October 09, 2008

i can't wait to see how newsrooms use the new photoshop

Content-scaling

So the one jaw-droppingly amazing feature in the new version of Photoshop has to be content aware scaling, where you can resize an image without squishing or stretching the important pixels.

You have to see it to believe it, so here are a couple of videos: one from Russell Brown (direct link to a reasonably large mov file, via swissmiss), and one from lynda.com (YouTube; faster to load but lower res and lower impact); or you can just check out the features page on Adobe’s website.

Personally, I can’t wait to see how newsrooms and photo editors take advantage of this new capability. Just imagine the possibilities…

  • Is that explosion too far away from the guy who just threw the molotov cocktail, and you want both of them in the frame? It’s now easier than ever to move them closer together.
  • Want to highlight the “distance” between two candidates at a debate? Just slide them farther apart!
  • Want to suggest impropriety between a politician and an intern? Easy! Click and drag and they might as well be sharing a cigar.

I love living in the future, don’t you?