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Macworld reviews Adobe Photoshop CS6: Dazzles with technical prowess and artistic inspiration

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 · 10:16 am · 34 Comments

“Software upgrades come and go but the newest version of Adobe’s flagship image editor, Photoshop CS6, makes you sit up and take notice. This release sports a darker interface (its first new paint job in more than 20 years), a noticeably faster graphics engine, and some amazing new features that promise to improve the productivity of professional designers and photographers alike,” Lesa Snider reports for Macworld.

“Photoshop CS6 is overflowing with new features and productivity enhancements,” Snider reports. “The auto-save feature plus the blur filters alone are worth the upgrade price and the Camera Raw enhancements produce better-looking images faster than ever before. If you dabble in video, CS6 relieves you of the burden and expenditure of learning another program just for video-editing. If you don’t work with 3D, medical imaging, or quantitative analysis, you should be fine with Photoshop CS6, which will save you $300 off the price of the extended version.”

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Snider reports, “Regardless, if you’re a professional designer or photographer, you simply can’t afford to miss this upgrade.”

Read the full review here.

Categories: Review

Tags: Adobe, CS6, Photoshop, Photoshop CS6, Photoshop CS6 review, review

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Comment Feed

34 Comments

progressiveagentprovocateur

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 10:25 am · Reply

Adobe also issued a pile of security patched for CS 5.5 and 6 this morning.
3l3c7ro

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 10:45 am · Reply

Wow, an article that contains two things I can’t stand: Adobe who betrayed Apple, unleashed Flash and Macworld who are shills for Adobe and countless stupid shields for Gorilla glass iDevices.
- mac user 47
  
  Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 11:02 am · Reply
  
  You might feel better by going outside more often. Also, Adobe didn’t unleash Flash – it was alive and ubiquitous well before Adobe / Macromedia blobbed together.
  - 3l3c7ro
    
    Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 11:44 am · Reply
    
    Sorry, I now admit that Adobe has nothing to do with propagating the use of Flash and Flash is a completely great product and you are the master of knowledge.
    
    I thought Adobe had a choice of which product they kept when they bought Macromedia; theirs or the other.
  - 2ndmate
    
    Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 11:48 am · Reply
    
    Sure, but that does not excuse the behavior of all those Adobe types in trying to squeeze every last dollar out of that piece of fading technology, in taking forever to make it work on mobile devices, in spreading FUD and jackhammering HTML5 proponents, in frothing up the water with hate blogging, and let us not forget the years they sat up there giving the finger to Apple users.
- Cubert
  
  Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 7:31 pm · Reply
  
  I look at it this way – I’m glad a major piece of software is released for OS X that is feature-for-feature on par with its Winblows release. You may hate Adobe, but their renewed (OK, very relatively renewed) interest in the Mac platform should be celebrated and not condemned.
  
  On that note, fsck Flash and may it die a horrible death burned at the stake like an LSD-raddled pilgrim!!!
  - Cubert
    
    Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 7:35 pm · Reply
    
    Ugh…”very relatively recently renewed” and “LSD-raddled pilgrim at Salem.”
Pr

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 10:57 am · Reply

Wow! You mean I get to endlessly rent software from Adobe now?

I cannot imagine a set of features, a speed improvement, or a design that would make that worth it .
- tbone
  
  Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 11:23 am · Reply
  
  I don’t think they mean you. Adobe is more interested in licenses in design depts. etc.
  
  Adobe has a problem that other makers of mature software face. How do you introduce compelling new features to a saturated market and encourage upgrades. many users don’t upgrade their photoshop version if they find the tools get the job done for them.
  
  The other problem they have is that the majority of photoshop seats don’t rely on the innovation and growth of features. Much of the work in the average production house can be accomplished with elder versions of the software.
  
  The subscription model is an attempt to stabilize cash-flow
  so that the revenue model can avoid the spikes and dips when a new version is released.
  - Adam
    
    Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 11:48 am · Reply
    
    An insightful reply, but I just can’t help thinking that Adobe is being a bit greedy rather than just wanting a stable cash flow. The deal breaker for me is the fact that they’re getting rid of upgrade pricing for all but the most recent version at the end of this year.
    
