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Copy and paste edits on multiple photos with Lightroom on iOS
If you're paying for a Creative Cloud subscription, Adobe's Lightroom mobile comes in handy for make some photo edits on the go. In order to speed up that creative process a bit, the latest iOS update delivers the ability to copy edits from one photo and past them on another. So when you have a collection of images from a hike that all need the same tweaks, this should shave off a few minutes. What's more, the new version makes finding your favorite images easier, and a Presentation Mode keeps your pals from messing with your tags when they're flipping through a gallery. The usual bug fixes are there as well, and now that Lightroom mobile made the leap to Android, hopefully the new features will land on Google's mobile OS soon enough.
Perfectly Clear migrates from iOS to Mac
I first got a look at Perfectly Clear when it came out for iOS. It was a nice, quick and easy, one-touch solution for improving photos without a lot of editing pain. Perfectly Clear now works on the Mac as a plug-in for Photoshop or Lightroom and maintains the same philosophy it did on iOS -- one click and your photo is improved. Now you might assume a Photoshop or Lightroom user wants more control, but the reality is that with Photoshop on a monthly subscription plan, a lot of new Photoshop users are coming on board. In addition, Perfectly Clear gives you the kind of micro-control advanced Photoshop users may want, so users can adjust photo quality automatically or to taste. Automatic corrections include many portrait features, like face slimming, blemish removal, eye enhancement, teeth whitening and more. For non-portrait photography, Perfectly Clear offers sharpening, noise reduction, vivid adjustments, fix dark images, fix tint, and more. If you don't like the one click fix, there are very in-depth adjustments available for each pre-set. Yes, you can accomplish many of these things with Photoshop adjustments, but Perfectly Clear is easier and faster, and the results can look as good. This version 2.0 of Perfectly Clear has optimized algorithms so it operates at about twice the speed as the pre-update version. Split views with zoom make seeing your changes very obvious, and your custom adjustments can be saved and even shared with other Perfectly Clear users. I consider myself a pretty experienced and advanced Photoshop user, having been enjoying it all the way back to version 1.0. I know enough about the Photoshop tools to get what I want out of almost any image, but Perfectly Clear really works well and with a minimum of hassle. In my testing I found that the enhancements were logical and never over the top. It's not hard to use, and the built-in app help links you both to the manual and video tutorials. It's definitely worth a look for both advanced and newer Photoshop or Lightroom users. You can learn more at the Perfectly Clear website. The Photoshop and Lightroom plugins are US$149.00 each or $199.00 as a bundle. There are free trial versions available. This software is available direct from the publisher and is not on the Mac App Store. Another similarly useful suite of tools is NIK Tools for Mac, now owned by Google. These tools are also priced at $149.00. NIK Tools are excellent and useful, and I find that with Perfectly Clear, I like using whichever package makes the most sense with a particular image. The NIK Tools don't have any portrait features, however. They do have an excellent ability to apply enhancements selectively in the image, something Perfectly Clear lacks. Perfectly Clear plug-ins requires either Photoshop or Lightroom to host them. You need Mac OS X Leopard (10.6) or later. The company is also in late beta for a standalone version that doesn't require any of the Adobe software. Recommended.
The TUAW Daily Update Podcast for June 27, 2014
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Apple puts Aperture out to pasture, moving users to new Photos app
Apple's pro photo editing suite Aperture is coming to the end of its life. In 2005 Cupertino decided to take on the entrenched powers in that field, including Adobe, but clearly the company has decided there are better uses for its resources. Instead, with the next version of OS X, will be ushered towards a new app called Photos. Apple will even provide a tool for seamlessly moving your existing library to Photos. While it may pack some of the more advanced editing features of Aperture, the new app is actually aimed more at replacing iPhoto (which will also be getting the boot). Users that are unwilling to give up Aperture can rest assured that will provide compatibility updates for OS X Yosemite, but there will be no other changes to the software. For those that would rather move over to the Adobe family, there's always Lightroom, which is part of the Creative Cloud suite and has proven popular. Of course, that means paying a $10 monthly subscription. It's less than ideal, but at least Lightroom has a history of frequent updates. Update: This story originally stated that Apple was building a tool to aid those looking to transition to Lightroom. Instead the tool is for moving users to Photos. Apple is, however, working to provide documentation for those that wish to move to Lightroom.
