Adobe today released the final Photoshop Lightroom 2.4 and Camera Raw 5.4 updates, available for immediate download at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/. Both updates bring additional raw file support to 31 camera and camera back models including the Canon EOS 500D, Nikon D5000 and 18 Hasselblad models. A full list of the newly supported camera and camera back models is below.

Click to view movie

This movie extract is from  Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop.

One of the top requests for Camera Raw and Lightroom has been to include perspective corrections, so that users can apply perspective corrections to raw images. It so happens there is already a method in Camera Raw and Photoshop that will allow you to correct the perspective of a raw photograph while keeping the image in its original raw file state. This isn’t exactly a hidden feature in Camera Raw, but this movie does demonstrate a workaround for correcting perspective of raw files while keeping them fully editable in Camera Raw. Here’s how it can be done.

Please note this video is in Quicktime format. A player can be downloaded from apple.com.

Source: Unplggd
Author: Taryn

Dead Pixels are annoying little dark bits you’ll see on your screen when a bunch of teeny tiny subpixels are permanently off. It might be a broken transistor or just a pixel that’s stuck on black. Or if you’re messing around with Google Earth, it might be an 82-centimeter by 82-centimeter square of burnt grass.

Read the full story…

Click here to view movie

This movie extract is from  Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop.

You know how the camera always seems to add 10 lbs.? You can shave those extra pounds away using Photoshop. This demo shows two methods of making people look thinner. And, if you do it with subtlety, you’ll never know that is was Photoshop that took those extra pounds off–and your clients will think you are a genius!

Please note this video is in Quicktime format. A player can be downloaded from apple.com.

Click here to view movie

This movie extract is from  Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop.

Here is an interesting challenge that I was presented with recently. I shot the model shown above for an advertising job and was asked by the client to make sure that the skin tone and nails looked flawless. After they had seen the initial retouch work they also asked if I could clean up the hair outline. At first it looked like this would be impossible to achieve. After all, how on earth can one use the clone stamp or healing brush to tidy up the fine hair strands against a background which consisted of a busy wallpaper pattern? As it turned out, the solution to this problem was staring me in the face!

Please note this video is in Quicktime format. A player can be downloaded from apple.com.

Click to view movie

Yep, there are already a lot of ways to convert a color image to grayscale in Photoshop or Camera Raw. But all of them except this technique mean your image is converted as a global correction. Using color channels as grayscale layers means you can use layer masks to alter the grayscale conversion and allows you to optimize for the best possible result. The technique allows shows how to re-convert your grayscale image back to a color image for the purposes of color toning.

Please note this video is in Quicktime format. A player can be downloaded from apple.com.

Click to view movie

Have you ever found yourself in the position where you are trying to photograph a building, but can’t get a clear view of the subject because of lamp posts or other objects that are in the foreground? In this short movie clip I show how with a little forward planing it is possible to remove offending objects from the foreground without needing to use either the clone stamp or healing brush. Essentially, you can use the new improved auto-alignment command in Photoshop to sucessfuly merge two exposures shot from different angles.

Please note this video is in Quicktime format. A player can be downloaded from apple.com.

Adobe has released the final versions of Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3, available immediately for download at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/.

This is a story about how Jeff Schewe and Martin Evening got together in Chicago last year to shoot a set of pictures especially for our new joint book ‘Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop‘.

The title is kind of self-explanatory. This is a brand new book in the Photoshop for Photographers series (published by Focal Press) and forms a masterclass type experience with two leading Photoshop experts. It’s a book aimed at intermediate to advanced-level users and assumes that the reader is already pretty familiar with the Photoshop interface and basic tools and there is therefore no need to have to explain the basics all over again plus color management etc. You can already find all that information in the main Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers book. This new title contains 400 pages of Photoshop techniques shown in step-by-step tutorial form.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 update – multiple languages

The Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 11.0.1 update addresses a number of issues discovered after Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended (11.0) software were released. 

The most significant fixes in the Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 update include the following:

For the Photoshop geek that has to have everything, this was just released from meninos in Brazil! Photoshop panels as photo magnets. See the page here. The company web site is here. The photo boards are available for Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. As you can see, the product is based on Photoshop CS3-no word on a CS4 update.

Hum, we wonder what Adobe Legal will have to do about this? :~)

TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The National Association of Photoshop Professionals(NAPP) today announced the winners of its 4th annual Photoshop User Awards – the first and only worldwide competition for Adobe Photoshop users. Winners were selected from more than 700 entries from 12 countries. Finalists in each of the 11 categories also competed for Best of Show to win an all expense paid, five-day trip for two to Barcelona, Spain. NAPP president Scott Kelby and Photoshop User magazine art director Felix Nelson chaired the judging panel for this year’s competition. Winning images can be viewed atwww.PhotoshopUserAwards.com/winners.php.

