Post-Production Tools and Software

Adobe just announced the the third version of their masterful photo editing tool "Lightroom" has officially been released today.

The non-destructive photo editor allows you to make changes to your photos without altering the underlying RAW or JPG files. Full retail versions will run $299 and upgrades $99.

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The people at Zoner Software have informed us that they have released "Zoner Photo Studio Free", an introductory version of their Photo Studio editing and management software. You can download the fully free copy at http://free.zoner.com/ via the LINK below.

Full details on the Zoner line of editing software follows: [MORE]

I apparently based my post below on incorrect information and assumptions that I made.

Per Imagenomic's David McDonell:

Imagenomic is working on and will be releasing plugin updates for CS5, and these will likely be provided FREE for registered users.

My apologies to the team at Imagenomic and any concern I might have caused other loyal users of their products.

Those of you who have upgraded to Photoshop CS5 already and are fans of Imagenomic's top quality filters (as I am) will be frustrated to know that they will not be supporting the existing versions of their tools in CS5. Noiseware, Portraiture, and RealGrain users might be able to get the tools to work, but on first attempt they would not install in the new CS5.

Imagenomic is working on updates to the tools but these are version upgrades which are not normally slated for free upgrade.

While the new versions will have better features, it seems silly that the old version wouldn't just work or be quickly modified to fit the plug-in format of CS5. Let the features of the new versions sell themselves. Don't hold the customers hostage to buying a new version just to have existing functionality.

UPDATE: I did manage to get the tools to install and work just fine in CS5 by manually moving them from the old CS4 plug-ins folder.

At the stroke of midnight, Adobe formally announced the latest edition of their Photoshop series, the all new CS5. It features internal HDR toning, content aware fill and something called puppet warp. For more details, read on. [MORE]

This has got to be one of the coolest features for Photoshop CS5 I've seen so far. Content-Aware Fill allows you to remove items from your screen, and have Photoshop intelligently fill in the space they left behind. Quite amazing. Check this video on Youtube.

Nik Software is helping to train current and future customers on the joys of photo-editing with their software tools. Beginning today, they are offering three webinars per day, Monday-Friday via their niksoftware.com website.

"Webinars cover basic installation, usage tips and other information to help photographers achieve maximum success with the Nik Software product line. To further enhance the learning experience, attendees can pose questions to the educators during the webinars." [MORE]

Nik Software, the maker of high-end, high performance plugins for photo editing tools has released the latest version of their Viveza product, version 2.0. Viveza 2 allows photographers to selectively adjust lighting and color with precise selection controls without the need for layer masks or in-host selections.

Viveza 2 is available now and retails for $199.95. Upgrades are available for $99.95 and free if you purchased the previous version after September 22, 2009. [MORE]

If you've ever tried to mask out complex elements in your photos or designs, you know how tricky it can be. Topaz Labs promised to make that a breeze with the release of their Topaz Remask 2 plugin filter for Photoshop.

Full details at http://www.topazlabs.com/remask/.

This is a FREE upgrade for Topaz ReMask v1 users and between now and December 10, 2009, if you use the coupon code "magicbrush" you'll get $30 off the regular $69.95 price.

Athen Tech has a released a 1.0.3 update to their Photoshop plugin Perfectly Clear. It fixes some trial version issues among other things. As a thank you for your patience, they are offering a 15% off coupon code for any order. You can download the fix at http://www.athentech.com/index.php?id=101 and read more details here. [MORE]

Adobe has release Lightroom 3.0 as an open BETA for Mac and Windows platforms. If you've never tried it, now is your chance. If you are a longtime user, you'll love exploring the new features. Right now catalogs are NOT upgradable from 2.0, but will be on the final release.

For more details and to download, visit http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/ [MORE]