Tonight Adobe released Lightroom 2.0. the full version, upgrade or demo can be downloaded at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/

Also tonight Apple updated Aperture from 2.1 to 2.1.1 The Aperture update is available through software update.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 09:40 PM | Permalink

I just received a review copy of PulpMotion Advanced from Aquafadas today and I've been playing around with it a bit ... it's an amazing piece of software.

Here is a quick sample of what I was able to do in about an hour of messing around with the software. I did not read any manual or help files... I just stumbled around like I always do and this is what I came up with.

Note: This is a Mac only program.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 12:53 AM | Permalink

I was just reading a thread on Apple's support forum asking people the "Aperture or Lightroom" question.

Here's my 2 cents that I added to the discussion:

I started using Aperture the day it was released. I became somewhat of an Aperture evangelist, I blogged about it, talked about it on my podcast and became an author on O'Reilly Media's "Inside Aperture" blog.

...However about 3 months ago I bought Lightroom and gave it a try. As of a few days ago I have totally made the switch from Aperture to Lightroom. There are certainly things in both programs that make them fantastic pieces of software and now that I'm a Lightroom guy there are a few features in Aperture that I miss but in the end I made the switch for one main reason: In Aperture I always had the feeling that I was doing a chore, what I was doing in Aperture felt like something that was required of me after a shoot ... in Lightroom I have a totally different feeling, I feel like during the entire post processing phase I am being creative, it's more of an extension of the creative process of photography and I feel like there is more I can do within Lightroom and therefore I think I get better results as opposed to just cataloging and rating shots. I know that's not a technical review of the products strengths and weaknesses, but in the end what really matters is how the software helps or hinders your creative process and frankly I feel a lot more creative since switching to Lightroom.

The bottom line (for me) is that I think my photos look better now that I've switched to Lightroom and I'm having more fun working on them. Sure, tasks like rating, keywording, etc are still a bummer but the rest of it is more fun and that matters to me.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 08:27 PM | Permalink

As a FotoMagico 2 user, you might have downloaded FotoMagico 2.1.3 that we released late last friday night with the intent to provide our customers with a version that runs on Leopard as soon as possible.

It turns out that we were a bit too quick to make that release. In the frenzy to get it ready we forgot to turn off an option that lets us test a new file format that is in development. As a consequence, if you create a new slideshow, FotoMagico 2.1.3 tries to save it in the new format which is currently not fully implemented and does not work.

If you have downloaded FotoMagico 2.1.3 please remove it from your computer by dragging the FotoMagico application icon to the Trash.

Then, download FotoMagico 2.1.4 which has this problem fixed from this location:

http://boinx.com/download/files/current/Boinx_FotoMagico_2.1.4.dmg

We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Your FotoMagico Team.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 06:19 PM | Permalink

Apple's iLife suite of programs got a load of updates today. You can get these updates using Apple's Software Update utility.

Continue reading "iLife '08 gets updates" »

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 04:43 PM | Permalink

Also released today is Aperture v1.5.4 which addresses compatibility issues with iLife 08 and iWork 08. I do not know if there are any other changes or tune-ups in this release.

Available today via Software Update.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 07:27 PM | Permalink

Attention Mac users.

Today Apple sneaked out iWork and iLife 08. We were expecting this to be released in October with Leopard. Does this mean Leopard is not far behind? Who knows?

You can order these suites today at Apple.com

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 07:01 PM | Permalink

What's new in FotoMagico 2.1b?

Peter has finally nailed down a couple of road blocks in the export process. FotoMagico 2.1 has a dramatically better export quality when using DV or H.264 exports while at the same time using much smaller file sizes.

FotoMagico 2.1 Pro will also let you adjust the color of an image conveniently and non-destructively. With this you can quickly make the color of images in a sequence better match each other.

Click here to get the beta

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Aperture 1.5.3 addresses issues related to overall reliability and performance in a number of areas, including:

Generation of thumbnails for adjusted images
Entering and exiting Full Screen mode
Working with large sets of keywords in the Keywords HUD
Restoring from a vault
Among the specific issues that have been addressed:
Previews now update properly when images are sent to an external editor.
Leaf Aptus 22 and Aptus 75 images are now imported with the correct orientation.
When folders are imported as projects, the folder structure is now correctly preserved when identically named subfolders are included in the hierarchy.
Reconnecting referenced images that have been externally edited now works more reliably.
Setting the ColorSync profile in the Aperture Print dialog now correctly suppresses color management settings in the Mac OS X Print dialog.

