Adobe encourages photographers to try out the newly added raw file support in this update and provide the product team with feedback on the Adobe User to User forum (http://forums.adobe.com).

In addition, photographers can also participate in the Lightroom 3 beta program and try out the new features in Lightroom 3 beta 2 for free. To learn more and download Lightroom 3 beta 2 visit: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/.

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/.

Reach out to us on the Lightroom Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/lightroom or on Twitter www.twitter.com/lightroom.

onOne Software, has now released two fully-functional Photoshop plug-ins: PhotoTools 2.5 Free and the new PhotoFrame 4.5 Free. The free plug-ins for Photoshop are based on the award winning versions of PhotoTools 2.5 Standard Edition and PhotoFrame 4.5 Standard Edition and are compatible with Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4.

PhotoTools 2.5 Free and PhotoFrame 4.5 Free provide photographers with select content from the Standard Editions of each product, while maintaining the full-functionality, unlike the traditional restrictions of 30 day timed trials.

The free presets for Lightroom 2, Adobe Camera Raw and the onOne Exchange allow photographers to streamline their workflow and get the most out of the onOne products they already own. The new onOne University underscores onOne’s commitment to helping customers get the most out of their software investment by providing over 100 free training videos with even more training content planned.

onOne Software Free Products and Resources include:

PhotoTools 2.5 Free Edition – Based on the same feature set as PhotoTools 2.5 Standard Edition, PhotoTools 2.5 Free includes 15 of the most popular effects found in PhotoTools 2.5 Standard Edition. PhotoTools offers powerful action based effects that can improve images dramatically, making it easy to find, experiment, combine, apply and fine-tune effects in an easy to use interface. The 15 effects available in PhotoTools 2.5 Free range from reproducing classic photographic effects like Bleach Bypass and Cross Process, to reproducing film stock such as Kodachrome and Velvia, to modern effects including automatic skin smoothing.

PhotoFrame 4.5 Free Edition - Based on the same feature set as PhotoFrame 4.5 Standard Edition, PhotoFrame 4.5 Free makes it easy to add the perfect finishing touch to images, with 20 professional grade edges, backgrounds, textures and adornments. PhotoFrame 4.5 Free offers an extremely easy way to browse, preview and add effects like frames, backgrounds and adornments to images, with the ability to stack multiple elements and control opacity, size and color.
Presets for Lightroom 2 and Adobe Camera Raw – Users get over 140 time saving Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw presets designed by Photoshop Guru Jack Davis that help quickly correct color and tone and easily add creative effects.

onOne Exchange - The onOne Exchange is a free online resource that offers regularly updated content for PhotoTools and PhotoFrame and encourages users to upload their own actions and content. There are over 65 presets from onOne Software and customers to date.

onOne University - Features over 100 free video tutorials to help customers quickly learn and get the most out of onOne Software products. New video tutorials covering a wide range of subjects are currently in the works.

Availability
PhotoTools 2.5 Free, PhotoFrame 4.5 Free, Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw Presets are available immediately at no cost as downloads from onOne Software at www.ononesoftware.com/free

The onOne Exchange is available at www.ononeexchange.com
The onOne University is available at www.ononesoftware.com/university

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