Early this morning Adobe posted the Lightroom 4 public beta on Adobe Labs. If you’ve caught the buzz, this is a significant update not only adding new features, but once again improving a tremendous product. The HOT TOPIC is soft proofing, and there’s plenty to see with Maps, Books, base level video editing, and improvements to Develop module processing. I will be posting videos on Lightroom 4 starting tomorrow, in the meantime here are some resources to get you up to speed:

Download Lightroom 4 Beta:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/

A breakdown of features by community experts:

http://lightroomsecrets.com/2012/01/lightroom-4-public-beta-is-here/

http://www.lightroomqueen.com/2012/01/09/whats-new-in-lightroom-4-0-beta/

http://www.pixiq.com/article/lightroom-4-beta

NAPP has some quick video overviews of what’s new:
http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom4 – remember loyal readers get a signup discount for NAPP using “ajwood” for new membership or renewals.

Last month over 75,000 people participated in the beta program for Cyberlink’s new photo editing tool PhotoDirector 2011. I had the opportunity to take a look at the program, and compare it to existing programs, i.e., Adobe Lightroom 3 & Apple Aperture 3.

Many initial reviews have compared PhotoDirector to Lightroom, and you cannot deny the striking similarities bordering on an exact clone of Adobe’s software. The product is Windows only, so Mac enthusiasts can keeping using iPhoto, Aperture or Lightroom. Also, I cannot speak for the final release, but the beta version I tested was 32 bit only. This may be fine for consumers, but professionals using Windows 7 will want full 64 bit capabilities.

PhotoDirector imports image information into “projects” which are similar to catalogs in Lightroom. The database design is the same; edits & changes to images are written to PhotoDirector’s project file, not directly to the images stored on your computer hard drive. Photos are managed in the Library section which offers the same utilities as Lightroom’s Library module. You can view images as thumbnails, singles or do comparisons of two or more images. Marking photos is done with Pick & Reject Flags, Colors or Stars.

Start to edit photos in the Adjustments section and the similarities to Lightroom continue right down to the Spot Removal Tool & Adjustment Brush. Anyone familiar with Lightroom will be able to dive into PhotoDirector as the tools work almost identically to how Adobe wrote them. Panel options in the Adjustment section include White Balance, Tone & Sharpening. You won’t see any Lens Corrections or Camera Calibration, but Cyberlink has made it clear they are targeting the consumer market.

The Slideshow section came as a surprise because while sparse in features, I have to say I like it better than Lightroom. Simply adding a Ken Burn’s style motion makes this section 10x more useful than Lightroom’s Slideshow module. Exported images are copies of the originals with the adjustment settings provided in the software.

Summary
Cyberlink will be releasing PhotoDirector 2011 soon for a retail price of $99. Essentially a competitor’s version of “Lightroom Elements”, consumers could easily grow into Lightroom later. That being said, the only thing innovative about PhotoDirector is its price point. I’m not versed in “intellectual property” but given how closely this product resembles and more importantly functions like Lightroom, I would expect to see some action from Adobe. I’m sure there are some who will take my tone as overly harsh, I’m not saying there isn’t a market for this product. Imitation is a form a flattery after all. Look at the iPad.

By now you’ve heard the news, Adobe released the Creative Suite 5.5 upgrade today. Yes, I said, “upgrade” as this is a paid release, not to be confused with an “update” typical of dot releases. While early buzz is a mixture of excitement and complaints, what people should focus on is Adobe’s commitment to staying current with industry trends. CS 5.5 addresses the needs of web developers and the importance of mobile technologies. The buzz is around HTML5, CSS3 & EPUB, making InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver and Adobe’s video production tools well worth a look. Another item worth noting is the subscription model for accessing the Creative Suite. This will be great for people who don’t want the upfront cost of Photoshop or the full Creative Suite. It will also work well for those that have short term projects or use temporary workers. Here are some videos from Adobe TV that demonstrate new features.

Overview of CS5.5 Design Premium

Overview of CS5.5 Production Premium

After losing my voice for a few weeks, I’m back with another Tip Tuesday episode. Today I have Part 1 in our Portrait Retouching series using Lightroom. I’ll start off with some of the basic tonal corrections to get us going. Enjoy the video!

Before I get into today’s video tip, don’t forget the NAPP Giveaway contest starts today. Now it’s time for another high-speed retouching demonstration. Today, at a subscriber’s request I’m using Lightroom exclusively for this retouch. While it’s not a replacement for Photoshop, there are a number of adjustments that can be done without bringing in the heavy image artillery. Enjoy the video!

Greeeeeeeeeetings & Salutaaaaaaations!!! Well, I’m mostly recovered and I managed to get a recording done for everyone. Today we’re looking at Clipping Masks, and how they are different from Layer Masks.

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday video. We kickoff part 2 in our “Fix a Tiger Photo” series, this time demonstrating how to extract the tiger for a better composite image. Check it out:

If you aren’t a regular reader over at TipSquirrel.com this is a good week to start. Today Tipsy kicks off the Lightroom 3 series which will run the next two weeks. This is your opportunity to win great prizes, view tutorials, read the latest tips, and did I mention win prizes? As an added bonus this week you can get a massive 35% off Lightroom 3 books from our friends at Peachpit with the code “LR3week”

Time for another Tip Tuesday video tutorial. Today is Part 1 of our “Fix a Tiger Photo” series. I’ll be demonstrating how I use Lightroom to prep our tiger for extraction & masking. Check it out:

It’s Tip Tuesday and this week I have a Photoshop demo on removing a blurry fence whipped out at twice the speed, minus the explanation. Don’t fear, next week I’ll break it all down. Check it out: