Kevin Connor is no stranger to photo imaging. The director of product management for Adobe’s Photoshop says he’s always had a fascination with photos and digital design, dating back to his junior high days and his Apple II. In one of his first jobs after college, he found himself acting as virtually a one-person marketing department, and it was there that he got his first taste of working with CorelDraw. That, in turn, led to a job as a product specialist at Gold Disk, a company that was launching a Windows illustration package to compete with Corel. That product didn’t last, and eventually, he landed at Adobe. Now, seven years later, he’s worked his way up to being director of the Photoshop group. Connor took some time recently to discuss the latest features in Photoshop CS, as well as to provide a ‘snapshot’ of what designers may see in Photoshop’s future.

ImagingIQ: What do you think is the most important new feature of Photoshop CS and why?

Connor: I’d have to say that the most important feature is the integrated support for raw digital camera file formats. Raw formats have quickly become critical to a professional photographic workflow, because they really fulfill the promise of a "digital darkroom" by allowing you to control the white balance, exposure and other settings long after the image has been captured, ensuring the best possible results.

What’s really a big deal is that Photoshop now supports such a wide variety of formats right out of the box, and more will be added on an ongoing basis. This means that users now don’t have to worry about juggling different software to deal with files from different cameras; most common formats can be opened in an automated manner using the same set of easy-to-use controls.

ImagingIQ: I know Photoshop CS just came out, but what's on the drawing board for the next version? Can you offer users a glimpse into the future?

Connor: Well, I can’t tell you exactly what will be in the next version, but I can tell you what’s on the minds of the Photoshop team these days. There are actually two very unglamorous but very important areas we’ll be exploring over the next few years:

* Workflow: Now that tools are maturing, workflow efficiency is becoming much more important in many users’ minds. That’s reflected in a number of things we’ve done in the latest release. The Photoshop file browser has expanded into a hub for the photographic workflow, making it more efficient to sift through large numbers of images and automate their editing. More significantly, the combined release of all of our publishing applications as the Creative Suite allows us to integrate them more tightly to ensure a smoother cross-application workflow. We’ll be pushing further in this direction in the future, both in the point product and across the suite.

* Metadata: With the proliferation of images from digital cameras, it’s increasingly important to be able to track, classify and find these files. We’ve made a big step forward in metadata support in Photoshop CS, but this is still an important area for future development. In an ideal world, meaningful metadata will be created automatically or with minimal effort, and will facilitate a more automated workflow across multiple applications.

Of course, we’ll continue to push the envelope in core image processing capabilities, as well. Whereas in the past, Photoshop was primarily a set of base functions whose real power was only exposed to those who knew the advanced techniques, we’ve begun in recent versions to create more intelligent tools and functions—such as the Healing Brush and the new Shadow/Highlight command—that are both powerful and easy to use. We aim to do more of this in the future.

ImagingIQ: What role does Photoshop play in today's design industry?

Connor: I’m not a designer by trade, so I’m hesitant to make pronouncements on the latest design trends. However, I do think that, as digital design has matured, designers are beginning to spend less time wildly experimenting with what the software can do, and instead are creating simpler designs that rely less on obvious technical wizardry. I consider the new packaging of the Adobe Creative Suite applications as an example of this, for the way it marries simple vector outlines and photographic imagery in unexpected ways.

ImagingIQ: What are some of the biggest mistakes users make when using tools like Photoshop?

Connor: It’s a commonly said that good design is a matter of what you take away, and I think the reverse holds true. One of the biggest mistakes is to get carried away with what the software can do, and begin to add details and effects that detract from -- rather than improve -- the design. It’s great to have so many powerful capabilities in software like Photoshop, but any one project should only rely on a small fraction of what the application can do. Your design always needs to drive your use of the software, rather than your use of the software driving your design.

ImagingIQ: Do you see a day when users of other tools, such as Dreamweaver, can take advantage of tight Photoshop integration? (Or is that destined to be an Adobe-only type of thing?)

Connor: I can certainly foresee a day when our integration with other tools, such as Dreamweaver, will be better than it is today. We do extensive compatibility testing with products from other companies, but, admittedly, we don’t have as much time as we might like to develop special features for enhanced integration. Product development always involves trade-offs, and we do place higher priority on integration with our own products, as our customers would expect. We want to keep all of our customers happy, however, regardless of what other software they use, so we would like to improve the workflow with products like Dreamweaver in the future. Of course, it won’t be possible to achieve the same level of integration you can get when you have multiple products shipping from the same company with a synchronized development schedule, as we’ve done with the Creative Suite.

ImagingIQ: What do you say to editors and publishers who feel that tools like Photoshop are making dealing with photos easier and easier - and can't understand why good photo design still takes time? Any words in defense of the artistic process?

Connor: No amount of innovation in software or hardware is going to speed up the creative process. The creative process doesn’t happen in the computer, it happens in the designer’s head. If anything, tools like Photoshop might even make the creative process take longer, because they remove the constraints on what’s possible!

The one thing that Photoshop can really speed up is the production process, particularly with some of the enhancements we’ve made in the latest release. Unfortunately, however, the expansion of delivery mediums—such as print, the Web, and now wireless—increases the complexity of what’s requested from the designer. Software advancements are necessary just to keep designers moving at the same pace they were able to maintain in simpler days.

ImagingIQ: Where do you see the world of photo design heading? Any final words of wisdom?

Connor: Hopefully, the world of design is headed to the store right now to pick up a copy of Photoshop CS and the Adobe Creative Suite!

Seriously, though, I think that the world of design is poised to become more complex, as designers get called upon to provide output for an increasing proliferation of devices. One of the reasons Adobe is putting so much emphasis on workflow improvements is to make these demands more manageable. If we really do our job well as a software company, we’ll enable designers to continue to spend their time designing—doing what they love—without having to worry about their workflow at all. 

[For more information on Adobe Photoshop CS, go here.]