Technology Explained, Practice
Daniela Bowker
Resolution and pixels and image quality! Oh my! ...

When you hear the term 'high-res' thrown about with such abandon when it comes to images for web use, have you ever stopped to think just how big or how high quality and image meant for the web needs to be?

Resolution and pixels and image quality! Oh my! Saving images for the web
Feature Articles, Photography Theory
Haje Jan Kamps
Low-contrast photographs don't have to be boring

There's an assumption that high-contrast images are more dynamic, more compelling, more inviting. Have a go at some low-contrast photography. You might surprise yourself with the results.

Low-contrast photographs don't have to be boring
Feature Articles, Theory
Daniela Bowker
Seeking balance in your photos

Balance doesn't mean symmetry; it means an internal consistency and tension within your photos. And it's a vital element of composition. 

Seeking balance in your photos
Feature Articles, Photography Theory
Haje Jan Kamps
Training your photographic luck

Great photos might be down to a little bit of luck, but most of that 'luck' you make yourself. Don't believe us? Read on...

Training your photographic luck
Feature Articles, Practice
Daniela Bowker
The ups and downs and ins and outs of ...

Photographing buildings doesn't have to mean wide-angle lenses and fretting about correcting for the keystone effect. Any lens, and angle. Don't believe us? Let us show you!

The ups and downs and ins and outs of photographing buildings

colour picker

New features for Photoshop


There have been rumours floating around for a little while that Adobe was about to unveil Retina support in Photoshop; those have been confirmed today, along with some other new features for Creative Cloud subscribers.

Whether you have a Photoshop licence or a subscription to Creative Cloud, there's an update available to provide support for HiDPI displays.

If you're a Creative Cloud member your update will also enable to following:

  • Smart Object support in the Blur gallery and with the liquify feature
  • The ability to quickly export CSS code for text and objects as well as import colour swatches to help design incredible websites more easily
  • Crop tool refinements and other timesaving features in the workflow
  • 3D enhancements including improved live previews of shadow effects and additional control over illumination using 32-bit colour picker to create glow effects
  • Conditional Actions that automatically select the appropriate action based on user-defined rules, giving users enhanced image processing speed.

There have also been some updates to Creative Cloud as a whole as well as other Creative Cloud products, not just its Photoshop features. You can now subscribe to Creative Cloud on a team basis; Creative Cloud Connection allows for desktop synching, a la Dropbox; and there's also Creative Cloud Training, which provides members with a library of tutorials and trial courses.

If you're not like one of the one million people already subscribed to Creative Cloud, an annual subscription comes in at £38.12 a month (excluding VAT). Creative Cloud for teams is more expensive whilst there are discounts for for students, teachers, and existing Adobe customers with CS3 or later.

Offering Photoshop updates to Creative Cloud subscribers before they're rolled out to stand-alone licence-holders is clearly a perk of the package, but there's been no indication when these new features (barring the retina support) will be rolled out to everyone. Combined with the discount for CS3+ licence holders, I'm intrigued to see if this is the beginning of a steady enforced obsoletion of the individual package, and a move to a subscription-only package.

Something to keep an eye on.