The History of Photoshop (1988 – 2021)

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The most current version of Adobe Photoshop is Photoshop 2021. Before that, there were few versions released. Every new version comes with new and more useful features. The most recent versions are relatively easy to use. Photoshop is the industry standard. After reading the history of photoshop, you will feel more confident and excited about using Photoshop.

While editing an image, it is important to be aware of the common signs that the image may have been altered or manipulated. Photoshop is primarily known for photo editing, photo background cut out and photo manipulation, but it is actually much more than that. It is packed with features that will let you create stunning designs for your flyers, banners, brochures, business cards, Facebook covers and even your website. Photoshop is software that is well known to everyone. With its amazing features and user-friendliness, even along with many other latest software programs. Photoshop is surely used for all types of artwork. Moreover, it can even give you the most desired outcome in your photo editing. However, there are also many Photoshop versions that are available in the market. You can choose any version that is suitable for you.

There are certain Photoshop keyboard shortcuts that, if you know them well, can save you some time. They also help you in speeding up the whole process while editing images. It will prove to be very useful to the newbie users who just started their job with it.

Now let’s see the movement of adobe photoshop over the years. Here I will try to introduce every version of photoshop one by one. Keep reading and enjoy.

History of Photoshop Versions: Story Behind Each Version

Photoshop life is divided into three different segments. The very first segment is older versions, then creative suits and now we are in the creative cloud world of photoshop. This timeline covers the Photoshop application only, not the Camera Raw plugin.

We’re going to take a look back at the legacy of Photoshop and what made it the go-to program for editing images today. If you’ve ever wondered what was behind the name or where it came from, or what makes Photoshop different from other software, then read on!

Photoshop 0.63 – 1988

Photoshop version Adobe Photoshop 0.63 was built on 2nd October 1988. It had no support for plugins, no way to measure histograms and didn’t even have a user interface! The very first version of Photoshop started life as a bitmap image editing program called Display that was used by engineers at Apple Computer to edit the display colors of Apple II computers. It was not released publicly, there was a limitation. The opening banner shows the message “Not for distribution”. By the developers given a codename Photoshop 0.63

Photoshop 0.87 – 1989

The second version was built in march 1989 and the name of this version was Photoshop 0.87. It’s given by its developers. This was the first version of Photoshop to be commercially distributed before Adobe purchased the software. Brothers Thomas and John put their best foot forward in marketing the software. They worked out a deal with scanner company Barneyscan, who distributed 200 copies of Photoshop with purchases of their scanners. . Barneyscan distributes 200 copies of the photo editing software to ship along with their scanners. It was also the first time in human history that photo editing software was available publicly. Photoshop 0.87 required a Macintosh computer, but it didn’t support color monitors. 

Photoshop 1.0

Version 1.0 First version was released on Feb 19, 1990 for Macintosh exclusively. It had a white background with blue text. The icons were tiny and everything was tiny. There were no smart objects. Only thing is, it had various blending modes like multiply, screen, etc. In many countries, photoshop 1.0 is sold as a package with the scanner because of the lack of competition from another photo editor at that time.

The first scanners used by Barneyscan had a maximum resolution of 300 dpi, so the first version of Photoshop only had tools for up to 300 dpi. On October 9th, 1989, Adobe released its first commercial version of Photoshop. By that time, Thomas Knoll was an employee at Adobe, where he worked on PostScript. The new version featured all of the original features of the beta, with some enhancements. This software changed the way we viewed images by being the first image editing software to be released to the public.

The release of Photoshop 1.0 in 1990 marked the departure of Philip Brisk for Adobe, turning the tool into an Adobe product for the first time.

