Photoshop as a Medium

Photoshop is a widely used medium whose content includes templates and tools used to "doctor" photographs or other images. Photos or images can be created, combined, embellished, transformed, and, in many ways, improved. The message that comes from this content is very important.

In an age where photos and images can be so easily changed it makes it hard for one to believe what he or she sees. This gives the media both an advantage and power over its consumers. In a way, it decides what people see. How people see media is an individual endeavor yet it is much easier and quicker (and more common) to take photos at face value.

In a more positive light, Photoshop allows for a much broader range of creativity and can serve as an outlet for those who are more visually motivated. This program presents endless possibilities and, when given the same image, two people are very unlikely to produce the same end result.

Photoshop allows users the freedom to take images they may have taken from other sources or their own images and make them their own. In some ways that might imply its message is the power to manipulate media however, it is the way it is manipulated that is most significant. Photoshop is a window of opportunity for amateurs as well as professionals. From Facebook pictures to corporate advertising campaigns, Photoshop provides the content to create powerful imagery, or simply cool default pictures.