Folks, if you’ve been wondering about the lack of posts on PhotoshopNews.com, I’ve been heads-down working on the update to Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4. I’m happy to repots, it’s done, well almost. I’m done except for reviewing the last chapter (due to me this morning) and then Peachpit has to get the index done. But it’s almost ready to send off to the printers and should be printed and released in December.

That’s what I’ve been doing and why PhotoshopNews has gone a bit silent (which was real hard to let happen because, well Photoshop CS4 and Camera Raw 5 is pretty big news). There’s going to be another upcoming release of Camera Raw soon (which I can’t really talk about) that has some, uh, new stuff (that I can’t really talk about) but that’s why we didn’t have RWCRCS4 ready to ship when CS4 shipped.

But that doesn’t mean I can come up for air…ya see, I still have another book to finish along with Martin Evening. Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop which is due to be released on March 2009.

So, I’ve been a busy boy and still have a lot of work to do. Add to this is the fact we’ve gotten the band back together and are going out on the road doing the Epson Print Academy (we’ve already done Atlanta last week and Washington DC last Sunday). I suspect the number of posts on PhotoshopNews.com will continue to be a bit sparse through the end of the year…oh, and did I mention that the other band is getting back together too? Yep, Michael Reichmann, JP Caponigro, Steve Johnson and Seth Resnick and I  are going back down for a photo expedition to Antarctica again in early January, 2009 for 14 days of shooting and teaching. Hum, remind me why I opted to do PhotoshopNews.com again?

I’ll post what I can, when I can…I’ll also try to get some guest bloggers to help out but you’ll just have to forgive me for over extending my time and activities a bit…

:~)

We’re getting the band back together and hitting the road again. The Epson Print Academy is going to Atlanta this Saturday, November 8th at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown.

Featuring Andrew Rodney (The Digital Dog), Jeff Schewe, Greg Gorman, Mac Holbert and John Paul Caponigro, the new Epson Print Academy is headed to Atlanta for the first of a 15 city tour. We’re dragging along one of the new Epson Stylus® Pro 7900 printers with UltraChrome® HDR inks and we’ll be teaching how to get the most out of that, or any fine art ink jet printer. In fact, attendees are registered to win one of the 7900 printers (given out next June) or a change to win one of 15 4880 printers (one will be given away at each venue). For more information, check out the web site at Epson Print Academy.

I voted…you all should too–whoever you wish to vote for.

Adobe will released updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, both will available later in the evening October 22nd, 2008 as free upgrades for Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 users.

The releases provide added raw file support for 15 digital cameras including the Nikon D90, Nikon D700, Canon EOS 50D and Canon EOS 1000D.

The Lightroom 2.1 update also includes improvements to Photoshop integration, Web module stability for Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, performance with 64-bit Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers, and Keyword migration from Lightroom. A complete list of improvements is available in the Lightroom update documentation.

John, on his Adobe Blog says “By and large, keyboard shortcut changes suck.  Mature tools are like musical instruments, and you don’t go moving the piano keys or cello strings without a great need to do so.  It’s painful.  We know.”

Read what else John has to say in this post Shortcut changes in PSCS4

Tom Hogarty, the Camera Raw & Lightroom product manager noted on the Lightroom Journal that Camera Raw 5.0 is currently shipping but that the camera support for 5.0 is the same as Camera Raw 4.5/Lightroom 2.0. The new cameras added in the Camera Raw 4.6 update will need to be rolled out in a Camera Raw 5.1 update some time next week. He also noted that as of the release of Camera Raw 5.0 and Photoshop CS4 the DNG Profiles are still considered “beta”. News about the final release of the profiles and a revision to DNG Profile Editor are expected “soon”.

Read Tom’s post.

Milestone Release Radically Improves Creative Workflow Efficiency; Redefines Collaboration Between Designers and Developers

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 15, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 product family, the highly-anticipated release of industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow. Delivering radical breakthroughs in workflow efficiency – and packed with hundreds of innovative, time saving features – the new Creative Suite 4 product line advances the creative process across print, Web, interactive, film, video and mobile.