Photoshop 2.0

Photoshop 2.0 and 2.5 As we know that the first version of photoshop has not been successful. So they decided to release a new version with many improvements and new features. In this version, the desktop tools were also added. In December, Adobe Systems announced it had acquired Aldus for $3.4 billion in stock and plans to combine the two companies’ software development resources. It featured tools to do straighten, crop, despeckle, smudge, sharpen, threshold, colorize, blur, patch, posterize, paste into, fade, halftone screen, color lookup, convolve, edge detect, emboss, mosaic, oil paint, stain glass, watercolor, smear, cutout, airbrush, fill, text, pointillism, plastic wrap, etc.

Photoshop 2.5

Almost one year and seven month after Photoshop 2.0, Adobe Photoshop 2.5 was released. It was in Nov 1992. The version of Photoshop 2.5 for Windows was actually released first, which was a bit of a shock to the Mac community as they had been used to getting new versions of software first since the early days of the Macintosh. This became a good sign of things to come as it marked a change in philosophy at Adobe where cross platform compatibility was going to be an important part of future releases.

Spafford pointed out that the problems resulting from the 2.5.1 patch demonstrated that even if a security patch has been thoroughly tested prior to release, it should not be released until other commonly used software programs have been checked for compatibility issues. Many Microsoft employees at the time believed that the company’s rush to get the 2.5.1 patch released was due to their desire to avoid having the patch emerge during the trial of former Microsoft employee and convicted computer hacker Andrew “

Photoshop 2.5 was the first version of Photoshop for Windows 3.1, released in 1995. It included support for 16-bit color on both Mac and Windows platforms, as well as filters that were now accessible via their own toolbar menu. Photoshop 2.6 brought with it an improved Print dialog box, the addition of the History palette, the beginnings of layers via Copy Merged mode, and a slew of new filters.

Photoshop 3.0

Adobe Photoshop 3.0 was released in Sep 1994 and for Mac, it was released in Nov 1994. One of the most important features of Photoshop was introduced with version 3.0. This program allowed for layers in an image, which was not possible in previous versions. It was amazing. The first time you saw it, you knew that this was the future of image editing. Layers enable you to stack different elements of an image on top of each other and then selectively edit them. You could also change the order that they were stacked. This feature made Photoshop an indispensable tool for many professional designers.

This is the first version of photoshop which is very familiar with Windows and Mac as well. In the previous versions, the Windows version and Mac version were not stable.

Photoshop 4.0

Adobe Photoshop 4.0 was released in November 1996 with two new features. The most useful elements Actions and Adjustment Layers were newly added. Actions and Adjustment Layers, enable you to control what to do. These additions will allow users to work with Photoshop Elements more efficiently. The new features will certainly bring users to upgrade from previous versions. The most important pro is that the program functions like any other version of Photoshop. The functions and the menu bar are well organized and easy to use. The learning curve is not too steep and it does not take much to get used to the software.

The Layers gave users the ability to edit an image multiple times while using the same tools. The user could apply an effect to the image layer and then go back to the original layer with just a click of a button. Each layer can be edited separately, without affecting the other layers. The individual layers can also be reordered, removed, or copied from one photo to another. 

Photoshop 5.0

Adobe Photoshop 5.0 was released in May 1998 for Mac and Windows together, opening the door for the New Millennium in art and design. The program included major enhancements in usability and performance, offering easier ways to accomplish tasks, view results, and work with photos. Photoshop 5.0 was one of the most popular releases ever, with more than 6 million copies sold by the end of 2000.

The History Palette is a new feature for Photoshop that was recently added. It has been designed to be a problem-solving and time-saving tool. It allows designers to go back to any point in their editing process to undo or redo edits, even if the file has been saved. Previously, designers would have to start from scratch if they wanted to undo their edits, which was a huge waste of time.

The Magnetic Lasso tool, which is now a part of the newly-appointed History Palette, is notable and extremely powerful, as it allows designers to make a selection without having to worry about the order of the objects they’re selecting. The Multiple Undo feature, which is also a new addition to Photoshop 5.0, is a time-saving feature that has been implemented multiple times.

