Surface is shipped, it includes a basic driver that communicates with many of the applications in the Windows Store including Fresh Paint, but Photoshop support is missing for all creative suites and creative cloud.

To add pressure sensitivity within Photoshop, you will need to download an update from Wacom’s own website. The driver you will be downloading will add something known as “Wacom feel IT technology” to your Surface Pro. Click here to head over to Wacom’s site and download the latest version (7.2.0-4) of the “Tablet PC – Enhanced Tablet Driver”.

Once downloaded, simply install the driver via the setup wizard and reboot your machine. You should now have pressure sensitivity within Adobe Photoshop.

A few tweaks on your machine

These tips are not Surface Pro exclusive, but will ensure that your Photoshop CC experience is the best around. All settings we about to discuss can be accessed by heading to “Preferences > Performance” in Photoshop or by pressing “CTRL-K” on your keyboard while in Photoshop.

First, depending on how much memory your Surface has we recommend different Memory usage settings. In general, make sure that your system has at least 2GB of spare memory in the background to use. For example, on the Surface Pro with 4GB of RAM, we recommend using 2GB max, while on the Surface Pro with 8GB of RAM, we recommend using 6GB max for Photoshop.

In addition, now that we have manually force updated your driver, you can feel free to take advantage of the “Advanced Drawing Mode” under the advanced graphic settings. We also recommend raising History States, Cache Levels, and Cache Tile Size if you have enough room on your drive to store the data. When working with Photoshop, it can be helpful to have 5-10 GB of free space on your drive for the application to use as “scratch space”.

Conclusion

We have manually force updated your graphics driver to the latest version, which should allow Photoshop CC (and possibly older versions) to run without any hitches or glitches. In addition, the newly updated Wacom driver will allow you to work within Photoshop with extremely accurate touch sensitivity. Lastly, the Photoshop CC tweaks we recommended should squeeze every last bit of performance out of your machine without busting it.

Are you a photographer or someone who uses Adobe Photoshop? What do you think of Microsoft’s Surface Pro with its integrated Wacom technology?

Nokia has just announced some pretty awesome news for the Windows Phone Store. BBM and Photoshop Express will be coming soon. Stephen Elop made the announcement a few minutes into the Nokia press conference at Mobile World Congress 2014.

No further details were shared. But we’ll have more as soon as we can information on both BBM and Photoshop Express. As you know, BBM is a highly anticipated app for the Windows Phone ecosystem, as is Photoshop Express. BBM is a messaging platform from BlackBerry, it recently made the jump to iOS and Android. 

Stephen Elop mentioned BBM coming in the next few weeks for Windows Phone. 

More to come. 

Adobe released Photoshop Express the other day for Windows 8 and RT. Our initial impressions of the photo editor was good. It's a basic editor with the ability to grow through purchasing add-on packs.

After using Photoshop Express for a few days now, while we impressions are still good it's hard to ignore that there is a ton of room for growth. Photoshop Express is a start, a foundation if you will, but Adobe really needs to beef things up to make Photoshop Express a more useful editor.

There's no doubt that Photoshop Express is a light weight editor but it may be too light.

Why the excitement? Adobe is a cornerstone of the digital photography editing business. Adobe's products are used by photographers of all skills ranging from the snapshot shooter to the professional photographer. The companies editing software gets it right more times than not and to have such a resource behind a light editor for Windows 8 and RT (especially the tablet devices) could be advantageous.

Photoshop Express is laid out in fairly typical Windows 8 fashion. You have your editing categories lining the bottom of the screen with your image taking center stage on the screen. Photoshop Express can load images to edit from your Pictures Library (this includes thumbdrives, memory cards, network files, Skydrive, etc.), images stored on Adobe Revel (cloud storage) or you can launch your camera and capture a new image to edit.

Once the image is loaded in Photoshop Express, here is what you can do with it.

• Crop: You can free form crop your image or use a series of preset crops. You can also rotate, flip and straighten images. The cropping tool lacks the ability to use custom diminsions (other than line of sight) and the resolution is set at 72dpi.
• Correct: Here you will find slider adjustments for your image contrast, exposure and white balance settings. You can toggle between the before/after views and reset the settings and start from scratch.
• Looks: Adobe provides fifteen creative filters that range from black and white to a warm summer filter. It's actually a nice collection of effects but you can not adjust how they are applied.
• Red Eye: An automated tool to identify and eliminate red eye problems.
• Autofix: Here's where Photoshop Express does all the heavy lifting and determines how your image should look under ideal conditions.

In addition to the core editing tools, Adobe is offering two add-on packs that can be purchased in-app. You have a noise reduction filter that eliminates or reduces the grainy effect higher ISO images can create. It's a rather peachy filter that does a good job of things and runs $4.99.

The second add-on pack is an extension of the Looks filters. The $2.99 add-on will increase your filters from fifteen to thirty-five.

So that's what Photoshop Express can do. Here are a few features that are missing and could help Photoshop Express blow the competion out of the water.