Continue reading "Apple Updates Aperture to 1.5.3" »

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 12:05 PM | Permalink

Today Adobe launched a new webpage that takes you through all the various versions of CS3 and talks about the features of each package

Click here to see the new webpage

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell, CS3, Adobe, Creative Suite 3

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 12:56 PM | Permalink

Update: After carefully reading the press release from Adobe again, the actual shipping date of CS3 apears to be a little vague. They say "...will be formally introduced on March 27, 2007". My guess is that "formally introduced" may not be the exact same thing as "shipping". Perhaps my April 24th prediction is actually closer to the real date. We'll see pretty soon.

Photoshop CS3 will be available on March 27th ... about a full month earlier than I anticipated.

Photoshop will be released in two version; Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended.

From Adobe.com:
Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended are at the heart of the Photoshop family. The Photoshop family of products is the ultimate playground for bringing out the best in your digital images and transforming them into anything you can imagine. Other products in the family include Photoshop Lightroom™, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop Album Starter Edition software.

Photoshop CS3
Adobe Photoshop CS3 includes all the features you love in Photoshop CS2, plus many innovative new ones. Photoshop CS3 accelerates your path from imagination to imagery. Ideal for photographers and designers, the professional standard delivers new features such as automatic layer alignment and blending that enable advanced compositing. Live filters boost the comprehensive, nondestructive editing toolset for increased flexibility. And a streamlined interface and new, timesaving tools make your work flow faster.
Ideal for:

* Photographers
* Graphic designers
* Web designers
* Print service providers

Photoshop CS3 Extended
New to the Photoshop family, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended delivers everything in Photoshop CS3 and more. Render and incorporate 3D images into your 2D composites. Stop time with easy editing of motion graphics on video layers. And probe your images with measurement, analysis, and visualization tools.
Ideal for:

* Film, video, and multimedia professionals
* Graphic and web designers using 3D and motion
* Manufacturing professionals
* Medical professionals
* Architects and engineers (AEC professionals)
* Scientific researchers

Prices have not yet been released but I would expect that in a few days.

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell, CS3, Adobe, Creative Suite 3

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 08:25 PM | Permalink

We are pleased to let you know that the Photoshop family is growing!

Photoshop software has always been at the forefront of digital imaging innovation and we've given you a taste of things to come with the Photoshop CS3 beta. Today, we want to share the news that Spring 2007 will bring not just one, but two versions of Adobe Photoshop: Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended.

We want to share this exciting news about our upcoming product release plans. Pricing and availability information will be provided at our announcement in the spring.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
New to the Photoshop family, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended software delivers everything in Photoshop CS3 and more. Render and incorporate 3D images into your 2D composites. Stop time with easy editing of motion graphics on video layers. Enrich your images with accurate measurement, analysis, and visualization tools.

Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for:
• Multi-media Creative Professionals
• Film and Video Creative Professionals
• Graphic and Web Designers who are pushing the limits of design with 3D and motion
• Manufacturing Professionals
• Medical Professionals
• Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Professionals
• Scientific Research Professionals

Adobe Photoshop CS3
The Photoshop CS3 beta is currently available to Photoshop CS2 users worldwide. Adobe Photoshop CS3 software accelerates your path from imagination to imagery. The professional standard delivers new features, such as automatic layer alignment and blending, that enable advanced compositing. Live filters boost the comprehensive, nondestructive editing toolset for increased flexibility. And a streamlined interface and new time-saving tools make your work flow faster.

Photoshop CS3 is ideal for:
• Professional Photographers
• Serious Amateur Photographers
• Graphic and Web Designers
• Print Service Providers

Both applications will be available as a Universal Binary for the Macintosh platform as well as for Microsoft® Windows® XP and Windows Vista computers, providing faster launch times and increased performance.

Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended are at the heart of the Photoshop family—the ultimate playground for bringing out the best in your digital images and transforming them into anything you can imagine. Other products in the family include Photoshop Lightroom™, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop Starter Edition software.

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell, CS3, Adobe, Creative Suite 3,

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 08:51 PM | Permalink

I just recently found this cool app at http://www.xslimmer.com/

The looks at each app (the ones you point it at) and deletes the unnecessary code, language support, etc that you don't need. For example on an Intel Mac it will delete all the Power PC code and on a PPC machine it will delete all the Intel code.

They claim you'll save tons of disk space and your apps might even launch faster since they do not need to look at all the junk code that they will never use anyways.

From their site:

Xslimmer the friendly way to right-size your apps without losing functionality.

