Adobe Camera Raw 6.7 and DNG Converter 6.7 Available

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Ian Lyons

Camera Raw 6.7  and DNG Converter 6.7 are now available as a Release Candidates on Adobe Labs.   The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers.  The final release of Camera Raw 6.7 and DNG Converter 6.7 may have additional corrections or camera support.

New camera support in the Camera Raw and DNG Converter 6.7 Release Candidate includes the following:

  • Canon EOS 1D X
  • Canon EOS 5D Mk III
  • Canon PowerShot G1 X
  • Canon PowerShot S100V
  • Fuji FinePix F505EXR
  • Fuji FinePix F605EXR
  • Fuji FinePix HS30EXR
  • Fuji FinePix HS33EXR
  • Fuji FinePix X-S1
  • Nikon D4
  • Nikon D800
  • Nikon D800E

Camera Raw 6.7 are required for full compatibility between Lightroom 4.0 and Photoshop CS5

Camera Raw 6.7 and DNG Converter 6.7 are the first Adobe products to support the raw files from the Canon EOS 5D Mk III. Lightroom 4.0 does not have support for the camera at this time.

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Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad 2

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Ian Lyons

A few months back I blogged about a new application from Adobe which was designed for tablet users. The application was called Photoshop Touch and it included some very cool photo editing features. Unfortunately, it was only compatible with tablets running the Android operating system, although there was the promise of a version for the Apple iPad. For some this seemed like a strange choice and a few commentators openly questioned Adobe’s commitment to developing serious apps for the iPad. Others, myself included, knew different but weren’t able to say so. Well that’s all changed now, Adobe have shipped Photoshop Touch for the iPad 2.

So what is Photoshop Touch and what makes it different to other photo editing applications for tablets?  Essentially, Photoshop Touch gives users the ability to combine multiple photos into layered images, make edits and apply professional effects, touch up photos, paint, lay out ideas and much more. The Scribble Selection Tool allows you to easily extract objects in an image by simply scribbling on what to keep, and then what to remove. With Refine Edge technology from Photoshop, even hard-to-select areas with soft edges are easily captured when making selections. Photoshop Touch also helps users quickly find images and share creations through integration with Facebook and Google Image Search.

Curves Adjustment Tool

You can work with images on your tablet, then transfer them into Photoshop on your PC or Mac via the Adobe Creative Cloud. This includes the ability to open layered files from Adobe Photoshop Touch in Photoshop Cs5 or CS5.1. This feature requires a plugin which can be downloaded from the Creative Cloud website.

Album in Creative Cloud

Above highlights some of the features available in Photoshop Touch but there are a couple of limitations. For example, the maximum image size is 1600 by 1600 pixels, which pretty much rules out creating images for print. Also, the application can become unstable after a adding a few layers. In both cases the underlying problem is the lack of user memory. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that Adobe can do about either. Photoshop Touch is a fun app which is capable of producing some very creative images. However, it isn’t and doesn’t pretend to be Photoshop. You can read more of my thoughts on Photoshop Touch in my earlier blog entry.

Photoshop Touch for the iPad 2 costs $9.99 (£6.99) and is available from the Apple App Store 

Posted in Adobe Photoshop, iPad, Photoshop Touch | Comments Off

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 – Public Beta

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Ian Lyons

On Monday 9th January 2006 Adobe announced the first public beta of Lightroom. Little did we realise at the time that it would become the mainstay photo management and editing application for many digital photographers. So here we are, six years on, same day, same month, and they’ve done it again. Today is the day that Lightroom 4 goes into public beta.

So what’s new and improved?

For Lightroom 4 Adobe have gone right back to 2006. They’ve reviewed the feature requests, and spoken to users. So, which features came to the top? Yes, you guessed – Soft Proofing, Books, Geotagging and Video. Obviously, these aren’t the only requested features, but the… continue reading —>

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Adobe TV and other Online Resources

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Ian Lyons

During a recent conversation with a friend regarding tutorials for Adobe Lightroom it became apparent that he was oblivious to much of the online material provided by Adobe. In particular, the existence of Adobe TV and the recently introduced PHOTOSHOP.COM community support forums. This is unfortunate as the material is quite extensive and regularly updated. With many products the material is accessible from a link within the application Help menu (e.g. Lightroom Online… and Photoshop Online…), which, you would think, should make them relatively easy to access. Sadly, it seems that this may not actually be the case.

