And you thought your first $4.99 spend of today would be a sandwich at lunchtime! Possibly not as everybody in the FCP.co office this morning has been busy downloading the new Photoshop Touch app onto their phones. It's going to be popular.
Photoshop Touch has been around for a while on the iPad, but today brings the news that a new version priced at $4.99 has been released especially for iPhone and Android users.
Photoshop Touch has been optimised for the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android smart phone. Amazing to think that this software behemoth which once maxed out beige towers worldwide, will now work on a mobile phone. Another good indication of how touch devices are being used more and more in the creative industries.
Although some people might see this as a gimmick, connection to the Adobe Creative Cloud means that you can design on Photoshop wherever you might be. At the gate waiting to board a plane, a train or indeed an automobile.
• Enhance images using popular Photoshop features such as layers, selection tools, filters, tonal and colour adjustments
• Apply effects and add graphical text for endless creative possibilities
• Edit images as large as 12 megapixels with layers
• Combine images together quickly using the Scribble Selection feature, and easily refine your selection with the Refine Edge tool
• Automatically sync images to Adobe Creative Cloud™ with free 2GB of storage
Photoshop Touch for the iPhone
Photoshop Touch for Android
“Mobile phones are increasingly becoming the primary tool for people to take and edit photos," said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Adobe is dedicated to serving our customers’ evolving creative workflow and we heard, loud and clear, that Photoshop fans wanted some core Adobe imaging magic on their smartphones.”
The Adobe Photoshop Touch overview includes a variety of touch devices:
We are not suggesting that for serious work, creative professionals are going to swap their desktops and laptops for hand-held devices. Being able to work on content wherever and whenever is the way forward and this app will only help to make that possible. Alternatively you could always use it to add a photobomb to a picture before posting it on Facebook.
Will we see a slimmed down Premiere on touch devices next?
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
