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Photoshop was first developed as software to design and edit images that were to be printed. It allows users to edit images several times over and save them repeatedly without losing any quality, so they were of a high enough standard to print. This use is still probably the most common, although recently, the Adobe Photoshop brand has branched out to include more applications that allow users to edit film and create professional quality DVDs.

The number one use of Photoshop is editing photos. Everyone has heard people claim that the reason celebrities always look so fabulous is because magazines make liberal use of Photoshop editing! But Photoshop is not just for airbrushing. It has a wide variety of uses in editing photographs, from fixing flaws, like red eyes or blurs, to cropping and refocusing photos. It is possible to crop something from one photo and add it to another, or use the color tools in Photoshop to brighten up a dull picture. Photoshop has revolutionized photography for professionals and amateurs alike; many photographers can hardly remember life without it.

A second popular use for Photoshop is creating graphics for web sites. Designers are limited only by their own imaginations. Photoshop allows designers to incorporate photos, clip art, and vectors and images of their own creation they draw using the pen tool to create the graphic that they have in mind. Because Photoshop uses so many file formats, designers can save their designs in files specifically suited to their task, be it web design or printing.

Graphic designing for print media purposes is a third common use for Photoshop. This can have a number of applications, from magazine and newspaper layout to designing images to be printed on items like mugs, buttons, shirts, or almost anything. Photoshop allows users to take an image and bend it to see what it will look like on the scale of and in the shape of the item it will be printed on, and then edit it accordingly. This tool is invaluable to magazine designers as they lay out text and images together and to clothing designers who want to see how images work on their items.

A fourth popular use for Photoshop is collaborations. Because you can save files numerous times without losing quality, and because the file formats are compatible on nearly every operating system, Photoshop users of all sorts can collaborate with co-workers all over the world. And the collaborations are not all about work, either. A popular game has grown out of Photoshop technology called Photoshop Tennis, in which two designers send an image back and forth to each other, each making a change each time, for a pre-set number of rounds. At the end of the game, an independent judge declares who made the most valuable contributions.

A fifth use for Photoshop is sharing digital photos. Photoshop allows users to download right from their digital cameras to the program and make large batch alterations, and then save these photos in compressed files so they are easy to share.

A sixth important, if specialized, use of Photoshop is creating 3D animation. Pixar format is supported by Photoshop and has been used to create many Disney movies, like “Toy Story.” Though every Photoshop designer does not use this feature, it has made an important impact our culture.

The Adobe Photoshop program has so many uses; it is nearly impossible to pick favorites. Everyone who uses the program has their own favorite set of uses, because everyone uses the software program as their own objectives for using it.

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Another great feature of the Shadow and Highlight command is that it has a Midtone Contrast slider, Black Clip and White Clip choices that allow you to change the complete contrast of the image.  To get used to the Shadow and Highlight Adjustment, open an image that needs improvement.  When the dialog box comes up, the correction is applied to the preview.  If you do not see the correction, be sure that the Preview box is checked. 

To change the amount of correction for your Shadows or Highlights, move the Amount slider.  For lighter shadows and darker highlights, you will want to choose a higher percentage.  If you like, you can enter a value in the percentage box.  Once you like the results click “OK” and you are all set.

If you should desire more control, go to the Show More Options check box in the dialog box.  A plethora of sliders will come up.  To increase or decrease the range of tones adjusted in the Shadows and Highlights drag to Tonal Width.  You can decrease the range of tones lower the percentage.  A really low percentage will fix the darkest parts of the shadow or the lightest parts of the Highlights.  A higher percentage will give you a big range of tones.  Midtone areas will be included.  Initially, you will want to start with the default setting of 50%.  You can figure out what percentage is best for you from that starting point.  If you don’t want midtones and highlights to be too light, take the Tonal Width percentage of the Shadows down.  If pesky artifacts begin to show up, reduce the percentage.

To decrease the amount of pixels, pull the Radius slider.  You will be illuminating the surrounding pixels for adjusting the shadows and highlights.  The right amount of pixels is based on the specific image.  You will need to adjust the slider to see the results.  A very small Radius will cause your subject to lack contrast.  On the other hand if your background is bright or dark the Radius may be too large.  Try setting your Radius to approximately half of the size of the most important image in your picture.

If you are dealing with a color image, use the Color Correction to fix the colors in the adjusted parts of your image.  By adjusting the Amount of Shadows to Highlights, you might discover colors you could not see before.  To de-saturate images vales need to be lower.  Saturation calls for higher Color Correction values.

When working with grayscale image you can adjust the brightness by moving the slider right to lighten the Shadows and Highlights.  Move the slider left to darken.  To adjust the Midtone Contrast of Shadows and Highlights, move the slider left to take away contrast of right to add more contrast.  Be careful when you are adjusting the Midtone Contrast because you may get some darken shadow areas and highlights that are too light.  There are many ways to adjust the Shadow and Highlights in your images.