Adobe updates its iPad Voice app, linking it to Lightroom Mobile sync
Adobe has posted a quick update to the fascinating Adobe Voice app. Adobe Voice is designed to create animated videos with very little work. As we noted in our review, it integrates animation, photos and music to create quick, but professional-looking, presentations. With this latest update, Adobe Voice now syncs to Lightroom Mobile, which also lets you add photos from your Lightroom collection with a single tap. Since Adobe has now tied Lightroom on the Mac, iPhone and iPad together, collections become a use-and-edit-anywhere phenomenon. On top of the major Adobe announcements earlier today, it's clear that the company is looking to further dominate photo editing and presentation creation. Adobe Voice has already found its way into company boardrooms and education settings. The app is free, but using it requires an Adobe ID.
Adobe overhauls Creative Cloud with new touch features and cheaper pricing
Adobe updates don't get the same amount of attention that they used to. No doubt, this is largely due to the company's Creative Cloud platform, which pushes gradual improvements to more than 1 million subscribers automatically. But the company reckons there's still room for major overhauls every once in a while, and it claims today's is the "biggest software release since CS6." The update brings new features to pretty much all of Adobe's desktop applications, as well as four new mobile apps (which we'll get to in a minute), plus a permanent $10-per-month subscription deal for access to Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC (which has already been widely available through time-limited offers.)
Adobe adds cross-platform photo editing for Creative Cloud users
Photographers who use Adobe's Creative Cloud suite of graphics apps are getting some love today. Both Photoshop and Lightroom have been updated to improve synchronization of photo workflows between compatible devices (ie. the Mac and the iPad). You can edit a photo on one platform and watch the changes show up on the other side; while this was already in the iPad app. now there's a feature-equivalent iPhone version of Lightroom for even more portability. To make this power more accessible to pro and enthusiast photographers, there's a new Photography plan for Creative Cloud -- launching today -- that includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom for desktop and iOS, and more for US$9.99 per month. Adobe is presenting the whole shebang in a live webcast today at 1pm Eastern. There are some really important developments here, so let's dive right in. Photoshop CC Photoshop's new features include perspective warps, new motion effects in the blur gallery, improved focusing routines and improvements to the content-aware tools. LightRoom 5 Meanwhile, Adobe has now supplemented the three-month-old iPad version of Lightroom with a build for iPhone. Both versions let you seamlessly edit photos with sync between all your iOS devices. Lightroom now synchronizes star ratings and sort order between the desktop and mobile versions, as long as you're running Lightroom 5.5 or better on the desktop. The iOS Lightroom app is free but requires a Creative Cloud subscription to work. Photoshop Mix Adobe also released a new iPad app called Photoshop Mix, which lets you open images from your camera roll, the Creative Cloud, Lightroom Mobile or even Facebook. It's like a lite version of Photoshop that's been redesigned for the iPad. Most of its operations are carried out on Adobe's cloud servers, which let you open PS documents, individual layers from PSDs and images from Lightroom Mobile. You can perform sophisticated edits on your iPad, including computationally intensive operations like content-aware moves and fills. The resulting changes will be available in Photoshop on your Mac or PC. Likewise, changes made on the desktop will appear in Photoshop Mix. The app has dozens of presets for quick edits, and a host of sophisticated tools that you would not expect to find in an iPad app. Your work can be saved back to the Creative Cloud, or to your local camera roll. Photoshop Mix is a breakthrough for photographers who want to do heavy editing on their iPad. You'll find more details on the app on the Adobe website. Integration Adobe provided me advance versions of Photoshop Mix and the new Adobe Lightroom for the iPhone. Everything worked as expected. I loved performing sophisticated edits on my iPad and then seeing them reflected back in Photoshop on my Macs. Adobe's aim is to let customers work on images no matter where they are or what device they're using. Meanwhile, Apple will make it easy to shuffle data between iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. When you sit back and consider it all, a lot of little breakthroughs add up to a significant change in how and where we work with photos. Pricing All these new apps and services are available now. The Photoshop and Lightroom updates are handled through the Creative Cloud updater. Photoshop Mix and Lightroom Mobile for iPhone and iPad are in the App Store and do require a Creative Cloud ID/subscription, but there is no additional cost for any of the apps or updates. The Creative Cloud Photography plan is available at US$9.99 per month and includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom desktop and mobile versions, access to Creative Cloud Learn and ongoing feature updates and upgrades. If you are already enrolled in the original Photoshop Photography plan bundle, you are grandfathered in to receive these new apps and features. This new level of features and services from Adobe is going to appeal to professionals and serious photographers. Take a look at what is on offer (or join the webcast today) and see if it fills your needs.
