Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3 software for Windows® and Macintosh, the essential digital photography workflow solution that allows photographers to quickly organize, enhance and showcase their images from one application. First released as a public beta in October 2009, the final version of Lightroom 3 introduces a completely redesigned performance architecture that better handles growing image libraries and provides an unrivaled raw processing engine with noise reduction and sharpening tools to achieve the highest image quality. The 64-bit capable Lightroom 3 includes new features that optimize workflows and allow images to be shared in creative ways, including support for DSLR video files and tethered shooting on select cameras.

“There have been over 600,000 downloads of the Lightroom 3 public beta, which has supplied us with a huge amount of valuable feedback from a passionate community of professional and advanced amateur photographers,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe. “The open dialog we have with our customers allows us to further improve Lightroom and provide the best tools they need to produce high-quality images. We’re happy to see that so many people are anxiously anticipating the final release, so they can start taking advantage of all the new features they had a hand in developing.”

Public Beta Process Perfects Lightroom 3 New Features

Re-built from its core to be lightning fast and responsive, Lightroom 3 adds power throughout the application to provide a fluid experience for photographers. Images load almost instantaneously, and the import experience has been redesigned to be more intuitive, with added previews and default selections that give users quick access to sort through and find images. Helping streamline and adapt to photographers’ changing workflows, Lightroom 3 now allows users to import and manage DSLR video files, as well as take advantage of tethered shooting for select Nikon and Canon cameras.

New state-of-the-art photographic tools help photographers bring out the best in their images. Unrivaled Luminance and Color Noise Reduction tools help produce a clearer picture from high ISO or underexposed images while still preserving details. The highly-requested Automatic Lens Correction feature can dramatically improve the results possible with any lens by allowing users to apply profiles that correct for undesirable geometric distortions, chromatic aberrations and lens vignette effects that most lenses introduce to the image. Users now also have a straighten tool to perfect vertical and horizontal perspective, additional presets for applying more photographic adjustment styles, and three new contemporary vignette styles and a Grain effect to add a more natural look with images.

Lightroom 3 Expands Image Showcasing

Output options have also been enhanced in this release, with new capabilities to publish collections on online sharing sites. Flickr® users have the ability to synch their accounts to Lightroom with one click, and integration with additional online photo sharing sites can be added via third-party plug-ins. Customizable print layouts provide more refined control over how photographers present final images, and new watermarking features, with options to modify text, size, location and style, help give professionals and amateurs flexibility for branding images. Lightroom 3 now also includes the ability to export polished slideshows as video files with the option to add audio and title screens.

Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for Windows and Macintosh is available now at http://www.adobe.com/store, for pre-order via Amazon.com and NewEgg.com and will be available soon at retail and online outlets such as Frys, BestBuy.com, Costco.com, Walmart.com, Staples.com, OfficeMax.com, OfficeDepot.com and select camera stores. The estimated street price is US$299 for new users with an upgrade price of US$99 for qualified registered Lightroom users. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OS X v 10.5, 10.6 with Intel® based processor, or Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise or Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, 2 GB RAM and a 1,024×768 resolution screen.

Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom. Join the Lightroom community on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/lightroom) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/lightroom).

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com.

© 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Lightroom, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Inc. registered in the United States and other countries. Intel and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. Windows and Windows Vista are either a registered trademark or a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. This product uses the Flickr API but is not endorsed or certified by Flickr. Flickr is a registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Adobe today released an update to its Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta software, available immediately through Adobe Labs. Building on the success of the first Lightroom 3 beta, which was downloaded by more than 350,000 photographers, Lightroom 3 beta 2 incorporates feedback from the first iteration of the beta while offering users several new features and greatly improved performance throughout the application.

New features in this release include tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon cameras, the ability to import and manage video files from DSLR cameras for a streamlined workflow and additional behind-the-scenes architecture enhancements for faster importing and loading of images. The addition of luminance noise reduction to the color noise reduction options already available in the beta helps photographers achieve overall exceptional image quality from high ISO images. The import experience and watermarking functionality have also been modified to reflect feedback received from the Lightroom community during the first beta period.

