You might not realize it, but Photoshop has entered its fourth decade of existence, and in those many years, it has had a lot of time to evolve into the highly intricate and powerful application it is today. Ever wonder what it was like to use in its early days? Check out this awesome video that shows what it was like working with a version released in 1988.
Coming to you from Computer Clan, this fun video looks at Photoshop version 0.63. This version wasn't released to the public (the first commercial release would be version 0.87 in 1989), but it offers quite the interesting look at the early iterations of the program. Working with a Motorola 68K processor and 8 MB of RAM, things don't get done particularly quickly, but at the same time, thinking back to my days tinkering on a Packard Bell tower, I remember that anything like this was seriously cool, and in fairness, this version has a very workable set of tools that could make a lot of the standard adjustments we have grown accustomed to as standard nowadays. Check out the video above to see the full experience (beware that there is some strong language).
Jesus... how far we've come. Makes me scared to think where we'll be by the time I'm retired.
I remember those days....and how the computers strained too run it
How has that changed ;) my macbook pro still has issues running it (apple issue for sure). At least we weren't expecting it to run like a champ back then.
I used PS 0.87 :D
Yes, I am an old cow!
What did we ever do without the healing brush? Back in the day, it was all about the cloning tool or was that just me?
I can remember receiving my first Mac and how discouraging it was, the hard drive turned out to be defective. The local service center couldn't figure it out and I had to reinstall the OS and all software. In those days, Photoshop was eleven floppies...ask me how I remember that fact. Anyway, Apple eventually replaced the computer and it's been fairly smooth sailing until the Powerbook G3 pot metal hinges.
I don't remember when they introduced "Calculations" in PS, but with that, even with a single layer, it was possible to create shadows, glows, bevels and embossings.... knowing of course how to use it.
But I remember that after they introduced these effects as fliter I continued to use *my* calculation method for a while.
"What did we ever do without the healing brush?"
You developed the fine art of luminosity matching with the clone brush, finessing with dodge and burn to blend density gradients. I was so used to the process I didn't bother with the healing brush until around CS4 or so.
Starting with Photoshop 4, I realize I had it easy compared to some here. PS5 however was so much more powerful. A friend gave me a copy of 3 on multiple floppies that I played with a little.
I started on 4 and 5, and also good ol' ClarisWorks, god that seems so long ago with what we all have to work with today!!!