Adobe Photoshop CS3

When isolating individual elements in an image, the new Quick Selection tool lets you simply drag within an object to select it. It's asking a lot for Photoshop CS3 to somehow identify which pixels are part of your intended selection, but more often than not it works like magic, and where results aren't perfect you can always turn to Photoshop's other selection tools. The system's apparent weakness is that the results aren't anti-aliased, so if you cut and paste your selection the edge tends to look too hard. However, CS3 does offer a solution for this with its new Refine Edge command, which lets you retrospectively manage no less than five parameters, including radius and feathering, so you can get just the edge effect you want.

Photoshop isn't just about enhancing individual images, it's also about combining multiple images, and here two new layer-based capabilities stand out. You can now overlay your two best photos and use the new Auto-Align Layers command to overlap them as precisely as possible. Using layer masks you can then manually combine the best elements from each image. Even more impressive is the ability to use the same command with its Perspective option to automatically combine multiple shots to produce a single panorama. Using the new Auto-Blend Layers command, you can then set Photoshop to analyse the overlaps and generate layer masks to remove obvious joins, making the panorama as seamless as possible. Previously, producing panoramas was one of Photoshop's few weaknesses, but now, especially in the revamped PhotoMerge command, it's become yet another strength, taking full advantage of both auto-aligning and auto-blending.

Photoshop CS3 adds another layer-based capability that's even more striking: the ability to non-destructively apply filter effects. This is done by selecting a layer and then the Convert for Smart Filters command, automatically turning the layer into a Smart Object to which you can apply a filter or multiple filters. Applied filters appear listed in the Layers palette, where you can temporarily hide their effects, re-order them by dragging or add a layer mask to control where and how strongly they're applied. More importantly, each listed Smart Filter is live, so you can simply double-click on it to change parameters, or double-click on the smart object itself to edit the underlying pixels to which the effect will then automatically be re-applied. There are clear limitations to the system as it stands, though - in particular, you can't apply effects as lenses to underlying layers and adjustment effects (apart from Shadows/Highlights and Variations). Existing third-party filters and layer comps aren't supported either (at least in the late press beta under review). Even so, non-destructive smart filters greatly increase options and control when producing creative compositions.

When you've enhanced your image or finished your montage, you're ready to output, and Photoshop CS3 adds a range of new features here, starting with the ability to add text to images output as PDF presentations. If your image is destined for online viewing, the Save for Web and Devices command automatically converts your image's colour space to sRGB, while the new Export to Zoomify command outputs full-resolution images in a tiled format ready for efficient viewing over even low-speed connections, so long as the end user has the Flash player installed. Paper hasn't been forgotten either, with a rationalised Print dialog that's more visual, friendly and efficient than before.