Photoshop Product Managers Zorana Gee Bryan O’Neil Hughes

Adobe released a public beta of Adobe Photoshop CS6 just in time for Photoshop World and I was fortunate to be able to ask two of the people behind Photoshop, Product Managers Bryan O’Neil Hughes and Zorana Gee about the release.

So thank you for the great public beta! Why release it publicly?
Zorana explains, ” a lot of people like Photoshop and we wanted to give them a chance to play with it. We want them to use it and give us feedback.” I then asked about their favorite feature in Photoshop. “Can I give you two?” she asks, “In Photoshop CS6 my favorite feature is the Blur Gallery in Filters. Not so much because of what the effects actually do to an image, but mainly the cool and fun way you can interact with the blur effects the on-screen widgets, the in-canvas usability of it. For Photoshop CS6 extended, my favorite feature is with 3D the fact that we consolidated fourteen 3D tools into one single tool, the Move Tool that everyone is familiar with. So now you don’t have finagle with the Camera Tool, Mesh Tool, the Light Tool, etc. it’s just one tool the Move Tool. You can click on at object and it moves that object!”


Next up was Bryan’s favorite feature. “For me it’s video.” Bryan explains, “I was heavily involved in six waves of research going all the way back to looking at what we offered in CS3 extended and seeing how that was relevant To a large group of people that between Premiere Elements and Premiere Pro that are struggling to figure out what to do with all this video content on their IPhone and DSLR. So we really wanted to introduce something that has ease-of-use with Photoshop power. So that is very close to my heart and I think it’s one of the most misunderstood parts of CS6 but for the people who use it and get it, it’s very exciting.”

I then asked Bryan where he sees the product’s future in our industry. “As far as where I see the product going, in our 22 years into this thing it’s only the second time we’ve done a public beta. When we do a public beta and everyone can suddenly use Photoshop for free, it makes the whole thing moot about ‘I can’t afford it’, it’s much more than just a trial. People can download, they play around and work with it. A lot has changed between the CS3 and CS6 public beta. CS3 was the first time we went into verticals like architecture, video, and 3D. We’ve gone so far beyond that now. In that time suddenly everyone has a camera in their pocket, so Photoshop means something to everyone in one way or another. So my real hope with it is that more new users find it. People who have played around with the tablet application or the consumer app and decide to go further with the pro app because for the first time they can just download and use it.”

A huge thank you to both Bryan and Zorana for taking some time out of entire busy Photoshop World schedule to share some insights with us!

FREE Expo Pass for Photoshop World

If you are in the DC area- don’t forget to download your FREE expo pass to Photoshop World and see all the great vendors. Show hours are Monday 9:00 am — 1:00 pm in Expo Hall A. Be sure to bring your pass to the booth in front of the hall.

Steam punk Abraham Lincoln

Until 1:45 today stop in at the Wescott Booth to see Russell Brown from Adobe as “Steamounk Abraham Lincoln”!

Taking A Look at the Wacom Intuous 5

One of the many big names on the expo floor is Wacom. This year they released their Intuous 5 Touch tablet and I talked with Joe Sliger, field application specialist about the device.

“What we learned from the buttons was that people did not know what they did. So on the Intuous 4, we introduced the lit buttons but you had to look at the tablet to see them. With the Touch, we created a HUD so you can keep your eyes on your work.” The buttons even support “chords” allowing multiple buttons at the same time.

“The best thing we did not ship in the box is a mouse. The mouse is a crutch we go back to if available. With the touch you not only have standard one- and two-fingered gestures, but we’ve introduced Wacom gestures which support three, four and five- fingered gestures that you can customize.”

Another amazing feature about the Intuous 5 Touch is each tablet has wireless capabilities with the purchase on an add-on RF accessory kit, making the tablet not only touch sensitive, but now mobile. “Imagine you are a teacher in a classroom or lab , walking around, controlling the screen by touch gestures.”

Overall, I can’t wait to try this out and you can too by stopping by the Wacom booth during the Expo hours today and tomorrow.

Wescott behind the scenes

Models and backdrops preparing for the Expo hall opening soon. From the looks of things, it is going to be some great vignettes to shoot today. Bring your camera(s)!

Photoshop World Day 2

Welcome to day 2! I know it’s early for those who had a great time at the After Party, but here is some inspiration from the great Vincent Versace currently teaching in 145A-B. This is my quote of the day:

“Impossible is an opinion. If you can imagine it you can do it.”

Reason #254 to Come to PSW

Ladies and Gentlemen- Big Electric Cat

Photoshop World After Hours!

The UK and German Contingent Stops Traffic

As I walked out of the last class of the morning session, look who I came upon, stopping traffic in front of the Convention Center….with Abe a.k.a. Russell Brown

Expo Hall Ready to Go!

In just a few minutes the Expo Hall will be open and full of attendees. Here are some behind-the-scenes shots from the floor.

Team Epson ready to go!

Wes and Wacom showing the Intuous 5 Touch

FJ Wescott has their photo booth up and running