Lightroom mobile review: Adobe brings (most of) its digital darkroom to the iPad
Talk about timing. Almost as soon as I convinced myself I could use an iPad Air in my life, Microsoft and Adobe made my day with mobile versions of two of my most-used PC/Mac programs -- Office and Lightroom. Not long after Microsoft revealed an iPad version of Office, Adobe followed up with a tablet-friendly version of its popular Lightroom photo editor. Like Office for iPad, Lightroom mobile (its official name) is more workflow companion than PC replacement, letting photographers experiment with images from anywhere there's an internet connection before finalizing projects back at home base. With a number of solid photo editors already available for the iPad, though, the free-to-download Lightroom mobile needs to offer some unique advantages if Adobe hopes to lure folks into its subscription-based Creative Cloud service. Is the new app up to the task? I added it to my regular photo-editing workflow to find out.
Lightroom mobile arrives for iPad with touch-friendly interface, realtime sync
Adobe Lightroom is one of the most popular image archive tools on the market, and beginning today, iPad-toting photogs now have an iOS app for their DSLR, smartphone and even tablet pics (gasp!) to call home. The companion application, Lightroom mobile, brings much of the desktop version's functionality to your portable slate. The touch-friendly interface, which supports both portrait and landscape orientations, swaps mouse clicks for taps and swipes. Flick up or down to pick or reject images, for example, or tap twice to cycle through metadata. Any changes you make to an image in the app will be pushed to the cloud and out to any other Lightroom apps that you've signed into. Similarly, if you edit an image on a desktop or laptop (which you'll want to do before making prints, since the iPad's display isn't calibrated), your changes will appear in Lightroom mobile within a few seconds.
Adobe releases Lightroom Mobile for iPad today
Lots of Adobe pro users and serious photographers will be thrilled with this news: as of today, you can download Lightroom Mobile for iPad from the iOS App Store. It syncs with Lightroom on your desktop or laptop, and while not meant to be a replacement for the Mac app, it does allow photographers to view, edit, and then update their images on their remote computers. The app requires an internet connection, and it comes free with any Creative Cloud Subscription. That's the only way to get it. After downloading the app, you enter your Adobe credentials, and you are on your way. If you have non-Creative Cloud versions of Photoshop or Lightroom, the iPad app is not going to work. Adobe Lightroom mobile consists of three components: Lightroom for iPad, Lightroom 5 on your desktop, and the Lightroom mobile service. The Lightroom mobile service handles sync between Lightroom on your iPad and Lightroom 5 on your desktop. Features include: • Seamless sync with Lightroom 5. Edit and organize your images anywhere, anytime using your iPad or iPhone. Adobe Lightroom Mobile automatically syncs your work with Lightroom 5 on your desktop. • From snapshots to raw. Edit everything from smartphone photos to raw images from DSLRs using Smart Previews. Adobe Lightroom Mobile can handle virtually any image format. • Camera roll compatible. Import images from your iPhone or iPad camera roll straight into your Lightroom catalog. Enhance them using familiar and powerful Lightroom tools. Share them online quickly and easily. • Share edited images to your social networks. Share directly from Lightroom on your mobile device. • Showcase your images. Present photos with built-in slideshow. • View your images online at Lightroom.Adobe.com The Mac version of Lightroom has been updated to version 5.4 to allow the syncing. This is a bold step by Adobe, and it is a recognition of how important mobile computing has become. The company says an Android version would follow, but no timeframe was mentioned. There was no word about an iPhone version, which due to screen size would not be very practical. Adobe is also not commenting on any future Windows tablet versions. I'll have a complete review of Lightoom Mobile for iPad when I've had a chance to put it through its paces. Adobe is offering a free 30-day trial of the Mac and PC versions of Lightroom at http://www.adobe.com/go/trylightroom. Lightroom Mobile requires iOS 7 or later. It works with all versions of the iPad and iPad mini with the exception of the original iPad.
Adobe extends holiday deal on Photoshop Photography Program until Dec. 8th
If you're a pro photographer or just an enthusiast who is still waiting to bite the bullet on Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5, you have a few days left to take advantage of a pretty sweet deal from Adobe. Originally, the holiday promotion on Adobe's Photoshop Photography Program was set to expire on December 2, but now, thanks to popular demand, the company has decided to extend it until this Sunday, December 8 at 9 PM PST. The Adobe Photoshop Photography Program offers access to the latest versions of Adobe's professional photography apps -- Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 -- in addition to updates and upgrades as they are available, 20 GB of cloud storage and the Behance ProSite, for only US$9.99 a month as an annual subscription. After December 8, the Photoshop Photography Program will continue to be available for $9.99 a month (annual subscription) until December 31. However, in order to qualify for the promotion after December 8, you'll need to be an existing owner of Photoshop or Photoshop Extended, version CS3 or later (CS3.x, CS4, CS5.x or CS6), as a standalone product or as part of a suite edition to qualify. If you want to take advantage of this deal, click on over to Adobe.com to join up.
