What is Photoshop? Why is it in demand?

Your MOST irritating moments! When you are thinking of ways to remove blemishes on your face to post on your facebook or instagram? Or trying to include yourself at the highest mountain without you being there? Or to focus on an element to make it look more prominent? Whatever it is, Photoshop can help you with that.

Adobe Photoshop is the World’s most advanced digital imaging software that is used for editing images such as cropping, resizing, filters, photo and color retouching and many more on Windows or iOS computers. Sometimes, photoshop can even be used to transfer a web design layout into an actual website together with Dreamweaver, a web editing software. In other times, Photoshop is also known as “Image Editing Software”.

Photoshop is considered the most powerful editing tool throughout the years and commonly used by Creative Professionals such as Graphic Designers, Freelancers, Web Developers, Photographers and Video Professionals. Over 90% of the creative professionals use Photoshop, so how about the remaining non-professionals? Yes, they do! Photoshop is getting more popular and in demand by people nowadays. Whether it is for personal or professional use, most people find it helpful in its own ways. As the time goes by, it becomes almost a “MUST-HAVE” tools for everyone.

The Great Inventor Now that you have known what Photoshop is all about, do you know WHO INVENTED it? 😱

Thomas (left) and John Knoll (right), the American Brothers, developed Photoshop in 1987. (Are you born yet?) They sold the distribution license to Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1988.

At first, the software was used to display gray scale images on a monochrome display. John then persuaded his brother to turn it into an image editing software and named it “IMAGEPRO”. However, this name was already taken for copyright, therefore they named it as “Photoshop”.

Is Photoshop FREE? Is there any way I can download for FREE?

Well, as the saying goes “there is NO FREE lunch in this world.” But they do have a

7 days trial to let you hands-on the user interface and experience. You may like to check their plans and pricing here.

Of course, I heard someone whispering “yeah I have downloaded for free!”. However, it is illegal and might cause some issues in the long run. I would rather you purchase it from and pay for the monthly subscription fee for annual plan, especially if you are a creative freelancer or professional, or you may want to download a FREE software that is quite similar to Photoshop.

GIMP is a FREE software you might want to consider. (👇scroll down to read more)

So what is the latest version of Photoshop now?

Creative Cloud, which is known as CC, is the latest version of Photoshop. As a beginner, you might want to consider the “Photography Plan (20GB)” that is cheaper. It costs around SGD14 per month. You can choose to pay at one go for the annual or yearly plan, OR pay monthly for 1 year, after which you have to renew again...that is when you decide if you would like to continue on. This means that if you are not a consistent user of Photoshop, you still have to pay for the subscription fee. So you decide!

Different Versions of Photoshop:

  • Photoshop 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.5 6.0, 7.0

  • From Photoshop 8.0 and onwards until Photoshop 13.0, it is known as CS (Creative Suite). CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6 & CS6 extended

Hmm.. if you are still using CS6, probably you are still not too far from Photoshop CC, though there is quite a difference.

I used to work on Photoshop 4 in school and jump straight to Photoshop 7. Though there was a bit of difference, the interface and experience are still consider quite similar in some ways and I was able to pick up my techniques back then easily. However, as Photoshop continues to evolve with the trend, it looks more creative and sophisticated. That is when the first CS (Creative Suite - photoshop 8) was out in 2003, and finally, the fresh new look of CC (Creative Cloud) was released in 2011.

So, is there any FREE software just like Photoshop?

Yes, there is! And at the moment it is FREE. You may want to download 1) GIMP - Quite similar to Photoshop, though the interface looks different.

2) Adobe Photoshop Express - For fast and simple editing

3) PIXLR (online Editor) - Simple Editing only

Anyway, hope it helps you in this blog. Do write to me at if you have any feedback or questions or any topics you would like to know further, so that I can improve on it or clarify your questions.😊

Lastly, thanks for reading. Have a great day and STAY SAFE. Meanwhile, do some exercises at home. 👇 🤣🤣🤣

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