Almost exactly 35 (!) years ago, on February 19, 1990, Photoshop 1.0, the first version of a program that would become an absolute standard in digital image editing over the following years, was released. The software was so influential that its name became practically synonymous with computer-based image editing, just as "Googling" stands for searching the web.
Photoshop 1.0 was released 35 years ago
The program was developed by Thomas and John Knoll, initially as a tool for editing scanned images. However, even before the official market launch, John Knoll, who has worked as a VFX specialist at ILM since 1986, used an early version for the visual effects of The Abyss (1989) to design the groundbreaking water pseudopod sequence. He also used Photoshop to perfect the flowing transformations of the T-1000 in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day". The software quickly became indispensable in film workflows – with then-groundbreaking features such as layers introduced in 1994 and non-destructive editing, it offered unprecedented control over visual effects and post-production work.
Originally only available for Mac, Photoshop was ported to Windows in 1993, opening up a mass market. A few years later, the program was no longer used only in the photo/graphics or motion picture fields; practically everyone who was building one of those newfangled homepages for the internet at the time used Photoshop.
And that's more or less how it has remained to this day, even though more competing software from other companies (such as Affinity) has been developed since the rather unpopular switch to the subscription model – since 2013, the program has no longer been available as a perpetual license. Due to its close integration with other important Adobe applications and its widespread use in professional environments, many creatives and media professionals cannot do without Photoshop.
The great influence Photoshop has had on digital filmmaking and visual effects was also recognized in 2018 with a Technical Oscar (Scientific and Engineering Award).
And now, with the arrival of generative AI, a new era is dawning, not only for digital image editing but also for image creation. Many things will become easier – the tools will change and the cards, as with any disruptive technology, will be partly reshuffled. However, with its own Firefly model, Adobe also wants to remain at the forefront and has been integrating corresponding tools into Photoshop and its other creative tools for several years now. It will be exciting to see where the journey leads.
This old demo by John Knoll shows what working with Photoshop 1.0 was like:
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