Photo Editing Features:  

Whether you’re a designer or photographer Adobe Photoshop CS4 is the undisputed champion of photo editing and retouching. A clean interface provides a no-hassle work space without losing the necessities. CS4 also offers some amazing enhancements that elevate Photoshop well above the rest. All the major elements allow for detailed retouching, advanced color management, hundreds of filters and effects including 3D effects.

Adobe has also developed some excellent time-saving features and safeguards to ensure you can work as efficiently as possible with little risk. One of Photoshop's greatest achievements is non-destructive image editing that allows for the altering of photos to your heart’s content without damaging the original. Other features include content aware scaling, batch processing, automated actions, panoramic and 360-panoramic support as well as support for web graphic optimization and mobile device support. If you're just looking for basic photo editing software as opposed to a full-blown graphics suite, check out our side-by-side comparison of the top ten products in that category.

Vector Illustration Features:  

The vector illustration features available in the Illustrator program of Adobe CS4, include several enhanced features that augment an already amazing marvel of modern programming. Industry-standard drawing tools and a variety of powerful effects make designing and manipulating vector-based graphics exciting and a lot of fun.

This latest version also includes easier interaction with tools, palettes and options. The blob brush lets you turn strokes into a single, filled object. Graphic styles, advanced path controls and appearance editing all work together to make this vector drawing even more intuitive than before.

Transparent gradients are a new and improved feature in this category - on-object interaction and elliptical gradients are also available in an awesomely handy control where you don't have to actually open up the gradient panel to do the work.