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Aperture Only $79.97 in Apple’s New App Store, Not Sure For How Long

So, while I am in fact certified in Apple’s Aperture software, I have to admit, it’s not my personal cup of tea. But, it is a well-regarded and wildly popular raw development and library management app for those of you using OSX (iPhoto has some stripped down elements-style features from it), so, if vertical integration is your thing, it’s your beast. And, at least for today, it could be your beast for a whopping $120 off if you buy it through Apple’s shiny new App Store that launched today (Snow Leopard only, make sure to run your software updates). Might only be today, so, better do some quick maths and decide, yeah. Also, obviously we don’t stand to profit in anyway from pointing this out to you, so, just remember who was looking out for your wallet next time you need gear, deal?



Roberts Sponsoring 2-day Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.0 workshop with Jerry Courvoisier

On October 9th and 10th Jerry Courvoisier will be leading a 2-day workshop on streamlining your workflow in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.0. Attendees will need to bring their laptop with the current version of Lightroom installed (this can be a trial version download).

The program is designed to be a value at $395 for 2 days -Roberts customers get a 15% discount when registering, photo students get a 25% discount- and Roberts has a free ticket to give away. Learn how you can enter after the break. read more



Lightroom 3 Out and Ready

Adobe has announced version 3 of it’s Photoshop Lightroom (or just Lightroom, for short). Now, it’s no secret that Nick and myself have long been advocates for Lightroom. While software and worflow will always be a subjective topic, for my money at least there’s no better workflow and raw developing solution for digital cameras than Lightroom. And, everything I’m reading about version 3 is convincing me it only got better.

The biggest thing is of course the new Adobe Camera Raw, the processing engine at the heart of Lightroom (and Photoshop’s raw development, too). The new ACR is basically just all around an awesome engine, it seems, and most notably its noise reduction seems to now be bordering on the godlike. The importance of this is difficult to stress quite enough, especially for those of us who aren’t shooting these newest gen pro bodies with their better high ISO performance. Lightroom looks to be breathing some new life into some of our aging bodies, and I can’t wait to try re-editing a few of my E-3′s high ISO shots with the new engine.

The other biggest feature, for me, is one that I always found a bit curiously lacking in LR2: perspective correction. Now I no longer have to drop out to Photoshop to correct keystones, I can do it completely non-destructively in raw. How isn’t that brilliant, I ask you?

What else is there? Well…

read more



Adobe Creative Suite 5 Official

So, also up today, Adobe has announced the fifth revision of it’s Creative Suite of software. I haven’t had time to parse what’s new in all of the varied programs (Illustrator, actually, is my own favorite), but I have been reading about the one I know all you shooters have been waiting for: Photoshop CS5.

So, what’s new then? Other than easier and enhanced selection methods, improved HDR options, improved B&W conversion, improved workflow and workspace management, mini-Bridge, new auto lens correction, and new physical paint like brushes (as opposed to the light-blending physics we’ve all been so used to)?

Well, there’s also content aware fill and puppet warp, both of which are basically voodoo magic and I won’t even attempt to describe how awesome they are, leaving that to the videos below. If you can watch those videos and reconcile those features with Photoshop’s current offerings (included content aware scaling, vanishing points, liquify, class-leading everything else editing, interface, etc, etc) and still not believe this is worth $700 bucks for a new copy with upgrade pricing available, then I don’t know what to say. This Photoshop seems to readily and easily justify it’s price tag with the new time-sving features and performance enhancements easily.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nAklIkMy4g



DPS Admirably Tackles Using UFRaw for Photos

Digital Photography School, one of those sites I don’t rely on as often these days as I once did when I was getting started, is a wonderful font of intro-level ideas and lessons in photography. And, they get mentioned on Raw today because of an article they ran about getting started with UFRaw.

UFRaw is largely a Linux app from the old skool of Linux philosophy, which is to say it’s extremely robust, powerful, free, and has an interface about 6 years behind the curve. But, it’s insanely robust and FREE. And, it’s available for Windows and Mac, too. I used to use it before I got Lightroom, and we still use it sometimes in the office. It’s a good app, but it is daunting.

So, bravo to DPS for trying to help people with it. And, if you’ve just spent all your cash on equipment (and you know we prefer you do, nudge nudge wink wink) and can’t shell out for Lightroom or Aperture just yet, UFRaw is a wonderful tool to ave kicking around your virtual toolbag.



Lightroom 3 Beta Out to Try

lightroomiconLightroom, Nick and I’s development and library management program of choice (yes, despite my cert in Aperture), has now been released to the public as a beta for the new version. While the full version will be as need-to-pay as ever, those of you wanting to try something a bit more flexible, or just plain better laid out than what came with your camera, Picasa, or even Photoshop (whose support for camera raw is astoundingly clunky compared to the svelte elegance of Lightroom), owe it to yourselves to give this a try.

For you vets, apparently Adobe is talking up a much better image processing engine, with better sharpness and noise performance (two of the biggest critiques I’ve seen leveled at LR). It also has better vignetting controls, and introduces a way to add grain to your images, and something about light leaks. I haven’t got to bang around in it yet myself, so I’ll have to try those at home tonight.

Oh, and it’s supposed to just be faster too. Which for those of us with larger libraries will be very well received. I think it’s supposed to demand a pretty boss machine now, though, so check the hardware requirements out.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs_lightroom3



Olympus Updates Master, Shows No Love for E-3

Olympus has updated its Master software to include the new e-Portrait and Art Filter controls in the software. Except you still have to have a camera that could use these in the first place, in a bit of software lockdown all too familiar after their deal with pano-stitching only working on certain xD cards. So, if you don’t own an E-P1 yet, this is a pretty unexciting update. There might be something in it for you E-P1, E-30,E-620, and E-450 owners, though.

To get the update, make sure you have Master installed (it comes with all Olympus cameras), then make sure you’re connected to the internet, go to Help-> Update Software and follow the instructions.




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