Adobe's Lightroom 3 Public Beta Is Now Available.

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Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Public Beta is now available.
Download it now.
Highlights include …
1 Importing has been redesigned
2 Collections panel in the Develop Module
3 Better Noise Reduction
4 Grain feature
5 Improved vignetting controls
6 Drag and Drop Publishing to the Web
7 Watermarking
8 Export Slideshows with music
9 Custom Print Package for creating print layouts
10 Change the background color of prints
Find over 12 useful video tutorials on the new features at NAPP’s Lightroom 3 Learning center here.
Find Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer’s D-65 free PDF here.

New Adobe Updates


Adobe has recently released a number of updates to their core photographic imaging products – Lightroom, Photoshop, and Camera Raw.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 update – February 24, 2009
* A number of issues that could cause slow performance have been addressed.
* Pen barrel rotation with Wacom tablets now works correctly.
* Photoshop now correctly recognizes 3D textures edited by a plug-in.
* The quality of the results of Auto-Blend Layers (Stack Images) has been improved.
* A problem that could result in a crash when pasting formatted text has been fixed.
* A crash that could result from a corrupt font no longer occurs.
Camera Raw 5.3 update – March 3, 2009
This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Adobe® Photoshop® CS4; Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0; and Adobe Premiere® Elements 7.0 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.
Lightroom 2.3 update – March 3, 2009
* Additional camera support for the Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30
* Includes several corrections for issues introduced by previous Lightroom 2 releases
Get all the updates here.
Learn about them in my workshops.

Adobe Groups

Adobe has entered into the world of online social networking with Adobe Groups.
“Adobe user groups provide a forum of support and technology to business and creative professionals of all levels and professions. Whether you’re a business user, designer, seasoned developer, or just starting out — Adobe user groups strengthen community, increase networking, unveil the latest technology innovations, and reveal the techniques that turn novices into experts, and experts into gurus.
The Adobe groups site provides a place on Adobe.com where community members can create a profile, join Adobe user groups and connect with other members of the Adobe community. The Adobe designer, developer and mobile communities are represented on Adobe groups as are Adobe employees and Adobe product teams. Go to Adobe groups today and start building connections within the Adobe community.”
Adobe Groups makes it easy for you to find, join, participate in user groups – worldwide. Virtually all languages are supported. You can even start your own group! Adobe Groups provides tools to help make user group management easier so you can focus on participating and creating content, not managing it. You’ll find user groups, personal profiles, event calendars, and even job boards. Anybody can join. All you need is an adobe membership idea, which is free and easy to set up.
Learn more in this online video edition of Adobe Edge.
Find our more about Adobe User Groups here.
Find or join a group here.
Are you a member? Comment about your experience here!

Lightroom 2.2 – New Update



Adobe has released a new update to its Photoshop Lightroom software, the second Lightroom update this fall. The new update includes several refinements such as enhanced performance of the local adjustment tools. In addition, Adobe’s Camera Profiles are now available natively within Lightroom 2.2 and are provided automatically as part of this release. As the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, camera profiles provide flexibility that allows photographers to quickly achieve their desired rendering. Lightroom 2.2 supports these seven new camera models: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon PowerShot G10, Panasonic DMC-G1, Panasonic DMC-FX150, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Panasonic DMC-LX3 and Leica D-LUX 4.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.2 is available now.
It’s a free download for existing Lightroom 2 customers.
It’s USD$99 as an upgrade for Lightroom 1 users.
It’s USD$299 for new users.
Lightroom 2 can be purchased through the Adobe Store here.

Check here for more information on Photoshop Lightroom 2.

Check out NAPP’s Lightroom 2 Learning Center here.
Check out PhotoshopCafe’s Lightroom 2 Learning site here.

Adobe Configurator


Adobe® Configurator is a utility application that helps create custom panels for Adobe Photoshop® CS4. Configurator makes it easy to drag and drop tools, menu items, scripts, actions, and other objects into a panel design, then export the results for use inside Photoshop. These panels leverage the support for Adobe Flash built into Photoshop, making it possible to drag and drop audio, video, images, and even other SWF files into a panel design.
Configurator is great for any Photoshop user who’d like to customize the application interface, without having to learn Flash/Flex/ActionScript. It’s particularly suited to authors, trainers, and other experts who’d like to create panels that make Photoshop easier to use, and who’d like to share those panels with others.
Configurator is free for anyone to use. Running the panels it generates requires installing Photoshop CS4.
Download Adobe Configurator here.
Find out more about Configurator on Principal Product Manager, Adobe Photoshop John Nack’s blog. Type in Configurator in the Search field there.
Download the Configurator guide here.

16 Bit Printing


16 bit printing is finally possible. It wasn’t before? That’s right.
Only Photoshop CS4 / Lightroom 2 actually deliver all 16 bits to the printer.
Only OSX 10.5 allows this; not Windows yet.
And only the latest updated drivers.
What improvements can you expect to see? Smoother gradations. Slightly more precise edge rendition.  As printer dot structures get finer and more precise, expect to see more improvements. Higher quality digital capture (higher bit, lower noise, greater resolution) will also improve output.
Find CS4 and Lightroom here.
Find Epson drivers here.
Learn more in my Fine Digital Print workshops.

Julieanne Kost – New ACR5 and Photoshop CS4 Resources


Check out Julieanne Kost’s web site for new ACR5 and Photoshop CS4 video and PDFs.

ADOBE TV The Complete Picture – Episode 08

Let Julieanne show you the power behind the new features in Camera Raw 5. Discover how to make non-destructive localized corrections as well as create special effects using the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, Post Cropping Vignettes and more!

ADOBE TV The Complete Picture – Episode 07

Discover the new features in Adobe Bridge CS4 as Julieanne walks through the new features, tools, refined interface and integration with Photoshop.

PSCS4 What’s new in Bridge CS4 (PDF)

Learn everything there is to get you up to speed quickly in Bridge CS4.

PSCS4 What’s New in Camera Raw 5 (PDF)

Discover the unlimited possibilities with Camera Raw 5.

PSCS4 Photoshop CS4 – But Wait, There’s More! (PDF)

Master the important but often overlooked refinements and adjustments in Photoshop CS4.
Julianne’s been one of Adobe’s top evangelists for years and one of the industry’s best resources. Find out more about her, see her work, find (all previously published resources), her book, and her dvds here.
Read my conversation with Julianne here.

Photoshop.com – A Glimpse of the Future Now?


Adobe has announced Photoshop.com. What is it? Mix Photoshop Elements with social networking, online sharing (Myspace/Facebook), and online archiving with services and free tutorials to support it. Imagine Flickr with free online image editing. Then add mobile computing (on cell phones and PDAs) – Photoshop.com Mobile. It’s not a professional solution (fully featured, capable of handling high resolution – Lightroom or Photoshop) – yet.
Does this herald the future of all Photoshop products? Will we be renting rather than purchasing our software in the future? Perhaps our upgrades will be automatic and managed for us. This is speculative futurecasting. For now, find out what’s happening online with PhotoshopExpress. It’s too interesting not to check it out.
Check it out here.
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