The input from the photography community has been extremely valuable and Adobe would like to thank everyone who has participated in the beta program. Adobe encourages photographers to test this new selection of features and provide the product team with feedback so they can produce the highest quality final product.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, perfect and showcase all their images in one intuitive application.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta 2 is available as a free download to anyone on a Macintosh or Windows platform and is available in 12 languages. Visit http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/ to learn more and download the second beta. Feedback can be submitted on the Lightroom forums: http://forums.adobe.com/community/labs/lightroom3/.

magenomic announced today the release of Portraiture 2 for Adobe Lightroom.  This latest Portraiture 2 product edition from Imagenomic delivers all of the productivity benefits of fast and accurate skin retouching to the Lightroom user community, and complements earlier introductions of Portraiture 2 for Adobe Photoshop and Apple Aperture.

Portraiture 2 versions for Lightroom include native 32 and 64-bit support for Windows Vista, and support for the latest Mac Intel platforms and OSX releases for Apple computers.  All of the familiar features and controls that have made Portraiture 2 popular with Photoshop and Aperture users are now available in the new Lightroom edition.  Lightroom users also benefit from two Portraiture workflow usage modes, using both the Edit In and Export techniques for individual and batch image editing and processing.

“Lightroom users make up an important part of our customer community, and this latest version of Portraiture 2 is designed to meet their demands and expectations,” says David McDonell, CEO of Imagenomic.  “We have spent considerable time and effort to ensure that Portraiture 2 works seamlessly within the Lightroom workflow, and that it conforms to our highest technical and performance benchmarks for all Imagenomic products; this latest release meets these stringent criteria and we anticipate that the Lightroom community will agree,” McDonell added.

This latest Portraiture 2 edition is available for immediate use on a free, 15-day trial basis from the company’s website.  For new customers, the Lightroom edition is available for purchase at $199.95.  For registered users of Portraiture 2 for Photoshop or Aperture, the Lightroom edition is available at the discounted price of $99.95.  See http://www.imagenomic.com for additional details.

Imagenomic is honored to announce that Portraiture 2 has been recognized by American PHOTO magazine with a 2009 Editor’s Choice Award in their July/August issue.  You can read more about what the editors had to say about the software by visiting http://www.imagenomic.com to find the link to American PHOTO online.

About Imagenomic

Imagenomic is the creator of the award-winning Noiseware, Portraiture and RealGrain software product series for digital photography.  Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, Imagenomic LLC is a privately held, independent software vendor specializing in digital imagery enhancement solutions.

Using our proprietary, patent-pending algorithms, the company is focused on creating high performance software tools for retouching, noise and artifact removal, sharpening and other image correction and enhancement processes.  Imagenomic’s products have been acclaimed by a global customer community and industry peers for their superior processing speed, picture quality and overall ease-of-use.  For more information, visit us online at http://www.imagenomic.com

All Company and Product names referenced herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Nik Software announces today that Sharpener Pro 3.0, its popular digital photographic plug-in offering the most advanced and powerful sharpening solution for photographers, is now available for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and higher. Sharpener Pro 3.0 eliminates the guesswork typically required for achieving superior and consistent selective sharpening results. The update is available now as a free download to current owners at http://www.niksoftware.com/lightroom.

“Sharpener Pro 3.0 now joins Viveza, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Silver Efex Pro for Lightroom, enabling photographers to incorporate the leading sharpening solution into their Lightroom workflow,” said Michael J. Slater, president and CEO of Nik Software. “Sharpener Pro has been one of the most anticipated additions for Lightroom compatibility and we are pleased to announce that it is available. This update, like previous Lightroom compatibility releases, is offered to Sharpener Pro 3.0 users at no additional cost.”

Sharpener Pro 3.0 installs as a plug-in for Lightroom 2.3, itself a free update from earlier versions and available for download at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates. Once installed, Sharpener Pro 3.0 is accessible via the Lightroom Photo>Edit In… menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, with edits applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF file and not the original. Sharpener Pro 3.0 also takes advantage of Lightroom’s efficiencies for everyday tasks, including the ability to edit multiple images in one session, increasing productivity for photographers.

About Sharpener Pro 3.0

Featuring Nik Software’s patented U Point technology, Sharpener Pro 3.0 enables photographers to selectively sharpen objects within their images. U Point-powered Control Points are easy to use and offer precise control over sharpening intensity without the need to create complicated selections and layer masks.