Photoshop 5.5

After photoshop 5.0, only nine months later photoshop 5.5 was released. The “Save Images” feature allows designers to save multiple images at once. This feature will cut down on the time needed for web design projects. The “Save Images” option allows users to select an entire folder of images to backup. This makes the process quicker when working with large web projects.

The first version of Photoshop to feature the Extract filter is Photoshop 5.5. The easy-to-use, self-contained tool gives graphic designers the ability to more efficiently and effectively remove an image from its background.

Photoshop 6.0

After around twenty months, Adobe Photoshop 6.0 was released. It was September 2000. In this version, newly added vector shapes and the liquify filter. Vector gave users the ability to easily draw vector shapes in Photoshop. The text was also customized and by this update, users can easily place any text on their images. Now, with this new update, users can now use the liquify filter to edit images. What is the liquify filter? This feature is quite popular among photo editors. When editing an image using liquify filter, you will see some changes on the image like lips are now bigger, eyes are smaller and look more beautiful, etc.

Its Multi-Layer functions and Blending Options within Layers make editing tasks easier. Also made it possible to have more than one active layer on the screen at any given time, each layer being independent of the others. It can now be used for some really creative purposes.

Photoshop Elements

It is no surprise that Adobe Photoshop Elements has not released an update for several years. This is because it is difficult to keep up with the continuous updates that are made to the original Adobe Photoshop. It is also easier for people who are just starting out to use Photoshop Elements than it is for them to learn the fundamentals of Photoshop.

Adobe released Adobe Photoshop Elements in 2001. The software was designed with the beginner in mind and was easy to use. Adobe Photoshop was designed to do the work for you instead of having you do it yourself. It was a very unique application that incorporated many features from Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge into a single application. This allowed for easier management of your images.

It was aimed at those who wanted to do simple tasks such as image resizing and basic image editing. Many people still use Photoshop Elements today for more practical, less fanciful editing tasks.

the company’s website. It can also be downloaded for free with a purchase of an Adobe Creative Cloud membership. Here’s how the page appeared in the old Creative Suite. Today, the company maintains its classic website but has moved all of its web pages into the Creative Cloud service.

Today, the Photoshop Elements team announced the latest release of Adobe Photoshop Elements, which includes many new features and improvements. This latest release is available for download today and will be available at retail locations in the coming weeks. The newest version of Photoshop Elements continues to offer consumers an affordable way to edit and share their photos with family and friends.

Photoshop 7.0

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 was released in March 2002 for two operating systems. it became extremely popular due to the convenience of the users. Now you can easily use it with Mac and Windows. This version of Photoshop has over 100 additional features and improvements. The user interface is redesigned for easier access to important features like color correction tools and layers, as well as more powerful extensions.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 simultaneously allowed designers to find the images easier than before. The batch rename feature and healing brush tool were helpful for designers who wanted to increase ease of access to the photos.

One of the most interesting features of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 is the 3D feature. This allows you to create 3D images easily. The software is not only capable of creating high-quality 3D images but also enables you to convert 2D images into 3D ones. Moreover, you can even edit the 3D images using the options provided by Adobe Photoshop 7.0

Creative Suite: History of Photoshop CS

Adobe Creative Suite (CS) is a collection of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications for people who are familiar with creative innovation. The applications are geared towards a variety of professionals, from web developers to graphic designers to video editors. Each application in the suite provides a specific set of tools for designers to create images, photos, videos, and web content. 

Photoshop CS

Adobe Photoshop CS was released in October 2003 and the list of new and exciting features that were included made a lot of people happy. It featured a lot of great new features that made photo editing much easier. The smart objects feature alone makes the upgrade worth it, but there are many more new features that make this software worth having.This remains a key feature in Photoshop was camera RAW file supported for the first time.

The Mac version of the application now uses Mac OS X’s new Quartz rendering engine. Adobe also added a number of features to the Mac version including the ability to open multiple documents in one window, incremental saves for progress while working on a document, and many other improvements. Photoshop CS’s Canvas Size command was improved to allow users to specify crop marks to determine how much of an image will be visible after it is cropped.

