As one of the most well-known products in the Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop is the industry standard of graphics editors, used by both novice and professional artists alike to create stunning images, graphics and 3D artwork. Below, explore the benefits of Photoshop, why the product is so popular, how to use it for your business and alternative software options.
What is Photoshop?
Photoshop is software that offers a virtually limitless opportunity to create digital art, from simple social media posts to billboards. The all-in-one tool includes a variety of functions and features for drawing, editing and producing. You can expect these assets in all Photoshop software:
- Content-aware fills to change the color of drawn lines
- Retouching and remixing tools to level up your photography
- Hundreds of brushes for unique digital calligraphy
- Quick-click selections and shape tools
- Collaborative functions to share designs with a team
Photoshop can take time to learn because of the breadth of its functionality. However, Adobe (and many industry professionals) offers resources and step-by-step guides to accomplish a variety of projects. As proof of its usability and popularity, consider this: More than 33 million people around the world are paid subscribers to Adobe Creative, according to ProDesignTools.
Starting at $19.99 per month, a Photoshop subscription includes the software for desktop, iPad and web, Lightroom and 1TB of cloud storage.
What are the benefits of using Photoshop?
Whether you’re in manufacturing, the restaurant industry or automotive sales, your business can likely benefit from using Photoshop.
Complete creative control
Photoshop gives you the ability to customize photos, graphics and more to fit your brand’s specific needs. With style presets, creating consistent brand assets is a breeze. Photoshop supports many file types and invites collaboration, ensuring accessibility to every designer on your team.
Versatility of file types
Photos aren’t the only format Photoshop can handle. While PSD is the master file type, these are some other file formats Photoshop can work with and export:
- Photos: JPEG, TIFF and PNG
- Videos: GIF, MOV, DPX and MPEG-4
- Documents: PDF
Fast editing process
Some people don’t mind dabbling in Photoshop for hours on end. They upload images, edit them, delete them and start all over. They enjoy learning and the creative process. It’s about the journey ― not necessarily the finished product ― and how they can apply new skills to future projects.
However, your creative needs might be time-sensitive and some design professionals don’t have hours to edit one photo. Fortunately, Photoshop allows you to edit images in a fast and efficient environment. The more experience you have, the faster you can move. The software also has preset filters, brushes and layers to expedite retouching. These tools also come in handy for beginners.
Photoshop courses
You can learn Photoshop in a formal or informal environment. Can the same be said for its competitors? Definitely not. For example, many colleges and universities throughout the United States offer Photoshop courses.
If attending an institution of higher education doesn’t suit your budget, schedule or inclination, many online resources can help you learn this software. Here are a few to consider:
- Udemy
- Alison
- LinkedIn Learning
- KelbyOne
- PhotoshopCAFE
These types of courses help keep Photoshop relevant. The more people who understand and fall in love with the software, the more likely it is that it will stay relevant in the future. It also gives Adobe an incentive to keep upgrading the platform and innovating.
Professional results at a fraction of the cost
Photoshop can turn a beginner into an expert in no time at all. As with anything, there is a learning curve, but you’ll become proficient in it eventually. This can impact your budget positively. If you don’t need to spend money on outside design help or in-house photo editors, you can allocate those funds to another area in your business.
While there will always be individuals and companies that have the money to hire a professional design firm, there will also be those who are interested in doing the job themselves. This generates a greater sense of accomplishment while also saving money. As long as Photoshop allows users to produce professional results at an affordable price, it will remain in demand among businesses and individuals alike.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) photo editing
Powered by Adobe Firefly, Photoshop has introduced generative AI tools that allow users to easily create and customize content. These tools make it simple to add, remove or alter elements, including changing entire background images, to craft the perfect product in less time.
Key features like the Refine Hair tool reduce the manual effort needed to edit hair in photos while the Generative Expand tool lets you extend the size of images beyond their original dimensions. Further, the Generative Fill tool enables you to add new content to an image by selecting where you’d like to add an element and then describing it for the program to generate. Additional tools include Match Font, Preserve Details 2.0 for resizing images and the Curvature Pen, all of which enable you to expand your content’s potential uses and boost creativity.
How can businesses use Photoshop?
There are so many ways to use Photoshop for your business ― regardless of your company’s field ― even if you don’t have a professional designer on your team. The only limitation is your imagination.
Social media graphics
Restaurants often use Photoshop to create eye-catching graphics and GIFs to share in social media campaigns. The software’s customizable canvas sizes and easy exports convert artboards automatically to JPEG format before sharing on social platforms. Photoshop also enables users to create social graphics from photos or draw on a blank canvas with shapes, brushes and pens. [Are you editing JPEG photos? Learn how to compress JPEG images.]
In addition, Photoshop enables you to create data-driven graphics by importing a data set and defining and renaming variables. An image that uses numbers is a great way to catch people’s attention as they scroll through their social media feeds.
Video editing
Video marketing should be a key part of your web content strategy. With Photoshop, you don’t have to hire a professional videographer; you can rest assured that your in-house editor has the right tools. You get these powerful video editing capabilities with the software:
- Basic video and animation layer editing
- Creating frame animations
- Creating images for videos
- Adjusting audio tracks
- Including video transitions
- Applying filters to video layers
Users can export their edited videos in three different formats: Digital Picture Exchange (DPX), H.264 (MPEG-4) and QuickTime (MOV).
