Photoshop turns 20 today

Adobe Photoshop, the software product that redefined creativity in the digital age, turns 20 today, February 19. The impact of this software can be found everywhere, posters, magazine covers, graphics and effects in television and films... Its 'parents' meet today for the first time in 18 years at a special event in which Photoshop 1.0 will be shown on a rebuilt Macintosh computer.

Today, February 19, Photoshop celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Around the world, Photoshop hobbyists and professionals celebrate the impact their favorite software has had across photography, art, design, education, and commerce.

In the United States, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (ANP) is hosting a special celebration of Photoshop's 20th anniversary today with more than a thousand attendees at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The event will feature John Loiacono, senior vice president of creative solutions at Adobe, as well as Kevin Connor, vice president of product management at Photoshop, Thomas Knoll, co-creator of Photoshop, and Russell Brown, famed creative director. Adobe has hosted a live webcast of this event from here.

The festivities will continue in Japan, Southeast Asia and Europe. In honor of the 20th anniversary, Adobe Germany is hosting a special 20-hour online marathon, featuring over 15 local Photoshop “gurus” who will be showcasing their favorite tips and tricks live to the delight of Photoshop enthusiasts and professionals. In India and France, digital image contests are organized to showcase the works of Photoshop users.

Photoshop 1.0

In addition, today the founding team of Photoshop will meet for the first time in 18 years in an event that can be followed through . The parents of the popular software will chat about their early development work and demonstrate Photoshop 1.0 on a rebuilt Macintosh computer.

Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe, said: "For 20 years Photoshop has played many different roles, giving creative people the power to create and deliver amazing images that impact all parts of our visual culture and challenging the human eye with its ability to transform photographers. It is no exaggeration to say that, thanks to millions of creative customers, Photoshop has changed the way the world sees itself."

The impact of Photoshop can be found everywhere, posters, magazine covers, major films, even in the logo on the coffee mug you drink from every morning. This software has reached us all, in one way or another. More than 90% of creative professionals have Photoshop on their desktop computers and today professional photographers, graphic designers and advertisers, as well as architects, engineers and even doctors use Photoshop. Whether it's bringing the visual effects to life in the blockbuster movie Avatar, from helping save lives in partnership with forensic departments and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to challenging the human eye to determine whether an image is real or fake, Photoshop continues to see new uses and new advocates.

How it all started

In 1987 Thomas Knoll developed a pixel rendering program called Display. It was a simple program that displayed grayscale images on a black and white monitor. However, after collaborating with his brother John Knoll, the two began adding functions that made the processing of digital image files possible. Finally the program caught the attention of people who have influence in the sector, and in 1988 Adobe made the decision to buy the software, calling it Photoshop and marketing the first version in 1990.

Thomas Knoll, co-creator of Photoshop, has admitted that "Twenty years ago, Adobe predicted that it would sell 500 copies of Photoshop a month. We can say that we far exceeded these projections. It is amazing to think that millions of people use this software today. We knew we had an innovative and revolutionary technology, but we never imagined the great impact it would have on the images we see all around us. The ability to place someone inside an image was the beginning of the magic of Photoshop."

Photoshop, over its twenty-year history, has evolved significantly from a simple original visualization program to a highly popular application with more than ten million users worldwide. With each new version, Adobe has introduced technological innovations that challenge the impossible. Layers, introduced in Photoshop 3.0, gave designers the ability to create complex compositions easier than ever before. The Healing Brush, another innovative feature introduced in Photoshop 7.0, allowed users to magically retouch images by perfectly removing blemishes and wrinkles while preserving lighting and texture. Photoshop tools like crop, eraser, blur, and dodge and dodge are now part of the creative vocabulary around the world.