Adobe's Lightroom 5.3 RC brings RAW support to Sony's A7, other new cameras
If you're tired of cludging RAW files from your spanking new Sony A7r or Fujifilm XQ1, there's now relief from Adobe with release candidates for Photoshop Camera Raw 8.3 and Lightroom 5.3. The latter app, part of Adobe's Creative Cloud suite, is purpose-built for manipulating RAW photos, making its support critical for early-adopting image pros. The software will also work now with the Sony A7, Nikon AW1, Phase One IQ260 and IQ280 and Nikon Coolpix P7800, with preliminary support for the Sony RX10, Nikon D5300 and Olympus Stylus 1. Adobe's also squashed some bugs, like auto white balance and Flickr publishing issues. There's still one yawning gap in Adobe's resume, though, as the first smartphone RAW camera, the Nokia Lumia 1520 isn't supported yet -- hopefully that'll be remedied shortly after its arrival.
Adobe announces Photoshop CC and Lightroom plan for $9.99/month
At the Photoshop World conference in Las Vegas yesterday, Adobe announced a new special subscription price for those that sign up for a Photoshop CC and Lightroom plan before December 31. The new subscription plan is for current owners of Photoshop CS3 or higher and offers the latest versions of Photoshop CC and Lightroom, 20 GB of online storage and a membership to Adobe's Behance portfolio website all for just US$9.99 a month. In a blog post, Adobe explained the reasoning behind the move: Since introducing Photoshop CC, we've listened to feedback from a spectrum of our customers, from advanced professionals to casual enthusiasts. One common request was a solution specifically tailored for photographers. We listened, and at Photoshop World we're announcing a special offer for our loyal Photoshop customers. Beginning today, customers who own Photoshop CS3 or higher are eligible for a special Creative Cloud membership offer that includes all of the following for just $9.99/month. Currently, a Photoshop Creative Cloud membership for new users is $19.99 per month and that doesn't include Lightroom, so the two flagship apps for $9.99 a month is quite a good deal (if you don't mind subscriptions). Though the offer is not yet live, Adobe says it will launch in the next few weeks when it rolls out the Lightroom 5.2 update.
Adobe to offer $9.99/month Creative Cloud subscription for a limited time
Adobe announced today that, for a limited time, it will offer a $9.99 per month subscription package to Creative Cloud as a part of its Photography Program. Naturally, there are a few caveats involved: the offer is available only to existing Creative Suite customers who own Photoshop CS3 or above and sign-ups close on December 31, 2013. The low price tag won't get you the full Creative Cloud treatment; the Photography Program will grant you access to the diet version, which includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom 5, Behance ProSite access and 20GB of storage space. It's a smart move on Adobe's part, considering that the company has been fielding complaints from disgruntled customers over its subscription pricing model. You'll have to wait until September 17th for the offer to go live, but the good news is that the $9.99 monthly rate isn't an introductory price, therefore it won't increase so long as your account remains active. For more info, check out the source link below.
Composite lighting technique lets amateurs produce well-lit photos in minutes (video)
Hobbyist photographers don't often have the luxury of elaborate lighting rigs. However, Adobe and Cornell University have developed a new software technique that could bring pro-grade illumination to a wider audience. Known as computational lighting design, the solution simplifies a familiar trick that combines shots taken with a camera's external flash placed in different positions. The software uses multiple sample photos to create composite images that emphasize color, edge lighting and fill lighting; editors just have to balance those three light values to get the desired effect. While the code is still unpolished, it's good enough that even beginners can produce well-lit masterpieces in less than 15 minutes. Adobe believes that the technique could reach future versions of apps like Lightroom or Photoshop, so don't be surprised if still-life photography catches on in the near future.