Adobe TV is a particularly useful resource as it provides a comprehensive range of high quality video tutorials on Adobe’s range of products.

 Adobe TV – Julianne Kost and The Complete Picture Channel

The following is a short list of the various online learning resources available on Adobe.com. Hopefully, you’ll find them useful.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Tutorials, Video | Comments Off

Lightroom 3.6 and Camera Raw 6.6 available on Adobe Labs

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Release Candidates of Adobe Lightroom 3.6 Camera Raw 6.6 are now available for download from Adobe Labs. They both include support for new camera models, additional lens profiles and a number of important bug fixes. More details of what’s included can be read on the Lightroom Journal.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, DNG Converter | Comments Off

Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor 10 and Premiere Elements Editor 10 available on Mac App Store

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Adobe has announced the immediate availability of Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Editor and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 Editor in the Mac App Store.  These special edition apps give Mac users powerful, easy-to-use tools for bringing photos and videos to life. Based on Adobe Photoshop software, Photoshop Elements 10 Editor helps turn everyday memories into sensational photos. Premiere Elements 10 Editor leverages industry-standard Adobe Premiere Pro technology to turn video clips into impressive movies.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 Editor and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 Editor can be downloaded from the Mac App Store immediately worldwide for US$79.99 (each) or the local currency (£54.99 UK). The apps are available in English, French, German and Japanese.

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Adobe Photoshop Touch

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Ian Lyons

In early October Adobe announced a new tablet application focused primarily on photographers. This was the second such application to be announced over recent months. The first, Adobe Carousel, had been announced a month earlier and is now available from the Apple App Store. This new application, which I have been privileged to be testing for this past few months, is called Photoshop Touch. As I was away on holiday at the time it wasn’t possible to keep up with all the news surrounding the announcement, but now that I’m home…

Why am I more interested in, and therefore blogging about Photoshop Touch? Well, in terms of photo editing, Carousel’s toolset is intended for fairly simple edits to images. Photoshop Touch, on the other hand includes a more comprehensive toolset which includes the ability to make selections, insert text, create layers, and apply layer blends and effects filters – effectively Photoshop for tablets.

Editing Image in Photoshop Touch

Photoshop Touch includes a comprehensive set of adjustment tools such as Levels, Curves, Temperature, Shadow/Highlights, Colour Balance, etc. Carousel has a similar set of adjustment tools, but they are based on Camera Raw code and therefore benefit from being nondestructive. Does this give Carousel a quality advantage? Not that I see, at least not with images that don’t require significant adjustments (i.e. substantially under/over exposed)

Photoshop Touch Curves

A feature unique to Photoshop Touch is the new “Scribble” extraction tool. With this tool you can scribble a selection with either your finger or stylus. I’ve found the Wacom Bamboo Stylus to be a much easier for making selections, but then I again, I have big fingers ;-)  The selection identifies the elements that you want to keep (e.g. foreground) and those to be removed (e.g background).

Scribble Tool Selections 

I mentioned using the Wacom Bamboo Stylus above. However, I should make it clear that Photoshop Touch does work well with finger control. For example, you can pinch and zoom. Also, when scaling, cropping or warping an image the objects have finger-sized handles so it’s fairly easy to resize or distort them.

Photoshop Touch Warping Tool

Other useful features for those into making composite images is the ability to search Google for copyright free images. Images found by Google are displayed within the Photoshop Touch UI and can easily be downloaded straight into the application.

Photoshop Touch use the new Adobe Creative Cloud to automatically sync images to your desktop computer. Also, Photoshop Touch processed images can be opened directly into Photoshop via a plugin for finessing or printing. Using this plugin Photoshop Touch layers and blends, etc are fully supported by Photoshop.

Images stored on Adobe Creative Cloud

A unique feature of the Creative Cloud includes the ability to toggle on and off layers. It’s also worth mentioning at this point that the Creative Cloud is a subscription service, although no prices have been announced yet.

Adobe have made a number of video demonstrations available via their Adobe TV service. They are presented by Russell Brown and should give you a good sense of what Photoshop Touch is capable of.

At present Adobe are intending to release Photoshop Touch on the Android platform first. The iOS version for the Apple iPad 2 will be released sometime later. There has been much criticism of this decision, which I can understand, but it’s a matter that Adobe can address, not me. For more information on availability of Photoshop Touch sign up here.

