by Playfuls Staff |
19th February 2007
Adobe is now shipping its professional level digital
photography application, Photoshop Lightroom 1.0. Photoshop Lightroom enables professional photographers to
import, manage and present large volumes of [more] digital photographs, helping
photographers spend more time behind the lens and less time at the computer.
With more than 500,000 photographers participating in the public beta program
over the last 12 months, Photoshop Lightroom now includes a wealth of
innovative features that streamline digital photography workflows. Recognizing
the photography community for their efforts, Adobe is offering Photoshop
Lightroom at a special introductory price of US $199 through April 30, 2007 at
the Adobe Store. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street
price of US $299.
Photoshop Lightroom includes new functionality added since
beta 4.1, with significant changes to the Library and Develop modules
complementing improvements to the Slideshow, Print and Web components. While in
the Library module, new advanced keywording tools help photographers filter
through large collections, and an improved import dialogue with more flexible
file handling allows more choice when determining file location. The new Key
Metadata Browser provides quick access to key information tags with an improved
ranking and rating system that now incorporates color labels and a pick/reject
system that sorts and locates photographs faster than ever. New to the Develop
module, Virtual Copies and Snapshot tools help present multiple versions of the
same image, providing the most choice to clients without the confusion of
saving separate physical versions.
Additional tools added include a Hue, Saturation and Luminance targeted
adjustment tool for precise and intuitive image edits. Clone and Healing
features provide non-destructive edits to eliminate sensor dust across one or
many images.
Photoshop Lightroom leverages Adobe Camera Raw technology
and supports over 150 native raw file formats, in addition to JPEG and TIFF,
bringing raw conversion into a single workflow experience. The latest camera
models supported include the Nikon D40 and D80 and the Pentax K10D. This
support means that photographers can use Lightroom with even the newest cameras
on the market, knowing that the image files will be recognized today and in the
future.
Upon import, files can be converted to the Digital Negative
specification (DNG) or renamed and segmented by folder or date. DNG is an
industry-wide initiative to create a universal file format for solving workflow
and archiving issues. It aims to eliminate barriers to new camera adoption
while giving professional photographers the confidence that their digital body
of work is securely archived and will remain accessible as digital imaging
technology evolves.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.4.3 or later and a
1GHz G4 or better, 768MB RAM and 1GB hard disk space.
