The technology I have chosen to discuss that I think is the most relevant to my project is Adobe Photoshop. The version that I will be using is Adobe Photoshop 2024 because it is the most recently released version and has the most features. I’m choosing to use Adobe Photoshop to edit the pictures in my photo series because I want them to look as professional and high-quality as possible.

There are many aspects of Photoshop that I will need to learn more about to complete my photo series. One feature that I need to research is the proper lighting filters to apply to a photo that was taken outside. In order to learn more about this, I plan on reading articles written by experienced Photoshop users. I will also watch various YouTube tutorials on the topic to get multiple perspectives, such as this one by Dansky. Another feature of Photoshop that I feel is important to look into more is exporting. I have some experience in exporting videos from programs like Premiere Pro and After Effects, but I do not know very much about exporting images. I expect that learning about this feature will take less time than learning about editing outdoor photos, but it is still a very important feature to master. I am going to try to find useful information about exporting on the official Adobe website. I also think that color correction will be vital to making my project look professional. Vibrant colors are a large part of my project and I want to make sure that the colors in my photos can pop as much as possible. Similarly to researching the proper lighting filters, I plan on learning about color correction by reading articles and watching any tutorials I can find.

Adobe Photoshop could be considered a social software for multiple reasons. One way that Photoshop is social is its ability to save presets that users can share with each other. This allows artists to create templates that other creators can use to help aid their projects. Another way that Photoshop is a social technology is that it offers countless different exporting options to allow users to share their photos with as many different people as possible. Photoshop also demonstrates sociability through its accessibility. It includes many useful features such as screen reader compatibility, voice control, and touchscreen support. Photoshop also includes plugin compatibility so that users can install accessibility options that better suit their needs.

Photoshop reflects cultural values in many ways. An example of this is how Photoshop offers different popular filters to use on social media. This offers users an option to make their photos look ready for Instagram without having to know a lot about Photoshop. Along the lines of social media, Photoshop also offers many features that make it easy for users to alter images to make them look more appealing. Examples of this include the Healing Brush which allows users to remove things like wrinkles and zippers from photos and the Spot Healing Brush which lets users remove individual blemishes. Adobe Photoshop also includes many different kinds of blank document presets when starting a new project. This includes size presets for things such as letters, postcards, iPhone screens, and computer screens. This reflects cultural values because Adobe includes many different presets for mediums that are important to the general public.

Photoshop will be very helpful for completing my capstone project. Photoshop offers many professional editing features that very few other programs offer. This will allow me to explore more ways of editing my photos which will help add variety to my posts. Photoshop also includes informative lessons about the basics of editing, as well as more advanced tutorials about specific features. This will be helpful for me to get a starting point of where I want to begin editing. Another way Photoshop will assist my project is by providing customization options that I can use to make my work more efficient. These include being able to customize hotkeys and what different kinds of work windows you have open at any given time.

Using Adobe Photoshop as the software for editing my photos comes with some challenges as well. One challenge is that Photoshop is a very complicated and confusing software for new users. I have been using Photoshop for a few years, but I would not say that I am an advanced user. It will be difficult to find the best ways to use the software, but I am confident that I will be able to hone my editing skills through completing this project. Another obstacle that Adobe Photoshop provides is that my student license for the Adobe Creative Cloud is going to expire in the middle of my project. I am going to have to start paying more for my license because I have already used my student license for four years. Another issue that is going to affect my project is that Photoshop is a CPU-intensive program which makes my laptop run slowly and causes Photoshop to occassionally crash. My laptop is a few years old, so it is not able to run Adobe programs as well as it used to. I do not expect this to be a big issue in my project, but it will be something that slows me down.