In Chapter 1 of my Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers book, I provided a brief example of how one might apply the Lens Blur filter to a Smart Object in Photoshop CS3 and keep the background blur settings editable. However, it was pointed out to me just recently that the Lens Blur filter is actually disabled in CS3 when you seek to apply it to a Smart Object. This is one of those things that I failed to notice as I was finalizing the book and it seems that I am not the only author who got caught out by this late change to the program. Fortunately there is an easy remedy for accessing Lens Blur as a Smart Filter.

Martin Evening, author of Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers has published an update to working with Adobe Camera Raw 4.1. This feature story is being published exclusively on PhotoshopNews and is an adaptation of some of the Lightroom-News stories that were published earlier in the summer to coincide with the announcement of the Lightroom 1.1 update. You can also download a printable PDF version of the Camera Raw 4.1 update from this site

Adobe has released optional plug-in extensions for the purpose of altering Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended’s method of caching when a Macintosh computer has over 4 gigs of ram installed.

Available as Online Courses or Instructional DVD Featuring Dave Cross, Matt Kloskowski, and Corey Barker

Press Release: TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As the foremost training and educational authority on Adobe® Photoshop®, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is proud to announce the release of three new Photoshop® CS3 training classes: Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 for Beginners, Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 Power Session and Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 Channels.

First copies of Martin Evening’s new book: Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers have just come off the press and are about to go on sale soon.

In preparation for the launch of this latest edition to the Adobe Photoshop for Photographers series, Martin has updated the book website to provide some sample pages and chapter extracts that you can download for free.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers is published by Focal Press and will be available from most major bookstores and the usual online booksellers such as Amazon US, Amazon UK and Barnes & Noble.

The following sample page extracts are made available in PDF form and you can also click on the links to download some of the images that have been used so that you can try some of the tips and tricks out for yourself.

John Nack on his Adobe blog posts about “Buyer’s Remorse” (or that sinking feeling you get when you think you’ve bought the wrong version) that some people are feeling after opting not to get the Photoshop CS3 Extended upgrade.

From John Nack’s Adobe blog comes this bit of info regarding upgrades and platform switches…

The elves at Adobe have been busy…producing video tutorials about all the various products in the Creative Suite 3 including a ton of “tuts” for Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. Broadband net connections suggested.

If you aren’t sure yet if Photoshop CS3 Extended (or any of the Creative Suites) are for you, you can now download the demos (30 day trials) from Adobe.com. English versions only so far…click here for the download link.

PictureCode has announced that the Noise Ninja plug-in is now available for the Photoshop CS3 running natively on Intel Mac. This offers a significant speedup compared to the emulated execution that was necessary for Photoshop CS2 running on Intel Mac. The official release is available on the download page. The Windows version (v2.1.3) is already compatible with CS3.

[Story updated to correct broken link]

Free upgrades now available for Intellihance Pro 4.2, Mask Pro 4.1, Genuine Fractals 5 and PhotoFrame Pro 3.1

Press Release: Portland, OR. – April 30, 2007 onOne Software, Inc., announces today the immediate availability of all Photoshop® CS3 compatible updates to their Photoshop plug-ins Intellihance Pro, Mask Pro, Genuine Fractals and PhotoFrame Pro software. Free updates are available for registered owners of Intellihance Pro 4, Mask Pro 4 and PhotoFrame Pro 3 software products. Users who purchased Genuine Fractals 4.1 or Genuine Fractals Print Pro 4.1 on or after December 18, 2006 qualify for a free upgrade to Genuine Fractals 5 and Genuine Fractals Print Pro 5 respectively.

In addition, all Photoshop CS3 compatible plug-ins will be available for purchase in the new onOne Software Plug-In Suite 3 which will be shipping May 10, 2007.

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 400950
This document can help you to resolve system errors that occur while you use Adobe Photoshop CS3 on Windows Vista. System errors can manifest in many different ways, including (but not limited to) the following:

• A blank or flickering dialog box
• A frozen cursor or screen
• A blue screen
• An unexpected restart
• An error such as one of the following:

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 401488
This document can help you to resolve system errors that occur while you install Adobe Photoshop CS3 on Windows Vista. System errors can manifest in many different ways, including (but not limited to) the following:

• A blank or flickering dialog box
• A frozen cursor or screen
• A blue screen
• An unexpected restart
• An error such as the following:

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 400919
This document can help you to resolve system errors that occur while you use Adobe Photoshop CS3 on Windows XP. System errors can manifest in many different ways, including (but not limited to) the following:

• A blank or flickering dialog box
• A frozen cursor or screen
• A blue screen
• An unexpected restart
• An error such as one of the following:

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 401517
This document can help you resolve system errors that occur while you use Adobe Photoshop CS3 in Mac OS. System errors can manifest themselves in many different ways, including (but not limited to) the following:

• A blank or flickering dialog box
• A frozen cursor or screen
• An error such as, “The application ‘Photoshop’ has unexpectedly quit. The system and other applications have not been affected.”

