Others say...

"Poweful and Perplexing"
There is no doubt that Adobe Photoshop 7 is an extremely powerful tool well suited to the needs of professionals. It has the capabilities of doing things with raster images which are simple amazing for someone like me who is at the Etch-a-sketch level of development. That being said, it is also a particularly frustrating tool for someone like me to try and use. Perhaps this is because it is complex beyond my needs and desires but it also has something to do with the infuriating user interface.

I am not particularly interested in doing graphic art work. I just need it sometimes. So it is that I was fairly resistant to learning the program. In time, though, I did need its capabilities. I just hated wading through the Adobe interface. I have the same problem with PageMaker; it is me, not the program.....usually.

Photoshop is extremely capable. It is also pricy. I would venture to say that unless you need all of the advanced capabilities, you could do better with another package. I like the Macromedia Fireworks interface. Still, Photoshop leads the pack. It is the standard. It is a status that has been earned. I just wish the interface was more intuitive and simple.


"Worth the bucks"
This is definitley the coolest program I have ever used! when you learn what you want/need to know, it becomes fun and easy to use! One of the best programs out there, especially if you need to restore an old photograph.

"NO SERIAL #"
When I try to instill I try to all a serial # the warning informed me that this software cannot instill bacause of too hits. I recived on 3/16/05. what to do.

"The KING of image editing"
For Photographers: I humbly consider myself a weekend shutterbug, and thanks to Photoshop I'm a much better photographer then I actually am :-)

Every wanna-be photographer such as myself has taken a photo that you just KNEW was going to a masterpiece, only to discover it was somewhat of a flop. Enter the magic of Photoshop. Once you've got your photograph imported into Photoshop you are limited only my imagination. Brighten or change your colors, change the overall hues, remove distracting objects from the background, sharpen the entire image or just a small selection, play with the saturation and contrast, crop, shrink, enlarge... the possibilities are endless.

Or, if you want to get more into the advanced aspects of Photoshop you can, with a little playing and learning, learn how to use some of the effects to make images that would never be possible with just a camera. Create fantasy images, digital renditions of your imagination, metallic chrome lettering, that transparent "plastic" look that Apple made famous, etc. etc. etc.

For website designers: While photography is a weekend hobby, building websites is how I pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Every site begins in Photoshop where I create three or four screenshots from which a client may select their future web site. I honestly don't know how anyone could making a living in this industry without being a semi-master at Photoshop. Once you learn how, it's remarkably easy to put together screen shots with the depth and pazaz that all web surfers have come to expect.

There are a couple subtle features in 7.0 that I don't see any other reviews have mentioned. Yes, the Healing Brush is wicked cool and I use it a TON in photo touchup, but I hardly touch it when designing web pages. What I find massively useful is the improved ability to make text look professional.

Previous versions often made text look choppy and would put funny spacing between letters. Until v7.0 it wasn't possible to copy text from another application and paste into Photoshop, or vise-versa. The spell checker is a god-send. And it also gives you the ability to easily and quickly do fun effects with your text like bending, warping, and twisting without having to rasterize it into a non-text layer.

If you have never used a previous version you should be aware that there is a very steep learning curve. Nothing about Photoshop is, at first, easy or intuitive. But there is a wealth of books out there to help you learn, and in a short time you can learn the basic bells and whistles and be on your way to fancy photo editing or fun web design.

It is such a massively powerful application that I'm curious to see how they will make it even better in v8.0.

"Great!"
I had the free trial and just HAD to get the program after my free trial ended! You can create stuff the eye cant even create. I went from horrible to GREAT! I got this product after the free trial and now I am pro! Anybody who doesnt like this program is just flat out stupid! I recomend this!