Additional key features of Sharpener Pro 3.0 include:

• Output Sharpening—Provides the ultimate control to create perfectly sharpened images on all devices and media types such as display, inkjet, continuous tone, half tone, and hybrid tone
• Creative Sharpening—Enhances fine details and textures with new structure, focus, and local contrast tools for drawing attention to desired areas within the image
• Industry-First Sharpening Soft Proof—Allows detailed inspection of sharpening results on screen before printing, eliminating costly test prints
• Output Presets—Enables custom settings to be saved for consistent, professional results
• RAW Presharpener—Retains and enhances sharp details within images without amplifying noise and other artifacts
• Multi-Image Support (Aperture & Lightroom)—Provides compatibility with multi-image support in Aperture and Lightroom, allowing photographers to easily copy and paste settings between images to maintain consistency
• Powerful Selective Tool (Photoshop only)—Enables the use of Photoshop’s brush tools to paint in sharpening selectively
• Smart Filter Support (Photoshop only)—Provides compatibility with Adobe Photoshop’s Smart Objects enabling adjustments to sharpening after Sharpener Pro has been applied

Pricing and Availability

The fully compatible Sharpener Pro 3.0 product, offering support for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple Aperture, is available immediately for electronic delivery directly from Nik Software (http://www.niksoftware.com) or through specialty camera retailers. A complete list of resellers may be found at http://www.niksoftware.com/resellers. Current owners of Sharpener Pro 3.0 may download a free update at http://www.niksoftware.com/lightroom.

Nik Software also announced that all of its photographic filter products are being updated to support Lightroom as well, finally a Complete Collection Lightroom edition will be be released this summer. As
these Lightroom-compatible versions become available, current owners of the Photoshop-version will receive updates free of charge. All products are expected to be available by the end of the second
quarter of 2009.

The suggested retail price of Sharpener Pro 3.0 is €199.95 (incl. VAT). Upgrades from any previous version are available for €99.95 (incl. VAT). Sharpener Pro 3.0 installs as a plug-in for either Adobe Photoshop, Apple Aperture 2.1, or Lightroom and is available for Windows and Macintosh operating systems, including Vista and Leopard. For more information about Sharpener Pro 3.0, including video tutorials showing the software running within Photoshop, Aperture or Lightroom and a free 15-day fully functional trial version, please visit http://www.niksoftware.com/sharpenerpro.

The Clarity Setting in LightRoom 2

Successful photographers have a particular style of post processing for their images. This “style” is a signature that defines their product from other photographers. However, this doesn’t mean that they spend hours upon hours figuring out how to unify every single image. What gives?

Many pros have transitioned from using PhotoShop for every single image, to “preset editing” in Lightroom and using Photoshop for select editing. In fact, Lightroom is equipped with handling “Presets” that can save you an abundance of time and energy during your editing.

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In the last post I wrote about LR2′s Graduated Filter. The other localized editing tool, which many think might be the most significant addition to LR2, is the Adjustment Brush [AB]. The AB (keyboard shortcut “K” in your program) allows you to “paint” localized non-destructive effects like Exposure, Saturation, Sharpness, etc. You can then change or add parameters to the selected area and fine tune the effect to your image.

There have been some complaints about performance issues with the AB. It is a memory hog for sure but the performance issue seems to be system-based and influenced by your graphic card and its settings.

Adding an effect with the AB at times can be challenging, not just because of the performance issue above, but sometimes the effect is hard to notice… especially if the effect is subtle. When I first started using this new AB tool, I would exaggerate the effect: e.g. Exposure -4; Saturation +100; Sharpen +100. Using these exaggerated settings, I could follow creating my AB effect more easily.