Adobe releases Photoshop Lightroom 5
Adobe has officially released Photoshop Lightroom 5 today. The photo editing and management software is a direct competitor to Apple's Aperture. While the software has dozens of new features, here are the six top ones: Advanced Healing Brush: Remove distracting elements with a single brush stroke. Adjust the size of the brush and move it in precise paths. Unwanted objects and flaws -- even those with irregular shapes like threads -- just disappear. Upright tool: Straighten tilted images with a single click. The new Upright tool analyzes images and detects skewed horizontal and vertical lines, even straightening shots where the horizon is hidden. Radial Gradient tool: Emphasize important parts of your image with more flexibility and control. The Radial Gradient tool lets you create off-center vignette effects, or multiple vignetted areas within a single image. Smart Previews: Easily work with images without bringing your entire catalog of original images with you. Just generate smaller stand-in files called Smart Previews. Make adjustments or metadata additions to the Smart Previews and apply your changes to the full-size originals later. Improved photo book creation: Create beautiful photo books from your images. Lightroom includes a variety of easy-to-use book templates, and now you can edit them to create a customized look. Upload your book for printing with just a few clicks. Video slideshows: Easily share your work in elegant video slideshows. Combine still images, video clips and music in creative HD videos that can be viewed on almost any computer or device. Photoshop Lightroom 5 costs US$149 and is available for download now. TUAW will have a full review of the software once we've had some time to play with it.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 now available for $149
Adobe teased us with a Photoshop Lightroom 5 beta at the start of the spring, and it's closing out the season by releasing the finished goods. Mac- and Windows-based shutterbugs can download the completed image management app today, either at no extra charge through a Creative Cloud subscription or $149 for a stand-alone version ($79 for an upgrade). Buyers get the same core updates no matter how much they spend, including an Advanced Healing Brush for removing objects and Smart Previews that let travelers leave their original files at home. Behance publishing is also part of the revision. When Lightroom is free to try for a month, it likely won't hurt to grab a copy at the source link -- especially if your photo collection is growing out of hand.
Adobe previews Lightroom for iOS
Adobe's Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty has shown off an early beta of Lightroom for iOS, according to CNET. Hogarty made the semi-announcement on an episode of The Grid this week. Here's what CNET's Stephen Shankland had to say: He wouldn't promise when the app would ship or what exactly it would do, but he did demonstrate some features of the prototype software running on an iPad 2. He also offered several details about its features: • The ability to edit photos taken in RAW photo formats, including Lightroom develop-module parameters like exposure, clarity, shadows, highlights and white balance. • Cloud-synchronized editing so that changes made on a tablet arrive on the same photo on the PC. • The ability to zoom all the way to 100 percent for checking photo focus and details. And without promising anything, he said he'd like to see some of Lightroom's library-module features, like sorting photos into categories or flagging picks and rejects, in the app. Lightroom is the immensely popular photo management and editing app for OS X and Windows. It's seen as a direct competitor to Apple's Aperture. While Adobe has made small strides into the iOS ecosystem, none of its apps yet offer the pro-level features many photographers want to see on a tablet. Still, just because Adobe previewed a prototype of Lightroom for iOS doesn't mean photographers should get their hopes up. The prototype appeared to be in the very early stages and no release schedule (or pricing) was mentioned. [Image via Cnet]
Adobe working on Lightroom for iOS, uses cloud compute to edit RAW files (video)
Photoshop Touch? Bah. Real photographers use Lightroom, but since the software makes your average PC sweat, you're not likely to see it available on a tablet. Adobe, however, thinks that it can get around the limitations of mobile hardware with a cloud-connected version of Lightroom that'd let iOS users edit RAW files on the go. In the latest episode of The Grid, Lightroom chief Tom Hogarty showed off an early build of the app on his iPad 2, which uses Smart Previews to show users the changes that they're making while the grunt-work is handled elsewhere. Naturally, Hogarty wouldn't commit to a launch window, but if you'd like a glimpse of the future, head on past the break and start watching the video at the 19-minute mark.
Lightroom 5 beta available to the public
Adobe today announced the release of the Lightroom 5 beta for Mac and Windows. Lightroom is Adobe's photo-management and post-production software that competes directly with Apple's Aperture. The beta is free to download, but users should be aware that its use -- like all betas -- could vary and you should not use it with photo libraries that you do not have backed up. Here's a list of the major new features, as reported on the Adobe Labs blog: Advanced Healing Brush – Easily remove objects and fix defects -- even those with irregular shapes such as threads or lint -- with a single brush stroke. Take precise control over what's being removed as you make unwanted objects just disappear. Upright – Straighten tilted images with a single click. Upright analyzes images and detects skewed horizontal or vertical lines. You choose one of four correction methods, and Upright can even straighten images where the horizon is hidden. Radial Gradient – Lead your viewer's eye through your images with more flexibility and control. The radial gradient tool lets you create off-center vignette effects, or multiple vignette areas within a single image. Offline editing with Smart Previews – Easily work with images without bringing your entire library with you. Just generate smaller stand-in files called Smart Previews. Make adjustments or metadata additions to Smart Previews and your changes will be automatically applied to the full-size originals later. Video slideshow sharing – Easily share your work in elegant video slideshows. Combine still images, video clips and music in creative HD videos that can be viewed on almost any computer or device. Improved photo book creation – Create beautiful photo books from your images. Lightroom includes a variety of easy-to-use book templates, and now you can edit them to create a customized look. Upload your book for printing with just a few clicks.