Image Re-sizing: Currently any image resizing is done automatically as you crop the image. It would be nice to be able to customize not only the diminsions but also the resolution of your images. This may not be an issue for those who shoot for web publishing, email, etc. (perfect for the 72dpi resolution used) but for those who shoot with intentions of printing, it may be an issue.

RAW Support: Currently Photoshop Express only supports JPEG image file formats. Admittedly the majority of digital photographers use the this format but many opt for the RAW format. The RAW image file is uncompressed and untouched by your camera's in-house processing software. It's a lot like a film negative allowing the photographer more control during editing and arguably better image quality.

Sharpening: While you can adjust contrast, exposure and white balance there is not a tool to sharpen your images.

Select Tool: It would be nice to have the ability to select areas of the photo to adjust or apply effects to. It would help tame the hot or bright spots that may be present and help you be more creative in your editing.

Text Entry: Photoshop Express lacks any tools to add text boxes to your photos.  Not a big issue but it would be nice to add a date, caption or copyright stamp on your photos.

In a nutshell, Adobe has released a very basic, entry level editor that can produce some nice photos.  The Looks filter set is nice and the editing tools, while a little bare bones, helps to fine tune your photos.

Photoshop Express isn't on the same level as Photoshop Elements or in the same zip code as Photoshop Creative Suite. It does have potential if Adobe will give it some attention.  I can see Photoshop Express being a perfect, light weight editor for tablets when storage is limited. It would also make a very nice entry level editor for those who want to fine tune their photos but don't need to (or want to) get too involved.

Photoshop Express is a free app for your Windows 8 and RT devices. For that reason, I would suggest you download it and see for yourself. I'm going to remain optimistic in that what we see today is just the start and after an update or two with a few more add-on packs, Photoshop Express will rock.

You can find Photoshop Express here in the Windows Store.

Adobe has released Photoshop Express for Windows 8 and Windows RT. If you've been around digital photography for any amount of time, Adobe Photoshop should be a familiar term. The Photoshop editing software has dominated the digital photography market for years.

It's nice to see a Photoshop editor land for Windows RT and 8, especially for the tablet devices. Photoshop Express could be the answer to a lot of photographers who are looking for a mobile solution or an entry level editor for Windows 8/RT.

Photoshop Express supports Adobe Revel (cloud service) and key editing features includes:

• Basic Edits: Crop, straighten, rotate, flip and remove red-eye.
• Auto-Fix: One touch adjustment for brightness, exposure and shadows.
• Color: Controls for exposure, contrast, clarity, vibrance, white balance.
• Filters: Fifteen color filters.

You also have two in-app purchases to add a "Looks Pack" that adds twenty additional creative filters ($2.99) and a "Noise Reduction Pack" that is a very nice noise filter ($4.99). The noise filter eliminates the grain that high ISO images can produce.  Both packs are reasonably priced, especially when you consider the main app is free.

We've only had our hands on Photoshop Express for a short time and our initial impressions are good. Photoshop Express may not have all the bells and whistles as...say...Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS but it's a nice option for mobile, on-the-go editing. I could also see Photoshop Express being a nice entry level editor as well.

The one feature missing is RAW image file support. The RAW format is used by many and lacks the in-camera processing JPEG files have. It gives the photographer more control over the image by handling the processing manually. It's not a deal breaker and hopefully this will be a feature added with future updates or maybe as another add-on pack (hint, hint).

Photoshop Express is a free app for your Windows 8 and RT device. You can find Photoshop Express here in the Windows Store.

Thanks, everyone, for the tip!

Last month we reported that the Photoshop.com Mobile beta would be coming this month, and here it is. [via]

When you hear the word "Photoshop" you immediately think photo editing. Let that thought go. Basically what you get here is yet another way to view photos on your phone, upload them to the Cloud and share them with friends. The 5 gigs or free storage we previously reported, however, apparently has shrunk to 2 gigs.

One nice feature, however, is the ability to automatically upload photos from your phone to Photoshop.com, but that certainly could be fraught with danger as well. Once your pics are in the Cloud, you can edit them at Photoshop.com, and from there you can send them to other services, such as Flickr.

The beta currently is only open to the Motorola Q9h and Q9m; Samsung Blackjack I and II; and the Palm Treo 700w/wx and 750w.

If you're already signed up at Photoshop.com, you can go to m.photoshop.com from your phone to download the app. Otherwise, check out the Web site, and be sure to swing by the informative video.

When you think photo editing, usually one name comes to mind. And finally, Photoshop is getting into the mobile game.

In September, Adobe plans to release Photoshop.com Mobile beta, which will work in conjunction with your free Photoshop.com account. From your Windows Mobile device, you'll be able to upload, store, access and share up to 5 gigabytes of photos - $49.99 upgrades you to Photoshop.com Plus and gets you 20 gigs of space. And once your photos are online, you'll be able to edit them in the cloud with Photoshop Express.

The beta will be Windows Mobile specific, at least at first, with the Motorola Q9m and Q9h; Samsung Blackjack I and II, and Palm's Treo 750 and 700w/wx supported.

The iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl, Motorola Razr, Nokia 5310 and 6301 will be able to upload from the ShoZu service later next month.

Via BGR