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Lightroom 2.2 is now available on Adobe.com. (Mac, Win)  The release includes new camera support for the following models:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• Canon PowerShot G10
• Panasonic DMC-G1**
• Panasonic DMC-FX150**
• Panasonic DMC-FZ28**
• Panasonic DMC-LX3**
• Leica D-LUX 4**

We’ve also fixed a few bugs that were introduced with the Lightroom 2.0 release:

Lightroom 2 Bugs – Fixed

• Images rendered from the Slideshow export process produced a jagged effect on hard edges relative to the quality of normal JPEG export
• Increased the number of characters allowed in Web gallery labels beyond 150 characters
• Catalogs with hundreds of root (top level) folders caused very slow launch times
• Drag and drop to move a subfolder to a different folder showed the incorrect photos in the grid
• Print Sharpening produced edge artifacts in certain conditions
• Density defaulted to 100 percent for initial stroke regardless of position of slider
• The  Adjustment brush created blocky, straight edges to brush strokes under certain conditions
• Lightroom could become unresponsive when using the graduated filter under certain conditions
• It was possible to lose the ability to edit an adjustment brush setting after applying a graduated filter with hidden pins
• Turning auto-mask on produced a lag in Lightroom performance in when applying the adjustment brush
• Print to JPEG functionality produced a low resolution image when printing photos with panorama aspect ratios
• Extended characters in a folder name caused Edit in Photoshop functionality to fail
• Smart collection did not respond to changes in custom metadata

Lightroom 2 Enhancements

• Camera profiles are now available in the Calibration panel in the Develop module.  These profiles are designed to provide different interpretations of raw capture.

**With the release of Camera Raw 5.2 (and upcoming Lightroom 2.2 release) there is an important exception in our DNG file handling for the Panasonic DMC LX3, Panasonic DMC FX150, Panasonic DMC FZ28, Panasonic DMC-G1 and Leica D-LUX 4. In this release the native, proprietary files from these cameras can only be converted to linear DNG files. A linear DNG file has gone through a demosaic process that converts a single mosaic layer of red, green and blue channel information into three distinct layers , one for each channel. The resulting linear DNG file is approximately three times the size of a mosaic DNG file or the original proprietary file format.

This exception is a temporary solution to ensure that Panasonic and Leica’s intended image rendering from their proprietary raw file format is applied to an image when converted DNG files are viewed in third party software titles. The same image rendering process is applied automatically in Camera Raw 5.2 and in Lightroom 2.2 when viewing the original proprietary raw file format.

In a future release Adobe plans to update the DNG specification to include an option to embed metadata-based representations of the lens compensations in the DNG file, allowing a mosaic DNG conversion. In the interim Adobe recommends only converting these files to DNG to allow compatibility with third party raw converters, previous versions of the Camera Raw plug-in or previous versions of Lightroom.

source : Adobe

When I’m on vacation, I take two types of shots:

1. Regular travel photos, where we’re posed in front of a monument, and I shoot the quaint restaurant we ate at, and all the standard tourist stuff that chronicles your vacation, and would make a great travel slideshow to show friends back home.

1. Shots that just appeal to me as a photographer, which don’t always show a place like most people would expect. For example, I could shoot for a week in Paris and not have a single shot of the Eiffel tower; an act which would make most wives bludgeon their husbands upon return from their trip.”

So, I’m making two different books, which is what got me wanting to try a slightly different workflow.

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from Yanik Chauvin

The presets are available in two versions, one with auto toning and the other one without.
I just show you a preview of the set without the Auto toning, but of course both versions are included in the zipfile you download.

The Zip file contains both Auto Toning and Regular presets from the following black and white films:

• Agfa Scala 200X
• Agfapan 100
• Agfapan 25
• Agfapan 400
• Fuji Acros 100
• Ilford Delta 100
• Ilford Delta 3200
• Ilford Delta 400 Pro
• Ilford Delta 400
• Ilford FP4 125
• Ilford HP5 400
• Ilford Pan F 50
• Ilford SFX 200
• Ilford XP2 Super 400
• Kodak TMAX 100
• Kodak TMAX 400
• Kodak Tri-X 400

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The Drag And Drop Method To Importing To Adobe Lightroom 2.0.

from Yanik Chauvin

Adobe has released updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, both available immediately as free upgrades for Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 users. The releases provide added raw file support for 15 digital cameras including the Nikon D90, Nikon D700, Canon EOS 50D and Canon EOS 1000D. The Lightroom 2.1 update also includes improvements to Photoshop integration, Web module stability for Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, performance with 64-bit Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers, and Keyword migration from Lightroom. A complete list of improvements is available in the Lightroom update documentation.