Customers can choose from six new versions: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium and Master Collection. The combination of Creative Suite and the new capabilities of Adobe Flash® Player 10, also available today (see separate press release) deliver new levels of creativity and expressiveness across media channels. Designers using the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family will gain unprecedented creative control using the new expressive features and visual performance improvements in Adobe Flash Player 10 to deliver breakthrough Web experiences across multiple browsers and operating systems.

Camera Raw 4.6 and the DNG Converter 4.6 has been posted to Adobe.com for Mac and Windows. This will be the last Camera Raw update for Photoshop CS3 customers and it includes support for raw formats from the following 15 camera models:

Adobe MAX Conference, San Francisco November 16-19, 2008—

an opportunity to connect with thousands of designers, developers, partners, executives, and Adobe staff for education, inspiration, and community.

Russell Brown has adjusted his popular-and long-running ADIM(Art Directors Invitational Master Class) to coincide with MAX.  It’s “the essential two-day, hands-on instructional course that brings top art directors, designers, illustrators, and photographers together to learn advanced tips and techniques using Adobe products” details are on Russell’s site.

John Nack, the senior Photoshop product manager has posted a reminder about Adobe’s upgrade path for older versions of Photoshop to Photoshop CS4. Back when Photoshop CS3 was released, Adobe changed the upgrade eligibility to only 3 versions back. So, as long as you had Photoshop 7 or above, you could upgrade to Photoshop CS3 for the regular upgrade cost of $199 (for the standard version, $349 for Extended). If you have Photoshop CS, CS2 or CS3 you will be able to upgrade for the upgrade pricing. But, if you have Photoshop 7, you will not.

However, between now and October 15th, you CAN still upgrade to Photoshop CS3 and still be able to upgrade to Photoshop CS4 when it is released. Adobe has a policy that if you buy the “current” version of Photoshop (currently CS3) AFTER the next version has been announced but BEFORE it ships, you can get the next version upgrade for the cost of shipping and handling. You will need to contact Adobe Customer Service to get the free upgrade to CS4 as long as your Photoshop CS3 upgrade purchase falls into that after announce, but before CS4 ship date. After Photoshop CS4 ships, the upgrade path to Photoshop CS4 will be Photoshop CS and above only.

The astute amongst you may also deduce when the expected ship date of Photoshop CS4 might be…

New Foundation’s First Initiative Engages Youth to Drive Social Change

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 1, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Adobe Foundation, a global philanthropic organization focused on driving positive social change and community improvement. Formation of the foundation builds on Adobe’s long history of philanthropy - including grantmaking, software donations and training, employee volunteer programs and education initiatives - focused on making the communities where Adobe operates strong and more vibrant places to live, work and do business.

Adobe has historically allocated one percent of its annual net income to philanthropic giving, managed through a donor-advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF). Going forward, these funds will be managed by the Adobe Foundation, creating a closer connection between Adobe and its philanthropic interests. The Adobe Foundation will initially manage Adobe’s flagship community program, Adobe Youth Voices, and administer new programs in the future.

Not to be outdone by a tall, good looking blond, Dr. Brown unleashes his own brand of video tutorials on Photoshop CS4.

CS4: Content Aware Scale QuickTime Tutorial; 9.4 MB
Learn about this new seam carving technology in Adobe Photoshop CS4, and you’ll be tempted to never use the standard Transform tools again.
Dr. Brown says, “This new feature is down right amazing!”

CS4 Extended: Spherical Panorama QuickTime Tutorial; 7.7 MB
Discover one of the new 3D features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. In this tutorial you will learn how to wrap an image around the inside of a sphere, to create a 3D panorama. Then, simply step into this digital space and use some of the new Photoshop CS4 tools to look around your newly created world.

CS4 Extended: 3D Quick-Look QuickTime Tutorial; 4.5 MB
Get ready for an incredible 3D experience, as you view this quick-look at some of the new 3D features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. This tutorial will take you through some of my favorite new tools for working, and experimenting, with 3D objects.