Photoshop CS also saw the addition of Smart Objects, allowing images and videos to be embedded into Photoshop and either referenced or linked to the external file. This meant that you could make changes to Smart Objects without affecting the original, which was great if the original was too large to fit within Photoshop’s memory limits. Moreover, the blending modes and the transparency options in Photoshop CS make it possible to change and enhance an image with a minimum of effort and without getting too technical.

Photoshop CS2

After eighteen months of Photoshop CS the Photoshop CS2 was released. It was April 2005. There are a lot of improvements in Photoshop CS2. This version has about 100 new filters and 50 new brushes. Many bugs were fixed, too. Some features in the old Photoshop CS were removed. The layer’s blending mode for example. You can still find it in the Layer Palette in the dropdown menu. But you will get a warning if you try to use it. New things were added to the Layer Palette.

In this version, a few changes happened to the UI design. Few users get confused by these changes. But Photoshop CS2 was more useful for the users with lots of new options. It is a great graphics software for all levels of users. Adobe Photoshop CS2 Key Features: It is a great photo editing tool with lots of new options like Art History, Artboard and Artboards, Bridge, Camera Raw, color palate, etc. It is easy to use and provides the best results for designing with high quality pictures.

Photoshop CS3

Photoshop CS3 was released almost two years later than Photoshop CS2. It was April 2007. CS3 has been my go-to version of photoshop for almost two years. It came with a new and improved HDR (High Dynamic Range) tool that I’ve used to process some of my photos. What I like about CS3: HDR – this feature is awesome, it takes 3 different exposures and combines them into one so you get all the details of the highlights and shadows at the same time!

Adobe made no major changes to Photoshop CS3; however, there were several minor enhancements and bug fixes. The main change was the addition of the Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine, which is used to accelerate many of Photoshop’s filters. All versions of Photoshop CS3 now use the Mercury Engine (this replaces the Multiple-Processor Support), though it was previously only available in some versions (those with multiple processors). A faster start-up time was also attributed to the new engine; however, no technical specifications were given for this claim.

The new Photoshop includes Contrast, Camera RAW compatibility, optimization for mobile, included in Photoshop, web design community, Brightness and Black, Vanishing Point tool, graphic optimization, Quick Select Tool, Black and White.

Photoshop CS4

October 2008 – Adobe has announced its next major release of Photoshop CS4. The panning and zooming were so fast that it felt like you could just drag the photo around. I found this to be very helpful because you could zoom in on your images to check small details like spots or blemishes. If you needed to, you could also quickly go back out to see the full image. In the previous versions of photoshop, this tool was lazy. The second best feature of CS4 is the new editing panel.

To me, it felt like Adobe was trying to get me to never leave Photoshop. There were tons of smaller improvements in CS4, but the 3 major changes were the introduction of the new “one-window” UI, the addition of Content-Aware technology (which I still use today), and the addition of Presets to the existing Adjustments in CS3.

Photoshop is a program that many people use to do various tasks. Adobe has announced a new version of Photoshop which has added presets. The ability to zoom and pan, and spots or blemishes. This can be a major release for people who want to edit the small details in their photos. Felt like Adobe was listening to their needs, and made the changes they asked for.

Photoshop CS5

Adobe has announced another new version in April 2010 with numerous improvements. The newly added was Content-aware, it was particularly useful to fill in the background of an image. This tool helped remove the background from images automatically. The Content-aware Fill tool in Photoshop CS5 brought a few refinements, but the feature is still there. If you have a complicated background and want to fill it with a certain color or texture. The feature makes the process fairly easy.