In addition, Adobe has released a new set of camera profiles available on Adobe Labs. The camera profiles are targeted at improving Adobe’s default raw processing and emulating the colour rendering provided by camera manufacturers. The update includes added support for the Leica M8, Canon EOS 50D, Canon G9, Nikon D90 and Pentax models. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow. Since image preferences vary by photographer, Adobe minimizes surprises by supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers normally see from their cameras.

The 15 new digital cameras supported in Lightroom 2.1 and Camera Raw 5.1 include the Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EOS 50D, Fuji FinePix IS Pro, Kodak EasyShare Z1015 IS, Leaf AFi II 6, Leaf AFi II 7, Leaf Aptus II 6, Leaf Aptus II 7, Nikon D700, Nikon D90, Nikon Coolpix P6000, Olympus SP-565 UZ, Pentax K2000, Sigma DP1, and Sony A900. Additionally, Adobe recently released Camera Raw 4.6, which includes the same raw file support for Photoshop CS3 customers.

Pricing and Availability
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.1 is available as a free download for existing customers at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/. Photoshop Lightroom 2 can be purchased through the Adobe Store at http://www.adobe.com/store. The estimated street price is £199.00 ex Vat for new users with an upgrade price of £79.00 ex Vat for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers. The updated camera profiles are available as a separate download on Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com.

The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-ins are available as free downloads for existing customers. Camera Raw 5.1 for Photoshop CS4 users and Camera Raw for Photoshop CS3 users are available at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/.

Soften skin with Lightroom 2

One of the great new features in Lightroom 2 is the graduated filter tool. Though simple, It can have a very powerful effect on one’s photos, as we’ll see. From darkening a washed out sky, to emphasising the billowing clouds of stormy sky, the graduated filter tool in Lightroom 2 is incredibly customizable.

Rather than me tell you about it, I have included an example of the tool in use, and some screenshots of my workflow in Lightroom 2 as I was working on an image of a longtail boat in Thailand.

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Even if you’re shooting RAW, the histogram on your camera’s LCD is still derived from JPEG data (think “close but not perfect info”). If you’re exposing so that the histogram is as far as you can to the right without clipping highlights, the LCD on your camera still might be too conservative. The histogram in Lightroom is built on the RAW data and is far more accurate. It’s also a heck of a lot easier to see. Further, you can use the exposure slider in Lightroom to determine the correct exposure setting for your camera.

Like many shooters, you might be surprised to learn that you already have all (or most) of the gear needed for tethered shooting.

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Over thirty of the Image-Space Lightroom Tips and Tricks in one easy to read or print ebook format.

Includes the Library Module, Develop Module and the general use of Lightroom.

Example Tip Topics:

• Simple and easy folder structure
• Show filmstrip ratings and picks
• Visual keyword usage indicator
• Display exposure bias on thumbnails
• Fix missing metadata dates
• Thumbnail icon tricks

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Cosmetic Eye Adjustments With Adobe Lightroom 2

Selective editing
One of the problems with the first version of Lightroom was its lack of selection-based adjustments. Any changes you made to a photo were applied to the entire image. For many photos, this wasn’t a problem—changing the exposure, color balance, or other tonal setting throughout an image made sense. But, if you had an image that had a perfectly exposed sky and an underexposed foreground, for example, you couldn’t selectively change the foreground without making the sky look bad.

To make those types of changes in Lightroom 1.0, you needed Photoshop or another image-editing application. You would edit the image out of Lightroom, and then have to deal with a second version (or third or fourth, depending upon how much you edited it) of a photo in your Lightroom library.

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London — July 29, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer’s essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localised image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish.

As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64-bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.

“A worldwide community of photographers provided valuable insight and feedback, as part of the Lightroom 2 public beta program, ultimately helping us deliver a better product,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Lightroom and Camera Raw at Adobe. “We’ve considered their requests which helped us develop useful features that make it easier than ever for our customers to quickly refine, enhance and present brilliant photographs.”

Photoshop Lightroom 2: Smarter, Faster and More Accurate
The enhanced Library module in Lightroom 2 helps streamline and accelerate photographers’ workflows. With the ability to visually organise images across multiple hard drives, Lightroom 2 and its powerful Library Filter Bar makes it easy for users to quickly find the images they need. The Suggested Keywords feature helps photographers keyword their images by making intelligent suggestions based on their own previous efforts. New dual-monitor support allows users to expand their workspace, giving them flexibility to edit and organise images in a way that maximises an additional display.

