Adobe Photoshop Cs3 Functions

Photoshop Creative Suite 3 (CS3) is a graphic design and photography software application that Adobe Systems Inc. released in 2007. The application allows users on Mac OS and Windows operating systems to edit and enhance photographs, computer graphics and other digital imagery. The specific functions that Photoshop CS3 can provide are numerous, but several key features stand out.

Layering

Users of Adobe Photoshop CS3 have the ability to click and drag images over or under other images within a single editing screen. This function, known as layering, is essential for tasks such as creating posters and fliers, which often require multiple visual elements to be placed on top of background images. Once a Photoshop CS3 user is satisfied with the arrangement of his layering, he can select to flatten all of the different layers of onscreen images, compressing the different layers into a single, exportable image.

Color and Filter Adjustments

Adobe Photoshop CS3 provides brightness, contrast, saturation and hue adjustment functions. These functions refer to the overall lightness of an image, the difference between an image's darkest dark and lightest light colors, the intensity of an image's color and the discernible color of an image, respectively. Users adjust brightness, contrast, saturation and hue by using sliding controls in CS3's Adjustments menu. In addition to adjusting image color, users of Photoshop CS3 can adjust an image's filter, or the lens through which an image is seen. Filter examples include "Lens Flare," which disperses light across an image, and "Chalk & Charcoal," which causes an image to look like a chalk and charcoal drawing.

Cropping

Cropping refers to the cutting away of unnecessary or unwanted areas of images. Apart from its basic cropping tool, which allows users to crop rectangular sections of images, Adobe Photoshop CS3 also provides two, more sophisticated cropping tools: the Magnetic Lasso and the Magic Wand. While the Magnetic Lasso allows users to crop areas of images that share clearly defined edges or boundaries, the Magic Wand allows users to crop areas of images that share specific color values.

Adding Paint, Shapes and Text

In addition to manipulating the original elements of images, users of Adobe Photoshop CS3 can incorporate new elements into images. With its painting tools, users can draw or "paint" designs freehand in a variety of colors and line thicknesses. One tool, the Color Fill tool, allows users to fill in large sections of an image with specific colors. For more controlled artistic additions, Photoshop CS3 provides shape tools, which allow users to control the dimensions, thickness and color of a variety of on-screen shapes. CS3's text tool allows users to add captions and other types of text to images. Users can control text color, font, style and size.

References

• PCMag.com: Adobe Photoshop CS3
• University of Wisconsin: How to Use: Adobe Photoshop CS3