Xslimmer determines which code your machine needs and removes the rest. This is achieved by removing the code inside the Universal Binaries that does not fit with your machine's architecture, a code that never gets executed and just wastes your disk space. In addition, Xslimmer eliminates unwanted application localizations. Normally you only use 1 or 2 of the languages in any app. Keep those and let Xslimmer eliminate the rest, recovering your precious disk space.

Here are some example savings seen by our users:

* Audio Hijack Pro 2.6.7, from 12.7Mb to 9.6Mb (3.1Mb, 24%)
* BBEdit 8.5, from 33.6Mb to 23.5Mb (10.1Mb, 30%)
* Google Earth 4, from 101Mb to 52.8Mb (48.2Mb, 47%)
* Photoshop CS3 Beta, from 246Mb to 144Mb (102Mb, 41%)

Xslimmer not only frees space wasted by unused code, it can even increase your Mac's performance. Some of our users have reported applications loading in almost half the time, because OS X does not need to analyze Xslimmed applications in search for the most suitable version of the code.

Here are my results from trying it on my MacBookPro laptop

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Allen Rockwell,Slimmer

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 12:55 PM | Permalink

I've been playing around with Photoshop CS3 and I'm very impressed with the speed that I'm getting on my Intel based Macintosh computers compared to CS2 .... but other than the speed I have not been blown away by any new features.

... Until today.

Today I started playing around with a new feature called "Zoomify", it's located on the File menu under the Export item.

Zoomify is a handy feature to use if you want to show someone a very large image online but you do not want them to have to wait forever for it to download. Zoomify creates small thumbnail versions of areas of an image that you can use to view and navigate around the image ... then when you zoom in it loads the segment of the image you are looking at in high resolution. Pretty cool. It works a little like Google Maps, where you see low res images till you zoom in and then things sharpen up.

Click here to try out viewing a Zoomified image

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography, Photoshop, Allen Rockwell, CS3,

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'll start getting into the program tonight and explore new features. But so far I can say it's a lot faster on my Intel based Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.

You can download the beta at http://labs.adobe.com/

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 12:44 PM | Permalink

It really looks like CS3 beta will drop tomorrow... Here is text from Macrumors.com

True to rumors, Adobe has announced a Photoshop CS3 Beta program available to customers with a serial number from either Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Creative Suite® 2, Adobe Creative Suite Production Studio, Adobe Design Bundle, Adobe Web Bundle or Adobe Video Bundle.

Packed with new features, Photoshop CS3 beta also includes a pre-release version of a major upgrade to Adobe Bridge, as well as a preview release of the all-new Adobe Device Central. Photoshop customers can use Adobe Device Central to design, preview, and test compelling mobile content, created specifically for smaller screens. This new tool, integrated in the Photoshop CS3 beta, simplifies and accelerates the creation of mobile content through a preview environment and built-in device profiles.

"This is an exciting time for the Mac, and Adobe wanted to ease the move to new Intel-based systems with a preview release of Photoshop CS3," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe.
The beta version will be available Friday morning from the Adobe Labs website. The Mac version is a Universal Binary, and system requirements call for a 1+ GHz G4 or G5 or any Intel-based Mac with 512MB of RAM. A Windows version is also available.

Adobe says the beta will expire soon after the formal release of Photoshop in Spring 2007. Final pricing is yet to be determined, however Photoshop CS2 currently is offered at $649 (full version, $169 upgrade).

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 10:49 PM | Permalink

Today O'Reilly Media launched Inside Aperture, a webiste, blog and podcast. I am very proud to be a part of this website, I will be contibuting to the blog at least once a week. Check it out at http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/aperture/

Also today Apple released Aperture version 1.5.1 through software update. The update is a 128 MB download, so go get a coffee while it's downloading.

Apple also announced today that they are offering a free 30 day trail of Aperture. You can download the Aperture trial at http://www.apple.com/aperture/trial/

If you download the v1.5.1 update be warned that of course it will take a few minutes download the 128MB file, but also after installing the update Aperture will update your aperture library the next time you load Aperture. On my Intel MacBookPro this took about 1 hour.

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 02:56 PM | Permalink

Today Apple released Aperture 1.5, a huge upgrade that’s available for free to current Aperture owners via Apples Software Update.

Here’s some text from Apple’s website:
Aperture 1.5 delivers compelling new features, including flexible library management that lets you store images anywhere you’d like. The free update also introduces third-party extensions that let you use Aperture as the front end to an expanded workflows. Aperture 1.5 offers RAW support for more than 50 camera models from a wide variety of manufacturers (including Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Sony, and others) and extends support to all Intel-based Macs — from the Mac mini and MacBook to the Mac Pro.

For more info check out Apple’s site

Posted by Allen Rockwell at 08:53 PM | Permalink