Adobe Photoshop Review

When it comes to image editing software, Adobe Photoshop has been the industry standard for more than three decades. Since its first release in 1990, Photoshop has been the go-to tool for photographers, designers, and artists who want to enhance and manipulate images with precision and creativity. But with the rise of new players in the market and the emergence of cloud-based platforms, is Adobe Photoshop still the best option in 2023? In this Adobe Photoshop Review, we’ll take a closer look at its features, pros, and cons, and help you decide if it’s still the most reliable and powerful image editing software out there.

What is Adobe Photoshop?

Adobe Photoshop is a software application developed by Adobe Inc. that enables users to edit and manipulate digital images. It offers a wide range of tools and features that allow users to enhance, retouch, and create images with precision and creativity. Photoshop is available for both Windows and macOS, and it’s widely used in industries such as graphic design, photography, and web design.

Features of Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop offers a wide range of features that enable users to create and manipulate images with precision and creativity. Some of its most notable features include:

• Layers: Photoshop allows users to work with layers, which are like transparent sheets that can be stacked on top of each other. This makes it easier to make edits and adjustments without affecting the original image.
• Selection tools: Photoshop offers a variety of selection tools that enable users to isolate and work on specific parts of an image.
• Retouching tools: Photoshop has a range of retouching tools that enable users to remove blemishes, wrinkles, and other imperfections from photos.
• Filters and effects: Photoshop has a wide range of filters and effects that can be applied to images to create unique and creative looks.
• Creative tools: Photoshop offers a variety of creative tools, such as brushes and drawing tools, that enable users to create digital artwork.

Functioning through layers

In Photoshop you can also apply each of the changes directly over the base image you imported, but its strength lies in the editing through layers.

As you create layers over the base image, you can edit each layer separately. Adjust the colors and light in a layer. Change the eye color on another layer. Remove unwanted objects on a third layer, and so on. This way, if at any time you want to modify, enhance, or even remove a particular change, just select the corresponding layer and work on it, without affecting the others. 

Another benefit of layers is that you can take advantage of their overlapping quality, making the upper layer blend with the lower one and creating unique effects of gradient, blur, texture, and more.

Some graphic editing programs have tried to simulate this same layer function, but none yet achieve the same results with the beauty, subtlety, and efficiency of Adobe Photoshop.

Object transformation

In most image editors you can put and remove objects on the images, resize them, rotate them, and sometimes reduce the opacity, but in Photoshop you can not only do all this but go even further and transform the objects as you like.

In Adobe Photoshop you can, for example, make a completely straight and inanimate flag look wavy and in motion simulation since its transformation tools allow multiple drag points.

Blurring tools

The 2020 version of Adobe Photoshop has an artificial intelligence called Adobe Sensei that helps the user to perfect most of the changes and particularly achieves impressive improvements in-depth and blur.

Adobe Photoshop is now able to detect which objects are farther away or closer in the photo and allows you to decide at what depth in the image you want to create a blur effect, allowing you to make corrections or enhancements in focus that you have not achieved with your camera.

Pros of Adobe Photoshop

• Wide range of features: Photoshop offers a wide range of tools and features that enable users to create and manipulate images with precision and creativity.
• Industry standard: Photoshop is the industry standard for image editing software, and it’s widely used in industries such as graphic design, photography, and web design.
• Compatibility: Photoshop is compatible with both Windows and macOS, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
• Integration with other Adobe products: Photoshop integrates seamlessly with other Adobe products, such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign.

Cons of Adobe Photoshop

• Steep learning curve: Photoshop can be overwhelming for beginners, and it takes time to master its features and tools.
• High cost: Photoshop is a premium product, and its pricing plans can be expensive for individual users.
• Requires powerful hardware: To run Photoshop smoothly, users need a computer with high processing power and graphics capabilities.

Adobe Photoshop Review | Steep learning curve

What scares many enthusiasts of photo editing or graphic design is that Adobe Photoshop has a gigantic amount of options, tools, menus, and sub-menus that can be overwhelming if you are a beginner.

There is no denying that, in order to make good use of Adobe Photoshop, it is essential to spend several days and even weeks learning its functions, exploring its features, and testing it.

But there is one positive aspect that other software does not have: Adobe Photoshop is the most widely used graphic editing software worldwide, so you will find plenty of tips, video tutorials, guides, blogs, and help websites that will accompany you in your learning process and make everything easier, paid and free, for all levels and in all languages. All you need is a little time and good encouragement to learn.

Adobe Photoshop Review | A free trial

Like its competitors, Adobe also offers a Photoshop free 7-day trial for users, but this trial comes with a payment commitment from the 8th day, so choose carefully the package you actually need. 

The payment for Adobe Photoshop (and any program of the adobe suite) is monthly, they do not offer lifetime payments. Adobe allows you to build your package with several programs instead of just one, and usually, these “combos” are cheaper than paying for each program separately. 

If you are a student or teacher, take advantage of the 60% discount offered by Adobe to purchase the entire Creative Cloud Suite. 

How does Adobe Photoshop compare to other image editing software?

While Photoshop is still the industry standard, there are many other image editing software options available in 2023. Here are some of the most notable alternatives to Photoshop:

• GIMP: GIMP is a free and open-source image editing software that offers many of the same features as Photoshop.
• CorelDRAW: CorelDRAW is a popular vector graphics software that also offers image editing tools.
• Affinity Photo: Affinity Photo is a powerful image editing software that offers a similar range of features as Photoshop at a lower cost.
• Lightroom: Lightroom is a photo management and editing software that is often used by photographers.

While these software options can offer some of the same features as Photoshop, they may not have the same level of integration, compatibility, and industry recognition that Photoshop has.

FAQs about Adobe Photoshop

Final thoughts

After conducting this Adobe Photoshop review, it’s clear that Photoshop is still the most powerful and reliable image editing software available in 2023. While it may have a high cost and a steep learning curve, its wide range of features, industry recognition and compatibility make it the go-to tool for photographers, designers, and artists. However, users who are looking for a lower-cost alternative may want to consider options such as Affinity Photo or GIMP. Ultimately, the choice of image editing software depends on the user’s needs, budget, and level of expertise.