    That tells me that they’re trying to force people onto the ‘rental’ model so they can then have a free reign to hike subscription prices whenever they like, knowing full well that cloud members won’t be able to afford to switch to the full ‘boxed’ version.
    - G4Dualie
      
      Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 4:34 pm · Reply
      
      To bad your response fell flat, when you resorted to guessing.
      - Adam
        
        Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 8:40 am · Reply
        
        Did you mean “too” bad? You should probably learn how to spell, instead of resorting to guessing.
        
        Zender G
        
        Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 8:42 am · Reply
        
        Haha, got him! Nice.
        
        G4Dualie
        
        Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 12:39 pm · Reply
        
        Yeah, I’ll bet you proof read your comment ten times before you posted, right?
        
        I misspell words a lot! But the truth is Adam, I’d rather be cited for improper spelling than being derivative. tbone doesn’t know what Adobe is doing any more than you or I, especially after he said, “Adobe is more interested in licenses in design depts. etc.”
        
        That is NOT what Adobe is doing here. EVERY license is important, not just the licenses offered to the design houses of Madison Avenue.
        
        Adobe is the process of locking out the millions of leeches who are earning their livings off the backs of those who actually pay for the software.
        
        In that respect, I cheer Adobe! How can anyone survive with millions of leeches clinging to you, forcing you into business decisions that are harmful but necessary going forward.
        
        In the end, Adobe will have a secure relationship with those who appreciate their software and service and they’ll do it in the same manner as Apple; give them the hardware and they have to use your software!
        
        As we speak, on the pirate bay, Photoshop 6 extended has 1449 seeders and 235 leechers.
        
        1684 people who are getting PS6 for free might be interested in “renting” when they can no longer get upgrades from the torrents.
        
        Adam
        
        Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 2:21 pm · Reply
        
        You’re taking this all very seriously, do you work for Adobe or something? It’s just a friendly debate, no need for hostility!
        
        I agree with your stance about software piracy. I am one of the customers who has given a lot of money to Adobe over the decades and never used a pirated copy.
        
        But just because I have the same concerns as others, doesn’t mean I’m being “derivative” as you put it. I reserve the right to be suspicious of the motives of any big company, particularly one with Adobe’s track record.
        
        G4Dualie
        
        Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 10:30 pm ·
        
        There’s no debate. There wasn’t even your opinion, just you proffering some paranoid scheme to lock people into a scam.
        
        We hear it time and time again here at MDN, so yes, you are derivative.
        
        I am serious, where the truth is concerned. If you’re concerned then join MDN and seriously, think about buying a share of Adobe stock so that you can attend all the shareholder’s meetings!
  - dancamera
    
    Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 11:48 am · Reply
    
    Then you make it faster and innovate… Apple does it… Not many others do… But Adobe should be leading by example. Especially when I have to pay 6-800 every year or 2 for their upgrades.
- Chris Barczys
  
  Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 10:42 am · Reply
  
  Adobe Creative Cloud gives you access to EVERY CS6 app Adobe makes. We are not just talking about Photoshop here. To buy all the same capabilities I’d have to pay $2600/user. It will take 52 months at $50/month to equal that initial $2600 cost! That’s over 4 years. I can see tons of benefits for both users & small businesses. Here’s a couple. A one man ad shop gets a call from a client asking if they can do a 2 minute web video. They can now answer yes since they have access to Premiere. Or a starving student taking any art/design class can spend $225 for a semesters use. For $225 you can’t buy the student/teacher version of Photoshop let alone the ENTIRE CS MASTER SUITE. I’m not saying it’s perfect, or that it’s for everyone. Personally I’d like to see a couple of different packages/price points. For example I personally need Photoshop, Illustrator, & Acrobat. It would be nice to pay $10-15/month for access to just those 3 apps. Or an a la carte plan. Take a look at what they are offering, do the math & see if it works for you.
  - G4Dualie
    
    Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 12:58 pm · Reply
    
    @ dancamera Adobe is leading by every metric available. The lead by example; everyone else copies.
    
    Besides, making it faster and more innovative costs more, as evidenced by every upgrade since 1991.
    
    It will take 52 months at $50/month to equal that initial $2600 cost! That’s over 4 years.
    
