Also released is Foto SF Lite. Aimed at the single-user business without any need of hosting over a network. This stand-alone software has all the features of the Pro version and is priced very competitively at only £125.00 + VAT

Uzair Kharawala, the creator of Foto SF, explained the reasoning behind the new Lite version. “Our research showed that their is a huge niche market of small businesses who are looking for a solution to help them organise their business. Two most important factors when considering new software were ease of use and also the price. We decided to launch Foto SF which is priced very competitively and affordable for businesses either running part or full-time. The initial reaction since the SWPP Convention has been tremendous and very encouraging. We clearly feel that we’ve bridged a huge gap in the market with a very affordable product with almost all the features of the full version.”

For a FREE trial version and features list, please visit www.fotosf.com – or to purchase at MPA member price call MPA HQ on 01325 356555.

SPECIAL OFFER: Foto SF Seminar at Calumet
If you’ve purchased either the Pro or the Lite version or are thinking of purchasing before 31 Jan 2010, you will be invited to a full-day seminar with Uzair Kharawala at Calumet, Drummond Street, London. The date will be early March and will be released soon. Oz will cover various aspects of marketing, promotions, PR, internet marketing. This seminar will help you cut down your advertising costs by building relationships with vendors and networking with like-minded companies.

The Lite version of PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition is available for immediate download from the onOne Software website. PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition is a flexible yet powerful plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4 that uses Photoshop Actions to provide a range of imaging tools including effects, corrections and production automation in a full-featured interface.

Based on the same feature set as PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition, PhotoTools 2 Lite includes 14 of the most popular effects found in both PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition and PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition. The 14 effects available in PhotoTools 2 Lite range from reproducing classic photographic effects like Bleach Bypass and Cross Process, to reproducing film stock such as Kodachrome and Fuji Velvia, to modern effects including automatic skin smoothing.

The Skin Smoothing plug-in is worth the money for the full package alone so it’s very good value free

Here is a shot by Shirley Kilpatrick (Alpha 200, 18-250mm Tamron lens) taken at the Fogueres de San Joan in Alicante last year. This is a festival well worth visiting – really the best week’s holiday we have had in many years, we missed a flight to Brittany and had to book a quick replacement within 8 hours, and ended up staying in the heart of Alicante during the midsummer festival week. Non-stop, night and day, fireworks, parades, music, dance, street shows, fairs, performers, fast food, slow food – the lot. Get yourself to Alicante June 20-28th and you will have no shortage of superb photo opportunities.

This shows Photo Tools 2 professional edition with effects such as the Luminizer A4 action which creates glowing colours on portraits (this one action is why the Photo Tools 2 package can sell for as much as many editing programs). As you will see, the GUI which PT2 uses to take over Photoshop is beautifully designed with mini preview images included (not your own pix, the one in the bottom right corner is part of the program as a preview). You can stack effects, remove them from the stack, control many of them by parameter or strength, and apply your presets to many images.

You can see two full size before and after images from this simple exercise in skin-tone enhancement:

http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/113229503

http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/113229535

These photographs are by Shirley Kilpatrick, retouching by David Kilpatrick, although they are hosted in the Alpha 200 images gallery of David Kilpatrick’s pBase.

You can read David’s review of OnOne Photo Tools 2 which appeared in the British Journal of Photography:

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=853335

Availability and Pricing

PhotoTools 2 Lite is offered at no cost and is only available as an electronic download direct from onOne Software. To receive the product, please visit www.ononesoftware.com/pt2lite and request a free download with a valid email address.

For users who wish to access the full database of effects that come with the Standard or Professional Editions of PhotoTools 2, they will need to purchase a copy of the Standard or Professional Edition. PhotoTools 2 Professional edition is available for £199.00 and the Standard edition is available for £129.00. You can purchase these direct from onOne Software at www.ononesoftware.com, or from UK distributor Colour Confidence at www.colourconfidence.co.uk or by calling 0800 735845.

The Camera Raw 5.4 Release Candidate extends raw file support to an additional 26 camera and camera back models including the Canon EOS 500D (EOS Rebel T1i), Nikon D5000, and 18 Hasselblad models. The full list of newly supported cameras and camera backs is below.

The camera raw functionality in Adobe Photoshop software provides fast and easy access to supported raw image formats produced by many leading professional and mid-range digital cameras. Working with these “digital negatives” provides photographers with greater artistic control and flexibility while maintaining the original raw files. Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw supports the same functionality for TIFF and JPEG files.

The Camera Raw team would like the community to help verify the quality of the Camera Raw 5.4 Release Candidate through normal usage to ensure that the application is tested on a wide variety of hardware and software configurations not available internally at Adobe. Feedback can be provided on the Adobe User to User forum (http://forums.adobe.com/community/cameraraw).

Pricing and Availability

The Photoshop Camera Raw 5.4 Release Candidate is available as a free download for existing customers of Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 7, Premiere Elements 7 and Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac. Click here for more information and to download: http://labs.adobe.com

Additional Supported Camera and Camera Back Models
Canon EOS 500D (EOS Rebel T1i)
Epson R-D1x
Hasselblad CF-22, CF-22MS, CF-39, CF-39MS, CFH-22, CFH-39, CFV, 503CWD, H2D-22, H2D-39, H3D-22, H3D-31, H3D-39, H3DII-22, H3DII-31, H3DII-39, H3DII-39MS, H3DII-50
Kodak EasyShare Z980
Nikon D5000
Olympus E-450
Olympus E-620
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
Sigma DP2