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Carousel, Photoshop Touch, Wacom Bamboo Stylus | Comments Off

Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 15 (Durango to Denver)

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Today was our last full day in the US and with that the last we’d be using our cameras. We had about 280 miles of driving ahead of us and as on previous days in Colorado lots of photographic opportunities, especially of aspens.

While we did make a few short stops for breakfast and lunch our only planned photographic stop was at the United States Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs. We were particularly keen to photograph the Chapel.

From outside the triangular shape is quite photogenic, especially when shot against a moody sky. Internally, the light spilling through the stained glass is something special. The following four photographs are only a small sample of the many I took during our 2 hour stay.

USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Interior of USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Organ, USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Ceiling Detail, USAF Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs

Well, another trip to the US draws to a close. It’s been most enjoyable and I’m sure that I have many good photographs safely stored on my MacBook Pro hard disk. During the trip I’ve shot close to 9500 frames. I have used a Garmain Etrex Vista HCx to record GPS data throughout the trip, and added metadata and keywords to images each evening. The next task is to import Lightroom catalog I had created specially for the trip into my master catalog. Then begins the process of weeding out the bad and marking the best. However these last two steps will will need to wait until I get home.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

Posted in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Colorado, MacBook Pro, Photography, USA | Comments Off

Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 11 to 14 (Green River to Durango)

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Ian Lyons

Days 11 through 14 have been mostly spent travelling from Wyoming through Colorado. We also made short excursions into Utah and New Mexico. Planned stops along the way included the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Maroon Bells National Recreation Area near Aspen, Red Mountain Pass, the Million Dollar Highway, the Silverton and Durango Railroad, Chimney Rock, the Cumbres & Toltec Steam Railroad (Chama, New Mexico), and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The choice of such a long and at times out of the way route was to provide ourselves with as many opportunities to capture the golden colours of aspens and cottonwoods.

 Flaming Gorge Lake from Sheep Creek Overlook

Aspens, White River National Forest

Aspen Detail, White River National Forest

Aspens, Maroon Bells National Recreation Area

Lone Aspen, Uncompahgre River, Ridgway State Park

Aspen Grove and Fence, Dallas Divide

Obviously, any other opportunity to snap a few photographs was also taken. One such occasion was when part of the group decided to take a trip on the steam train between Silverton and Durango. The line was constructed in 1892 to haul silver & gold ore from the San Juan Mountains, but passengers soon realised it was the view that was truly precious. This historic train has been in continuous operation ever since, carrying passengers behind vintage steam locomotives and rolling stock indigenous to the line.We’d been told beforehand that it would we probably take a lot of photographs, and as it turned out, we did. The following is one of my favourites.

Silverton and Durango Railroad, San Juan Mountains

Our last stop on this leg of the journey was to photograph the sun setting at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We did get a quite spectacular sunset, but my favourite shots were of the afterglow.

Afterglow, Great Sand Dunes National Park

Tomorrow we begin the long trek back to Denver. Hopefully, the weather stays in our favour.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

Posted in Colorado, New Mexico, Photography, USA, Utah, Wyoming | Comments Off

Rocky Mountain Gold – Day 10 – Grand Teton National Park

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Ian Lyons

We arose early on day 10, first to check the weather, then to travel quickly to an area of the the park known as Mormon Row.  Since this would be our last day in Grand Teton National Park it was very pleasing to find that the weather was perfect for sunrise photography.

At Mormon Row we intended to capture the light from the rising sun illuminating the Moulton Barn with the Teton mountains as a backdrop.

Moulton Barn at Sunrise, Mormon Row

The Moulton Barn is probably one of the most photographed barns in North America. It dates back to the turn of the 19th century when mormon homesteaders settled in an area of Antelope Flats known today as Mormon Row. Few of the original 35 homesteads remain, but those that do offer lots of photographic opportunities.

The Pink House, Mormon Row

Mormon Homesteader Barn, Mormon Row

Grand Teton View from Mormon Row

Later in the morning we travelled across the park to photograph an area at the foot of the Tetons known as String and Jenny Lakes.

Reflections on String Lake

Jenny Lake and Tetons

After a short break back in Jackson Hole it was time to set off on a 200 mile journey to Green River. This would be a staging stop only as we would travel on to Glenwood Springs (Colorado) and Durango later in the week.

** Disclaimer** Above images are quick previews specifically for this blog so that friends and family can see how I’m getting on.

Posted in Grand Teton National Park, Photography, USA, Wyoming | Comments Off