The main reason why features don’t exist that you may think are obvious needs, is that Adobe doesn’t know that it’s a needed feature. If 100 people ask for a feature, then that gets their attention, but if only one person asks, it simply won’t carry the same weight of the frequently requested features.

I suggest that if there are features that you want, that you let Adobe know. You can do this by posting to the Adobe Photoshop Feature Request Forum. You’ll have to register to post, but it’s relatively painless.

What about finding solutions to problems you are having? Again, Adobe can’t fix a problem without knowing that it exists. They have a Photoshop Macintosh Forum, and a Photoshop Windows Forum.

Use these forums to let Adobe know what you’d like, what’s working and what’s not working. Another great resource is John Nack’s Blog. John is the Principal Product Manager for Photoshop at Adobe. He frequently asks readers of his blog for feedback on features. Keep an eye on his blog, and provide him with feedback when he asks for it in addition to posting on the forums listed above. If we don’t let Adobe know what we want, then we can only blame ourselves if we don’t get those features.

The first step is to determine which images to use (or eliminate). I frequently use Adobe Bridge for this. I set up Bridge in the Filmstrip workspace. If I need to compare two or three images to decide which I will use for the final comparison, I select multiple images and use the loupe tool to compare details. The loupe tool provides a 100, 200, 400, or 800 percent magnification of a portion of each image in the Preview panel. Just click on an image in this panel to activate the loupe, click and drag it to move it, click it again to close it. You can display one loupe on each image in the Preview panel, as shown here:

This image shows two images in Bridge with the loupe tool.

Once the images are selected, they can be opened into Photoshop for comparison.

If the images are of the same resolution and approximately the same cropping, then they can be synchronized for zooming and scrolling. Do this by choosing the “Zoom all Windows” and “Scroll all Windows” in the options for the Zoom and Hand tools. Now, if you tile the images side-by-side, and zoom, both images will zoom; scroll one, and the other will scroll as well.

A new blank layer can be added to each image and marks can be made on that blank layer to indicate various features. Multiple layers can be used to better separate different categories of features, etc. With the Extended version of Photoshop CS3 or CS4, the Count tool can be used to mark features.

G

Two of the most obvious changes for forensics users are the missing Contact Sheet and the Layer Comps to PDF features. The Contact Sheet feature can be downloaded from Adobe for the Mac or Windows and installed into CS4, so there’s no need to panic. You can also create contact sheets with some greater capabilities using the Output workspace in Bridge. And, the Contact Sheet X script written by X Bytor works in CS4. Regarding Layer Comps to PDF – well, that will just take two steps now – first, use Layer Comps to Files, then create a one image per page contact sheet with the results.

Another obvious change is in the interface – Photoshop will now open images as tabs, similar to web browsers. Some users seem to love this, and it drives others crazy. I’m one of the ones who prefers the old method. To get rid of the tabs view, choose the Interface Preference and uncheck the “Open Documents as Tabs” and the “Enable Floating Document…” check boxes. You’ll be back to the way things were.

How about that Adjustments panel? This is new, as is the Masks panel. These make it easier to create adjustment layers and to modify masks. There is no need to go to the Layers panel, click on the Adjustment Layers icon, choose the type of adjustment layer you want, make your settings, then click an OK button. Now you can just select the type of adjustment in the Adjustment panel, make your settings, and you’re done. Note that it’s best to keep the Adjustment Panel and the Layers panel staggered on two different columns and at different heights so that they don’t cover each other when bouncing back and forth between them.

CS4 also added Smart Filters. This provides similar capabilities of Adjustment Layers to Filters. If you first convert your image to a Smart Object, you can apply filters and re-edit them, just as you can an Adjustment Layer.

There are a handful of other differences between CS3 and CS4 – but these are the significant ones for forensics users. That said, one of the best places to learn about many things Photoshop is from John Nack’s excellent blog. John is senior product manager for Photoshop and he frequently posts great information about changes to Photoshop, and he asks users for feedback. John even takes criticism of Photoshop well – as shown in his post to my comparing Photoshop to the Johnny Cash song, “One Piece at a Time.” I read John’s blog every morning when starting my day.

I’ll post a Photoshop tip now and then here. If anyone has any questions about a feature or method, post a comment and I’ll try to address it.

G