Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

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Lightroom 2 is out and it looks to be quite the follow-up to its ground-breaking predecessor.  I would give you a rundown of all the great features and why it’s everything Aperture 2.1 is and more; however, John Nack has already done that and given you several links to follow-up on your LR 2 fetish.  Check out the press release below and then head over to John Nack’s rundown. [Read more…]

 

Photoshop World Conference Keynote Announced

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The headliner for this year’s Photoshop World Conference will be John Loiacono, Adobe’s Senior Vice President of Creative Solutions. He will be taking the stage as the featured keynote presenter at Photoshop World Las Vegas on September 4th.

Loiacono is known for using Photoshop World to launch new projects — he announced the Lightroom 2 Public Beta at Photoshop World Orlando. His presentations are always interesting and engaging, not the typical humdrum business lecture you might expect from someone with his title. Loiacono’s executive bio is on the Adobe site. The above photo is from Loiacono’s talk at last year’s conference.

Camera Raw Plugin Available For Photoshop

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Adobe Labs made the Camera Raw 4.5 plugin for Photoshop available at the end of last week. This plugin gives Photoshoppers easy access to raw image formats, the format in which most professional and prosumer digital cameras shoot.

This version is only a release candidate. The plugin is well tested but needs more community testing to put it through its paces on multiple platforms and various hardware. Eventually Camera Raw will be distributed to all Photoshop users, according to the Adobe site.

You can download the plugin for either Macintosh or Windows through the Adobe Labs site. You must already have Adobe Creative Suite 3 or Photoshop CS3 installed on your computer to use Camera Raw.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Beta Announced

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 2 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta, a public preview of new and improved functionality to be delivered in the next major release. Lightroom is the professional photographer’s essential toolbox, providing one application for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. Lightroom 2.0 beta will feature enhancements such as dual-monitor support, localized dodge and burn correction and will be the first Adobe application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Intel Macs and Microsoft Vista 64-bit operating systems.”Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta provides early access to requested improvements over version 1.3 and continues our ongoing dialogue and open communication with the photography community,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Photoshop Lightroom and Camera Raw. “We’re excited not only for our existing customers, but also for the general public who will have an opportunity to take Lightroom 2.0 beta on a test run.” [Read more…]

Adobe Photoshop Express

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Adobe has released Photoshop Express in beta to the public. The above video that Scott Kelby placed on YouTube does a good job of explaining what it does and doesn’t do.  Additionally, here’s a brief description from Adobe:

During the public beta period, Adobe will solicit Photoshop Express user feedback on product features and functionality, which will continue to evolve over time. As the newest addition to the Photoshop family line, Photoshop Express has taken much of Adobe’s best image editing technology and made it simple and accessible to a new online audience. Photoshop Express allows users to store up to 2 gigabytes of images online for free, make edits to their photos, and share them online in creative ways, including downloading and uploading photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook.

Adobe Photoshop Express beta is available now for free via any Web browser at http://www.photoshop.com/express.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 for $299

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[This post has been updated. See below.]

No, this isn’t some cheap take on a educational software gray market scam. This is the real deal from Adobe.

If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on Photoshop CS3, but don’t really want to shell out $650, then Adobe has got a deal for you. You can upgrade your copy of Photoshop Elements (versions 1.0-6) to the full blown Photoshop CS3 for only $299. This offer is for US and Canada residents only (excluding Quebec for some reason).

What? You don’t have Elements? Get a copy for under $40 at Amazon and then upgrade it. You still come in $300 less that the full retail price.

As far as I can tell, you can only take advantage of this upgrade offer directly through Adobe. So, here’s the link. The offer expires 2/29/08.

Update: As Stephen pointed out in the comments below, Wacom tablets come with Photoshop Elements and the $299 upgrade coupon. So, you can still go cheap and grab a Wacom Bamboo tablet for $83 and still come out under $400 with CS3.

Update #2: Alan pointed out in the comments below that when you click “Order Now” you get a pop-up that says “error: the promotion code you entered has already been used”. I didn’t get that error this morning when I posted this. I called the Adobe sales number on the page linked to above. The rep that I spoke to said I could upgrade for $299 – in fact, he was ready to take my order; however, I told him who I was and that I wanted a link for the product page where we could all order it and he said that he couldn’t help me with that but forwarded me to customer service in India. After 20 minutes and creating a new account at Adobe, I hung up with no progress. Another 20 minute online chat with another sales rep sent me back to customer service in India. My suggestion? Give them a call, along with your serial number and try to upgrade that way. Sorry if this turns out to be phooey. Thanks for pointing out the error message Alan.

Update #3: Fried Toast in the comments below thinks the whole thing is bogus.  I’m still for giving Adobe a call if you want to upgrade and trying it over the phone.

[tags]adobe, photoshop, cs3, elements, upgrade[/tags]

Nik Software Dfine® 2.0 Brings Revolutionary Noise Reduction

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 Pre-PMA Press Release

Las Vegas, NV – January 18, 2008 (PMA 08, Booth #L161) – Nik Software Inc.’s award-winning noise reduction software tool Dfine 2.0 now features Nik Software’s patented U Point technology for selective editing control and a completely new user interface that is easier to use and improves workflow for busy photographers.

“Many photographers have simply ignored or accepted image noise as a part of digital photography due to the complexity of the image editing tools available,” said Michael J. Slater, president and CEO of Nik Software, Inc. “The complete re-design of Dfine takes simplicity and control of noise reduction to an entirely new level, a point recognized when it earned the coveted American Photo Editor’s Choice 2007 award.” [Read more…]