CS4 Extended: 3D Mesh from Grayscale QuickTime Tutorial; 9.7 MB
Bring 2D images back to life with this new Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended technique for converting grayscale images into 3D objects. This tutorial will also demonstrate how to generate 3D depth maps directly from 2D images.

CS4 Extended: Advanced 3D Eclipse Animation QuickTime Tutorial; 15.3 MB
Learn about some of the advanced features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended for animating 3D objects. In this project I will create a solar eclipse simulation from 2D, and video images of the earth and moon. Did I mention that this is an advanced tutorial?

Check out Julieanne’s web site for new Camera Raw 5 and Photoshop CS4 video tutorials and PDFs.

ADOBE TV The Complete Picture - Episode 08
Let Julieanne show you the power behind the new features in Camera Raw 5. Discover how to make non-destructive localized corrections as well as create special effects using the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, Post Cropping Vignettes and more!

ADOBE TV The Complete Picture - Episode 07
Discover the new features in Adobe Bridge CS4 as Julieanne walks through the new features, tools, refined interface and integration with Photoshop.

PSCS4 What’s new in Bridge CS4 (PDF)
Learn everything there is to get you up to speed quickly in Bridge CS4.

PSCS4 What’s New in Camera Raw 5 (PDF)
Discover the unlimited possibilities with Camera Raw 5.

PSCS4 Photoshop CS4 - But Wait, There’s More! (PDF)
Master the important but often overlooked refinements and adjustments in Photoshop CS4.

It seems some people see Conspiracy Theories where there really aren’t any. To address some users’ question Scott Kelby took the “easy way” out and did a video with Matt Kloskowski and talked about the timing of Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS4 with Camera Raw 5. I say “easy way” because it was easier for Scott and Matt to sit around talking than having to actually write (his words, not mine).

So check this post out (and watch the video if the mood strikes you–post comments on SCOTT’s blog, not here). Lightroom 2 vs. CS4 & Lightroom Conspiracy Theories

Bryan Hughes, product manager for Photoshop highlights Photoshop CS4 features on Adobe TV. See the Photoshop CS4 video at here and the Photoshop CS4 Extended video with Zorana Gee who is also a Photoshop product manager here.

John Nack (senior product manager for Photoshop–just in case you live in a cave and don’t know who he is) has posted a story on his blog titled CS4: Sweating the Details

I’m a perfectionist, and I deeply, viscerally want to smooth & polish every aspect of Photoshop.  Doing it all in any one cycle is impossible, but I’m proud to say we’ve put a ton of effort into sweating the details in CS4. 

You’re going to see tons of flashier features in other write-ups, and of course I’ll cover them here, but for this cycle I want to lead with the little stuff–things you might not read about otherwise, but which can make a big difference while working.

Read the entire post here.

(87 comments and counting)

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Learning Center Offers Tutorials, New Feature Overviews, Exclusive Interviews and More for the Newly-Released Photoshop CS4

TAMPA, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has launched its new Adobe Photoshop CS4 Learning Center covering the new exciting features of Photoshop CS4 as part of the much anticipated Adobe Creative Suite 4 announcement. The NAPP Adobe Photoshop CS4 Learning Center is the most comprehensive Photoshop CS4 learning experience available today jam-packed with video tutorials, interviews, helpful information, and more at www.photoshopuser.com/cs4.

Photoshop CS3 had some mixed reviews. It didn’t have quite as many features of interest to photographers as say, previous versions of the program. I think such responses may also have been influenced by the introduction of Lightroom 1, which was definitely designed with photographers in mind. It is probably fair to say that there was a certain amount of envy among the Photoshop team to the ‘new kid on the block’. Well, Photoshop CS4 has arrived, hot on the heels of Lightroom 2 and it’s time to see how the new version of the ‘mother ship’ program shapes up.

As far as Photoshop CS4 itself goes, I think photographers will be very pleased with some the new changes here. Photoshop now has a smart dark gray interface and adopted a task-based approach to image editing and this can be seen in the way image adjustments are now accessible within their own panel. When you combine this with the ability to non-destuctively edit a layer mask, you’ll discover that the  Photoshop CS4 image editing system offers the most flexible yet for pixel image editing.

