Create Powerful Images with Photoshop CS4

Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 software provides improved access to its unrivaled power through a more intuitive user experience, greater editing freedom, and significant productivity enhancements.

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Images can be adjusted in half the time
Making several adjustments in Photoshop CS4 using the new Adjustments panel is more than twice as fast than using Adjustment Layers in previous versions to achieve the same results.


Enjoy smoother rotation, panning, and zooming
Simply click and drag to turn your canvas for distortion-free viewing at any angle. Gracefully navigate to any area of an image with ultra-smooth zooming and panning. Photoshop CS4 leverages newer computer processors for dramatic boosts in performance.

Bypass cropping and retouching with intelligent Content-Aware Scaling
Use revolutionary Content-Aware Scaling to automatically recompose an image as you resize it, smartly preserving vital areas as the image adapts to different aspect ratios. Get the perfect image in one step without time-intensive cropping and retouching.

Composite images in seconds for panoramas or extended-focus photos
Automatically stitch horizontal or vertical photos to create seamless panoramas using Photomerge® technology. Combine a series of shots with different focal points into a single color-corrected image with automatic correction for vignettes and lens distortion.

Easily apply localized changes to camera raw images

Make localized changes — even gradient-based adjustments — to camera raw images with ease. Simply paint the area to be affected, and then use sliders to control the change. Corrections are nondestructive, so your original files are maintained in their pristine state.

Find, preview, and manage images with greater efficiency

Discover faster performance and enhanced navigation tools in Adobe Bridge CS4. Operations from startup to handing off of images to Photoshop are faster, and convenient new workspace buttons let you instantly jump to the right display for every task.

There's a solution for pro photographers

Streamlined Photoshop CS4 integration
Enjoy tight integration with Adobe Photoshop software for streamlined use of Smart Objects, panorama stitching, high dynamic range (HDR) functionality, multiple layer workflow, and more. See your edits automatically updated in Lightroom.


Retrace your editing steps
Track the changes you make to a photo in the History panel, which automatically enters easy-to-understand text as you edit. Add set points in the panel at any time so you can instantly return to those versions of the photo.

Automatically apply metadata stamps
Easily apply your preferred metadata settings to photos as you import them.

Easily group photos
Store any number of related photos as a collection by simply giving the group a name or specifying criteria that will automatically include a new photo. Recall your collections with a single click and modify them at any time.


Automatically rename files
Quickly set up naming rules, and then apply them to individual photos or groups. Even apply naming rules automatically on import.

Choose the appropriate view
Quickly browse groups of photos in Grid view. Switch to Compare or Survey view to easily and intuitively narrow down a series of photos to just the one you need. Or use Loupe view to zoom in on the finest detail of any single photo.

Organize effortlessly
Find your photos quickly with powerful yet flexible sorting, selecting, and organizing tools. Automatically import, rename, and sort your entire shoot.


Use suggested keywords
Organize your photos the way that makes sense to you. Just type keywords and apply them to individual or multiple photos. Lightroom can automatically suggest keywords based on previous keyword associations.

Photoshop supports the DNG raw format

The public, archival format for digital camera raw data

Raw file formats are becoming extremely popular in digital photography workflows because they offer creative professionals greater creative control. However, cameras can use many different raw formats — the specifications for which are not publicly available — which means that not every raw file can be read by a variety of software applications. As a result, the use of these proprietary raw files as a long-term archival solution carries risk, and sharing these files across complex workflows is even more challenging.

The solution to this growing problem? The Digital Negative (DNG), a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras. By addressing the lack of an open standard for the raw files created by individual camera models, DNG helps ensure that photographers will be able to access their files in the future.

Within a year of its introduction, several dozen software manufacturers such as Extensis, Canto, Apple, and iView have developed support for DNG. And respected camera manufacturers such as Hasselblad, Leica, Casio, Ricoh, and Samsung have introduced cameras that provide direct DNG support.

The Digital Negative (DNG) was introduced by Adobe in 2004 to help address the lack of a universal format for the raw files generated by digital cameras. As the popularity of the raw workflow has grown, there has been an increasing concern on the part of photographers that they may not have access to their files in the future. Get more information about DNG.

In the last year alone, DNG has gained support from both hardware and software manufacturers alike. Camera manufacturers adopting DNG benefit by knowing their files will be supported by existing software so that customers do not have to wait for software updates. Software vendors supporting DNG benefit by not having to spend valuable resources developing support for the rapidly growing number of raw formats.

In addition to the Digital Negative specification, Adobe provides the free Adobe DNG Converter (Windows® | Mac OS), which easily translates raw files from many of today's popular cameras. Software developers and manufacturers can download the complete DNG Specification (PDF, 852K). DNG is supported by Adobe® Photoshop® CS4, Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS2, Photoshop CS, Photoshop Elements 7.0, Photoshop Elements 6.0, Photoshop Elements 4.0, and Photoshop Elements 3.0 software.

Key benefits
Key benefits for photographers:

==> The DNG format helps promote archival confidence, since digital-imaging software solutions will be able to open your raw files more easily in the future.
==> A single raw processing solution enables a more efficient workflow when handling raw files from multiple camera models and manufacturers.
==> A publicly documented and readily available specification can be easily adopted by camera manufacturers and updated to accommodate future technology changes.

Key benefits for hardware and software manufacturers:

==> DNG removes a potential barrier to new camera adoption, since raw files from new models will be immediately supported by Photoshop and other applications.
==> The DNG format allows for R&D savings by reducing the need to develop new formats and simplifying camera testing.
==> A common format allows for greater control over the quality of conversions by third-party applications.
==> The specification allows for the addition of private metadata to DNG files, enabling differentiation.