    This is the most salient point in your comment. The cost spread over a period of months, instead of a lump sum up front is most agreeable to many business owners, so what’s not to like?
DJ

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 12:02 pm · Reply

I’m working with the beta right now -

1 Dark grey interface gloomy beyond redemption.
2 Auto-save unwanted and unnecessary.
3 Built-in video ditto.
4 It’s lost the most useful ‘Variations’ adjustment.
5 At least you can still ‘save as’ – Halleluyah!

Overall though, despite all the bells and whistles, as a process tool, it’s no better than CS2, which I will keep on a second machine.

Actually, thinking about it, CS6 v CS2 has some similarities with Lion vs Leopard. Lion has all sorts of nice stuff, but as a pure process tool, it leaves a lot to be desired, often needing several clicks where just one did the trick before.

And it’s slow with Preview, and uber-glitchy with TextEdit.
- PR
  
  Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 2:18 pm · Reply
  
  Thanks for confirming that Preview and TextEdit are glitchy and bad…The loss of Save As under Lion is truly incomprehensible and yes, I’ve read all the reason “why it makes sense”…but as you can see…even Adobe gets why you need it. They retained it and gave you a tool, like “versions’ in Lion that you can spend all your free time combing through to find that one change..you all have lots of time to do that right? ….The problem for Adobe is that no amount of innovation AT THIS POINT in image processing would make sense to justify the pricing model of “rented software”… If they had introduced it, made it modest cost and done so prior to adjustment layers, the healing brush and also integrated an ongoing list of improvements (some of which could be optional)…they might have succeeded. But to my mind, this will never fly.
- G4Dualie
  
  Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 4:36 pm · Reply
  
  4 It’s lost the most useful ‘Variations’ adjustment.
  
  Really? I thought that feature was for amateurs.
  - Richard Hardening
    
    Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 4:59 pm · Reply
    
    Nah, its useful for amateurs and season pros like you too.
    - G4Dualie
      
      Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 5:18 pm · Reply
      
      I don’t think so. Variations on the Color wheel that use your images to arrive at a satisfactory-looking version is a novelty way past prime.
botvinnik

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 12:36 pm · Reply

I have 40 years in graphic design & illustration business and I gotta admit, as much as I loathe Adobe’s prices, CS6 is a vast improvement.Very intuitive, practically disappears so you just think design.
auramac

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 3:05 pm · Reply

I simply can’t afford Adobe products anyway. What mostly concerns me is the negative feedback regarding Lion, which I’ve thus avoided. I hope Mountain Lion is more… “likeable.”
euroguy

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 9:15 pm · Reply

Adobe is lazy, but Nikon is even worse. They stopped making scanners so people who shot film with their cameras are now high and dry and they won’t even bother to write software for the scanners they once made. Nikon really sucks.
- G4Dualie
  
  Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 1:03 pm · Reply
  
  You bought a scanner from Nikon? Why, because they make such good cameras?
  - DFB
    
    Friday, May 11, 2012 - 2:06 am · Reply
    
    Wow, you are one hostile individual. Take a pill or something. People are just trying to have a reasonable discussion here, and you have to resort to sneering and name calling.
    
    Get some social skills, and drop the arrogance. You must be a nightmare to be around.
    - G4Dualie
      
      Friday, May 11, 2012 - 2:23 am · Reply
      
      Eat shit. I singled him out because he brought up Nikon and scanners, how is that on topic?
      
      Ignore me if you know what’s best for you, k cupcake? Because I’ll eat your lunch and slap your boyfriend around.
      - DFB
        
        Friday, May 11, 2012 - 2:57 am · Reply
        
        Bring it on little boy, my boyfriend is looking forward to meeting you.
      - euroguy
        
        Friday, May 11, 2012 - 4:23 am · Reply
        
        Wow, u r angry. Not getting any, r u? ha ha ha.
        U r such loser, ha ha ha
    - G4Dualie
      
      Friday, May 11, 2012 - 2:32 am · Reply
      
      Also, I am having a bad day, my legs are useless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      - DFB
        
        Friday, May 11, 2012 - 3:00 am · Reply
        
        The rest of you isn’t a whole lot better.