Improvements made for photographers included Camera RAW grain control and Automatic Lens Correction. In addition, Adobe introduced “Unrendered” previews in the application, allowing users to see a preview of what their image would look like if they placed it into a given environment. This can be particularly useful when editing architectural photography, where the effects of the environment cannot be fully edited. Adobe also announced a new Creative Cloud pricing structure, dropping the cost of Photoshop CC for users who only use the suite on mobile devices.

As a summary we can focus on, In the most recent Photoshop update. Adobe added a content-aware fill tool to clean up unwanted foregrounds from backgrounds and an automatic lens correction feature that automatically adjusts distortion, vignetting, and color fringing. Numerous improvements have been made to the program, with a significant inclusion of Camera RAW, a version of Photoshop CC used for editing raw photos. A new grain setting has also been included in the background, which can be used to simulate film grain.

Photoshop CS6

In the year 2012 adobe released another version of photoshop in the month of May. That was Photoshop CS6. In this, all the tools and features are enhanced. It is a great enhancement from the previous version. In the previous version there were some problems and also some bugs. Which have been fixed in this new version of photoshop. The Photoshop CS6 works faster than the previous versions. If you take a look at it then it will be very clear that it does not slow down your system and it works faster than any other programs and softwares.

The Photoshop software includes a Middle Eastern Languages revision that has been redesigned and Adobe included Camera RAW, software including an Oil Paint filter that brought a huge number of people. This version supports all major operating systems, including Windows XP, 2003, Vista, etc.

The new version includes the Liquify filter which was previously only available in the Extended version. The Layer Styles feature has been improved to include partial styles for specific layers, and an Artistic styles library has been added. What’s more, the Liquify tool also received some attention. Improved Export Options As you may already know, Elements 8 made it possible to export images to other file formats such as Photoshop (.psd), TIFF (.tif), GIF (.gif), JPEG (.jpg), and many others. However, this time the developers decided to add the option to export images in any custom format that you can possibly think of.

Creative Cloud: History of Photoshop CC

Photoshop CC

Adobe launched the original Creative Cloud programs on June 18, 2013. The Creative Cloud set the standard for cloud-based software delivery. It allows customers to access their products across multiple devices with a single subscription purchase. With Creative Cloud, customers receive instant access to the latest version of Adobe’s industry-leading tools through the Creative Cloud desktop application or through the Creative Cloud mobile app.

These applications automatically update with new releases and can sync settings across multiple computers and devices. This has proven to be especially important for Photoshop, as the software has long been an early adopter of new technologies. Photoshop Camera RAW, is also included. which allows you to edit images in a more powerful and flexible way than the standard version of Photoshop. Photoshop Touch was a mobile app that allowed users to edit images on the go. It was a very basic image editor that lacked some of the more advanced features offered by Photoshop. 

Photoshop CC 2014

Photoshop CC 2014 was released on June 18, 2014. The major improvements were content-aware tools, spin blur, and path blur tools options were added. Other new features are blending modes, perspective transform tool, smart guides, and an improved crop tool. The application interface was redesigned with a new icon-based UI called the “ribbon”, which provides access to all the tools in tabbed sub-palettes. This change was intended to help new users quickly learn how to use the application, and make it faster to find features for experienced users. 

Photoshop CC 2015

Adobe has announced a new update for Photoshop on June 15, 2015. It included a free photo library, creative features, and much more. Adobe also gave away a free trial for its creative cloud service. It also includes a free Surface Pen and Touch, which can be used with the pen-enabled system for smoother lines and finer brushstrokes. A lot of apps are compatible with PS Touch. You can connect your smartphone or tablet to PS Touch through Wi-Fi or USB connection. The new Surface Pen has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity for natural sketching and drawing experience. It also has tilt detection which lets you control the shading of the lines. It can sense the direction of the lines.