In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust colour, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. The new Graduated Filter expands the toolbox in Lightroom, allowing for edits to larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination. Lightroom 2 also helps photographers print more efficiently by quickly arranging photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with flexible and customisable templates to maximise paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster. Developers can further extend the Lightroom workflow with Web, Export and Metadata Software Development Kits available at the Adobe Developer Connection, http://www.adobe.com/devnet/.

Ground-Breaking Innovation in Raw Technology
New raw technology gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer. To minimise surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favourite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customised profiles to suit different tastes. Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com) for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw 4.5, along with the DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles.

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.

“One of the big reasons why Lightroom has become such a phenomenon among serious photographers is that Adobe built it with the input of a very vocal user community,” said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).  “Adobe really listens to the issues and challenges today’s photographers face and they’ve built a complete solution that not only meets the needs of photographers; it really feels like it was made just for us. The enhancements to Lightroom 2, combined with the power of Photoshop, give photographers the ultimate freedom to produce professional images quickly.”

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available now through the Adobe Store at http://www.adobe.com/store in English, French and German with the Japanese language version planned to be released at a future date. The estimated street price is £175 for new users with an upgrade price of £69 for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel® based processor, or Microsoft Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4® processor, 1 GB RAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen. Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionises how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com.

It seems computers can do most anything with an image now a days. So why bother with all those cumbersome filters? The answer is that most of them are still superior to the techniques used with a computer. Plus, if the image is more accurate coming out of the camera, less time and effort will be needed in post processing.

Lastly, understanding the play of light and filtration is an important cornerstone to understanding photography, which is simply put, capturing light.Bumping up contrast and adjusting color is as easy as a couple of mouse clicks nowadays. My goal in this post is to compare the two techniques and let you draw your own conclusion. Knowing that good polarizing filters cost more than $100, I hope you can be a little more informed if you wish to go that route.

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At first, I have been using many applications for image editing like Adobe Photoshop, Lightzone, and Apple Aperture, but I really love the ease of use and file handling in Adobe Lightroom. The handled methods in Lightroom can be used for any given photographs in Lightroom. Not only RAW files, but also jpegs (though with some restrictions because less bits per channel).

I have a total B&W working procedure from the photograph making to the post processing. I set up my camera in RAW mode and select the B&W setting. In my case, the Ricoh GX100 will save a B&W jpeg and an unprocessed RAW file. I import the RAW files in Adobe Lightroom with a B&W preset.

continue at Seriouscompacts

Lightroom presets by Matt Kloskowski

“Adobe Photoshop Lightroom answers the digital photographer’s call for a workflow application that allows photographers to quickly work with raw format images. With Lightroom you can manage all of your photographs; showcase them in print, dynamic slideshows, and interactive Web galleries that are a simple to produce. Lightroom’s cross platform support allows photographers to effortlessly work on projects from any Windows or Macintosh computer on-location or in the office. ”

Enhancements that can be found in the Lightroom 2.0 beta include the following:

• Localized corrections.Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
• Improved organizational tools. Find the images you need quickly and easily.
• Multiple monitor support . Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
• Flexible print package functionality. Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
• 64-bit support Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.

continue at Adobe

Dave Hill look at Flickr

Beers with Dave Hill at Strobist

Creating that Dave Hill look at DIYPhotography

Cool gritty look in camera raw photoshop and lightroom by Scott Kelby

Lucisart Photoshop plugin review at Scott Kelby

Dave Hill Photographer

Getting started using white balance, tone & vibrance presets.
Monochrome: Using the Black & White conversion, tints & vignette presets.
Color Effects: Using HSL presets and manual adjustments.

See it in Action: Full workflow with several examples.
Workflow tips for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

color presets and tones from Inside-Lightroom.com :

Color Lightroom Presets

Point Curve Lightroom Presets

Cross Process Lightroom Presets

Black and White Lightroom Presets

Split Tone/Old Processes Lightroom Presets

Calibration Lightroom Presets