We’re getting the band back together and going on the road (well, the Drake Passage is more like it). The “gang” of JP Caponigro, Steve Johnson, Seth Resnick and myself are joining Michael Reichmann for another Antarctic Adventure. Seth and I leave Tues. the 6th although we don’t get to Ushuaia until the nite of the 7th. There the four amigos will have a couple of days to hang and shoot before the rest of the group get down on the 9th. Our ship leaves Ushuaia the evening of the 10th.

Here’s Michael decked out with too many cameras from the first trip.

I’m going to make really sure I keep my distance from seals–so I’ll be using my new 300mm F2.8 Canon lens for close ups! The ship’s doc Scott reported that on his last trip yet another passenger was bitten by a seal–this time the expedition leader–so maybe the seals are unhappy with all the tourists coming through their turf. But this trip we won’t be seeing fur seals (at least I doubt it) as we are doing the Antarctic Circle trip and going South to at least 66º 33′ 39″. Scott also reported that on his last trip, the inclinometer hit 40º for the ship’s roll, so Seth and I have our magic seasickness remedy all planned out–the “patch” and lot’s of wine!

We’ll see f Seth does the “polar plunge” again (he has on the previous two trips) and once again, I plan on being his personal photographer for the event (there’s simply now firiggin’ way I would get in THAT water).

Christopher Sanderson will once again be coming along to document our crazy adventure and Thomas Knoll will once again be joining us (we plan on working on Thomas for new features of Camera Raw and Lightroom). Kevin Raber from Phase One will have a couple of P65+ backs to play with so expect plenty of really large, high rez shots to be produced.

If you want to see the results of our first trip, check out ANTARCTICA EXPEDITION in the PSN Feature Stories. Since we still won’t have net access on board the ship, there’s really no way to post anything while on the trip, but I’ll be sure to let you know when we return–sometime around the 25th of Jan.

Folks, if you’ve been wondering about the lack of posts on PhotoshopNews.com, I’ve been heads-down working on the update to Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4. I’m happy to repots, it’s done, well almost. I’m done except for reviewing the last chapter (due to me this morning) and then Peachpit has to get the index done. But it’s almost ready to send off to the printers and should be printed and released in December.

That’s what I’ve been doing and why PhotoshopNews has gone a bit silent (which was real hard to let happen because, well Photoshop CS4 and Camera Raw 5 is pretty big news). There’s going to be another upcoming release of Camera Raw soon (which I can’t really talk about) that has some, uh, new stuff (that I can’t really talk about) but that’s why we didn’t have RWCRCS4 ready to ship when CS4 shipped.

But that doesn’t mean I can come up for air…ya see, I still have another book to finish along with Martin Evening. Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop which is due to be released on March 2009.

So, I’ve been a busy boy and still have a lot of work to do. Add to this is the fact we’ve gotten the band back together and are going out on the road doing the Epson Print Academy (we’ve already done Atlanta last week and Washington DC last Sunday). I suspect the number of posts on PhotoshopNews.com will continue to be a bit sparse through the end of the year…oh, and did I mention that the other band is getting back together too? Yep, Michael Reichmann, JP Caponigro, Steve Johnson and Seth Resnick and I  are going back down for a photo expedition to Antarctica again in early January, 2009 for 14 days of shooting and teaching. Hum, remind me why I opted to do PhotoshopNews.com again?

I’ll post what I can, when I can…I’ll also try to get some guest bloggers to help out but you’ll just have to forgive me for over extending my time and activities a bit…

:~)

Adobe will released updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, both will available later in the evening October 22nd, 2008 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.

John, on his Adobe Blog says “By and large, keyboard shortcut changes suck.  Mature tools are like musical instruments, and you don’t go moving the piano keys or cello strings without a great need to do so.  It’s painful.  We know.”

Read what else John has to say in this post Shortcut changes in PSCS4

Tom Hogarty, the Camera Raw & Lightroom product manager noted on the Lightroom Journal that Camera Raw 5.0 is currently shipping but that the camera support for 5.0 is the same as Camera Raw 4.5/Lightroom 2.0. The new cameras added in the Camera Raw 4.6 update will need to be rolled out in a Camera Raw 5.1 update some time next week. He also noted that as of the release of Camera Raw 5.0 and Photoshop CS4 the DNG Profiles are still considered “beta”. News about the final release of the profiles and a revision to DNG Profile Editor are expected “soon”.

Read Tom’s post.