Photoshop CC 2017

CC 2017 was a minor version update released in 2016. The last update added an option that enables one to update their interface in real-time. There are several updates to the Photoshop CC 2017 which allows you to export assets, fonts, and templates in multiple formats. Photoshop CC development team has announced that they have plans to integrate more features into the software. You can expect to see more features coming in the near future. The updated Photoshop CC 2017 brings new features like:

• The new layout and the updated interface
• The ability to add strokes and borders to an image
• The updated color palette
• New feature for color targeting
• Work with the smart objects in 3D layers
• Add an effect to a layer
• Make the web content responsive
• The updated cropping tool
• Use the updated font menu
• The updated library filters

Photoshop CC 2018

Photoshop CC 2018 was released on January 14, 2018. It now supports the OpenType Variable Font format, which allows users to customize their font-weight, width, and other attributes. Bug fixes: Restored missing context menu items in the Crop tool, such as “Feather”, “Straighten”, and “Perspective”. Fixed a crash that could occur when applying a Pattern Overlay effect with a Fill Type of “Pattern”.

The font family includes six weights (Thin, Extra Light, Light, Regular, Bold, and Heavy) and condensed and extended widths. Note: This feature requires the installation of Adobe Font Folio 10.0.1 or later for proper use.

You can even use it to automatically switch the entire text layer style of any layer. If you’re on Windows 10, you can now pin specific tools to your taskbar for easier access. I’m sure this will become a popular feature with Photoshop users who do not feel like using keyboard shortcuts or simply don’t have time to learn them.

Photoshop CC 2019

Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 was released on October 15, 2018. Photoshop has an improved scaling feature, which enables you to scale any object with ease. It also has Content-Aware Fill settings, which will help you remove any unwanted backgrounds. With the new Photoshop, digital editing skills are becoming more and more important. Photoshop also offers a Rotation Adaptation function that will keep your image in the right orientation. You can also replace old habits with fluidity with the revamped features of Photoshop.

The “Image Color Mode” feature automatically identifies your image and saves it in the most appropriate format. New Photoshop is also more efficient. Editing Smart Objects is easier than ever, with better integration into the main program window. Now you can edit layers directly without having to create a new file. You can also drag Smart Objects between open documents, which makes organizing your projects much easier. Moreover, it is now easier to create an interesting background for your photos.

Adobe Photoshop 2020

Photoshop 2020 ( Version 21) was released on November 4, 2019. Whether you’re a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or just someone who loves to edit photos on your own, this is going to be a great update for you. What’s New In Photoshop CC 2020 Photoshop has added a range of new features to help streamline your workflow, as well as some upgrades to existing tools and filters.

These new features will make it easy for you to get your work done faster. We’ve been using this update on a variety of computers and there are a few settings that will greatly improve the performance of your Photoshop. We’ll dive into those in more detail later on. But first, let’s see what all is new in Photoshop CC 2020. Object Selection Tool The first thing I noticed when I started working with this new tool was how much easier it is to select a face or a body on a photo. Others are enhanced Warp Transformation, updated Preset libraries, and lots of brand new keyboard shortcuts and timesavers. This new functionality is a great update for anyone who loves to edit graphics and especially for photographers and illustrators who need to edit photos and illustrations respectively.

Adobe Photoshop 2021

Adobe Photoshop 2021 was released on October 26, 2021. AI features in the new update include ‘smart tools’ that can guess what the user is trying to achieve – for example, fixing a color cast or removing something from a photo. The general newest feature is included as neural filters, improved refine edge selections, sky replacement, and new discovery panel. The new feature allows users to make adjustments to their selections by changing the size of the brush, adjusting the opacity, and more. It is a well-known fact that Adobe Photoshop is designed for users who want to edit images with precision and care.

Adobe has announced that Photoshop will soon be able to perform complex tasks without any human intervention at all, with the software’s AI engine automatically completing tasks based on what it thinks the user wants. The announcement is a fairly far-reaching one and means that Photoshop users will soon be able to say goodbye to the tedium of image retouching. In a blog post, product manager Jordan Frith said, “One of the most powerful features of Photoshop has always been the ability to automate repetitive tasks using Actions.”