Hi Emily, I understand what you're saying but I think you're not giving "the user" enough credit for being able to think beyond darkroom terminology. I think what you assume about the user's assumption is connected to the way YOU understand the program
If you can use the crop tool to do a job more quickly and simply, why deny it just because you can't do that with an enlarger. I think you'll agree that Photoshop does a lot more than you could do in a darkroom and it isn't trying to immitate or replace the darkroom. It isn't a complicated process to resize with the crop tool and it can save a good amount of time.
It's a big program and there are more than a dozen ways to do just about anything. I have read threads here from people complaining about, for instance, the bridge and the way it handles raw files.
Someone complained that they didn't like the automatic settings, and so preferred Capture One. Well you can always turn the automatic settings off. Someone said that you couldn't do multiple image processing. Well of course you can easily and very efficiently. You can convert images without opening photoshop at all. But that doesn't make Capture one any worse. It is also a fine program but having worked with a phase one back and used the software a lot, I believe that Photoshop RAW has the edge. (My opinion)
I generally don't get involved in those comparative threads because the problem is not in the software, it's usually the inability of the user to use the program properly.
Perhaps Adobe have gone beyond the point where one can learn the software intuitively. That's a problem because you now have to really spend time studying and learning the ropes. But having taught Photoshop since version 3, I really believe that it's worth the effort.
Herschel
"Emily L. Ferguson" <elf@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yeah, Herschel. But the user who has not yet discovered that nifty
feature is probably going to assume that by cropping one means
cutting something off! It is a bit counterintuitive to use the crop
tool to resize. Harking back to the days of analog (the darkroom)
the two terms are quite different and although Adobe did a clever
thing with that hat trick, it is at a basic level not intuitive.
One of the important things to me about Photoshop is the extent to
which all its basic functions mimic the darkroom. Moving from PS to
the darkroom is greatly enhanced by that factor and redefining terms
on a whim or to make some process sound high-tech, in-the-know,
with-it or "improved" grates on me every time.
That's why I hate Word.
--
Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxx
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography
http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf/
Herschel Mair
Head of the Department of Photography,
Head of the Department of Photography,
Higher College of Technology
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Adobe Certified instructor
+ (986) 99899 673
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