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 400992

This document can help you to resolve system errors that occur while you install Adobe Photoshop CS3 on Windows XP. System errors can manifest in many different ways, including (but not limited to) the following:

• A blank or flickering dialog box
• A frozen cursor or screen
• A blue screen
• An unexpected restart
• An error such as the following:

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 400993

This document can help you resolve system errors that occur while you install Adobe Photoshop CS3 in Mac OS X. System errors can manifest themselves in many different ways, including (but not limited to) the following:

• A blank or flickering dialog box
• A frozen cursor or screen
• An error message such as, “The application ‘Photoshop CS3′ has unexpectedly quit. The system and other applications have not been affected.”

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 401088

The performance of Adobe Photoshop CS3 is affected by available random-access memory (RAM) and computer processor speed. Other factors can also affect performance, such as the options you select, system configuration, and the built-in limitations of Photoshop. Photoshop CS3 supports new maximum image dimensions, and file sizes requiring increased system requirements.

Read entire technote

Source: Adobe Support TechNote 401089

The performance of Adobe Photoshop CS3 is affected most by available random-access memory (RAM) and computer processor speed. Other factors can also affect performance, such as the options you select, your workflow, and your operating system and hardware configuration. Optimizing your operating system and hardware configuration also improves performance of other applications.

Read entire technote

From John Nack’s blog; One important note:  If you’ve installed a beta build of Photoshop, Flash, Soundbooth, or other CS3 software, you must first uninstall the app(s) before installing the shipping versions:

• On the Mac, the uninstaller is in Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers.  Note: You cannot uninstall by dragging CS3 applications to the trash; instead, you must use the uninstaller.
• On Windows XP, uninstall via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
• On Windows Vista, in the Programs section of the Control Panel, select Uninstall a Program.

If you experience problems with the uninstall or the install, you may need to use the Adobe CS3 Clean Script which will be available within a few days.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Flagship Creative Applications Also Available

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 16, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of the highly-anticipated Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Design Premium and Standard editions and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium and Standard editions. This revolutionary release of brand-new, tightly integrated, design and development software unites the best of Adobe and former Macromedia® product innovation to provide designers and developers worldwide with a broad spectrum of creative options.

Also available for purchase today are new versions of the following stand alone Adobe creative applications: Adobe Photoshop® CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe InDesign® CS3, Adobe Illustrator® CS3, Adobe Flash® CS3 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver® CS3, Adobe Fireworks® CS3, and Adobe Contribute® CS3. These new Adobe CS3 applications and Adobe Creative Suite 3 editions are available as Universal applications for both PowerPC® and Intel-based Macs and support both Microsoft® Windows® XP and Windows Vista™. Customers will experience increased levels of performance and speed running Creative Suite 3 natively on Intel-based Macintosh systems and the latest Windows hardware.

New version of award-winning software, compatible with Photoshop CS3, is available via free download to all registered users of PhotoFrame Pro 3

Press Release: Portland, OR - onOne Software, Inc., announced that the PhotoFrame Pro 3.1 update is available via free download to all registered users of PhotoFrame Pro 3 software on both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Since Adobe’s launch of Creative Suite 3.0 last month, interest in the software amongst creative professionals has skyrocketed, with nearly all attendees surveyed at this week’s Photoshop World conference saying they plan to update to one of the new bundles by year’s end.

Source: AppleInsider
Written by Katie Marsal

Creative professionals, eager for a glimpse of the new Adobe suites in action, flocked in herds to the Boston, Mass.-based Photoshop conference earlier this week, selling out the show for the first time in its history. Researchers from investment research firm PiperJaffray were on hand for the event and spoke one-on-one with 73 professionals regarding their spending intentions for 2007 versus last year.

Click on the image to play movie

Think you have read and seen all there is to know about the quick selection tool and Refine Edge? Then check out this movie tutorial by Martin Evening in which he reveals some hidden tips for working with the quick selection tool. Plus, if you thought Refine Edge was simply intended for modifying selections, Martin shows you how refine Edge can be used to modify a layer mask in situ, which is far more useful than having to just guess which slider settings to use when modifying a selection.

While you might not see it in the regular Photoshop CS3/CS3 Extended splash screen, the Photoshop engineers have paid tribute to Bruce Fraser and his contributions to Photoshop over the years.