Milestone Release Radically Improves Creative Workflow Efficiency; Redefines Collaboration Between Designers and Developers

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 15, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 product family, the highly-anticipated release of industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow. Delivering radical breakthroughs in workflow efficiency – and packed with hundreds of innovative, time saving features – the new Creative Suite 4 product line advances the creative process across print, Web, interactive, film, video and mobile.

Customers can choose from six new versions: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium and Master Collection. The combination of Creative Suite and the new capabilities of Adobe Flash® Player 10, also available today (see separate press release) deliver new levels of creativity and expressiveness across media channels. Designers using the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family will gain unprecedented creative control using the new expressive features and visual performance improvements in Adobe Flash Player 10 to deliver breakthrough Web experiences across multiple browsers and operating systems.

Camera Raw 4.6 and the DNG Converter 4.6 has been posted to Adobe.com for Mac and Windows. This will be the last Camera Raw update for Photoshop CS3 customers and it includes support for raw formats from the following 15 camera models:

Adobe MAX Conference, San Francisco November 16-19, 2008—

an opportunity to connect with thousands of designers, developers, partners, executives, and Adobe staff for education, inspiration, and community.

Russell Brown has adjusted his popular-and long-running ADIM(Art Directors Invitational Master Class) to coincide with MAX.  It’s “the essential two-day, hands-on instructional course that brings top art directors, designers, illustrators, and photographers together to learn advanced tips and techniques using Adobe products” details are on Russell’s site.

John Nack, the senior Photoshop product manager has posted a reminder about Adobe’s upgrade path for older versions of Photoshop to Photoshop CS4. Back when Photoshop CS3 was released, Adobe changed the upgrade eligibility to only 3 versions back. So, as long as you had Photoshop 7 or above, you could upgrade to Photoshop CS3 for the regular upgrade cost of $199 (for the standard version, $349 for Extended). If you have Photoshop CS, CS2 or CS3 you will be able to upgrade for the upgrade pricing. But, if you have Photoshop 7, you will not.

However, between now and October 15th, you CAN still upgrade to Photoshop CS3 and still be able to upgrade to Photoshop CS4 when it is released. Adobe has a policy that if you buy the “current” version of Photoshop (currently CS3) AFTER the next version has been announced but BEFORE it ships, you can get the next version upgrade for the cost of shipping and handling. You will need to contact Adobe Customer Service to get the free upgrade to CS4 as long as your Photoshop CS3 upgrade purchase falls into that after announce, but before CS4 ship date. After Photoshop CS4 ships, the upgrade path to Photoshop CS4 will be Photoshop CS and above only.

The astute amongst you may also deduce when the expected ship date of Photoshop CS4 might be…

Not to be outdone by a tall, good looking blond, Dr. Brown unleashes his own brand of video tutorials on Photoshop CS4.

CS4: Content Aware Scale QuickTime Tutorial; 9.4 MB
Learn about this new seam carving technology in Adobe Photoshop CS4, and you’ll be tempted to never use the standard Transform tools again.
Dr. Brown says, “This new feature is down right amazing!”

CS4 Extended: Spherical Panorama QuickTime Tutorial; 7.7 MB
Discover one of the new 3D features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. In this tutorial you will learn how to wrap an image around the inside of a sphere, to create a 3D panorama. Then, simply step into this digital space and use some of the new Photoshop CS4 tools to look around your newly created world.

CS4 Extended: 3D Quick-Look QuickTime Tutorial; 4.5 MB
Get ready for an incredible 3D experience, as you view this quick-look at some of the new 3D features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. This tutorial will take you through some of my favorite new tools for working, and experimenting, with 3D objects.

CS4 Extended: 3D Mesh from Grayscale QuickTime Tutorial; 9.7 MB
Bring 2D images back to life with this new Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended technique for converting grayscale images into 3D objects. This tutorial will also demonstrate how to generate 3D depth maps directly from 2D images.

CS4 Extended: Advanced 3D Eclipse Animation QuickTime Tutorial; 15.3 MB
Learn about some of the advanced features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended for animating 3D objects. In this project I will create a solar eclipse simulation from 2D, and video images of the earth and moon. Did I mention that this is an advanced tutorial?

Check out Julieanne’s web site for new Camera Raw 5 and Photoshop CS4 video tutorials 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.

It seems some people see Conspiracy Theories where there really aren’t any. To address some users’ question Scott Kelby took the “easy way” out and did a video with Matt Kloskowski and talked about the timing of Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS4 with Camera Raw 5. I say “easy way” because it was easier for Scott and Matt to sit around talking than having to actually write (his words, not mine).

So check this post out (and watch the video if the mood strikes you–post comments on SCOTT’s blog, not here). Lightroom 2 vs. CS4 & Lightroom Conspiracy Theories