Read the full story…

Landmark Release Packs Powerful Editing Punch and Harnesses the Creative Potential of 3D

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 23, 2008 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, the highly anticipated, new editions of the professional industry standard software for digital imaging. Providing a fluid user experience, complete creative control and higher efficiency, Photoshop CS4 leverages the power of the latest hardware to extend imaging possibilities and offer faster, more flexible ways to accomplish core tasks like image adjustments and masks. All of these features and more can be found in Photoshop CS4 Extended, which serves users with advanced motion graphics functions, dramatically expanded 3D visualization capabilities and precise image analysis.

I’m on the road to San Francisco to attend tonite’s Adobe CS4 Announcement. Yes, the official announcement date is Tuesday, the 23rd, but but tonite there’s a pre-announcement announcement. Yeah, I know, pretty confusing…also, it should be noted that the  CS4 Announcement is only an announcement, it won’t actually ship for a while. We’ll find that out on Tuesday.

I don’t know if it’s too late to sign up for the web cast on Tuesday, but the registration page is here.

Say you start with this image of a fellow named Chen and his cat. Then you run EVERY filter that Photoshop has on it. What would you get at the end? Well, depending on the order they were run, you would get this…

To see the entire progression, check the blog post HERE.

Revenue and Earnings Performance Driven by Record Acrobat and LiveCycle Revenue

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sept. 16, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today reported financial results for its third quarter ended Aug. 29, 2008.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2008, Adobe achieved revenue of $887.3 million, compared to $851.7 million reported for the third quarter of fiscal 2007 and $886.9 million reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2008. Adobe’s third quarter revenue target range was $855 to $885 million.

“Our strong performance in Q3 was driven by record revenue for our Acrobat and LiveCycle products, as well as the overall diversity of our business,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer. “We continue to execute exceptionally well against our strategy, and we look forward to the launch of our flagship Creative Suite 4 product family next week.”

To address new camera compatibilities, Adobe has released a preliminary version of Camera Raw 4.6. It’s considered a release candidate (RC) which is considered a bit beyond beta in terms of internal testing. In addition to Camera Raw 4.6, DNG Converter 4.6 has also been released. People who have new cameras and wish to import those images into Lightroom 2.0 will need to use the DNG Converter until Lightroom is also updated.

The downloads are available from Adobe Labs.

Not known for its ability to keep secrets, Adobe has announced that it will announce Creative Suite 4 (CS4) which will presumably include Photoshop CS4 (we don’t “know” this because the announcement of the announcement was a bit vague). But you can find out for sure by registering for an invite-only webcast which will be aired on September 23rd, 2008. The registration page is here.

The reason we “presume” that Photoshop CS4 will be announced along with the rest of the Creative Suite is that Johnny L (John Loiacono, Adobe’s VP of their Creative Business Unit) kinda let the rabbit out of the hat at the Photoshop World Keynote a couple of weeks ago.

Photoshop World will be at the Mandalay Bay Conference Center in Las Vegas. The Pre-con sessions start on Wednesday and the main conference on Thursday. The Tech Expo runs all three days and if you are in Vegas (but not attending the conference) you can get a free expo pass for 2 of the days here.

Aside from being Labor Day here in the USA, the big news for Photoshop users is that this week marks the start of Photoshop World Week. Ok, I didn’t know that the week of Photoshop World was a big deal, but Scott Kelby has posted a story with info that Photoshop World attendees might find useful. NAPP’s Executive Director Larry Becker has done a video about “Getting the Most out of Photoshop World“. Photoshop Guru Dave Cross has done a free Photoshop World Planner PDF as well.

I’ll be doing three Conference Sessions (hope to see you there) as well as a Pre-Con session called the Epson Print Academy (which is now sold out). Martin Evening and John Nack will be inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame at the opening keynote on Thursday (see this PSN story). The keynote will feature  Adobe’s VP of their Creative Business Unit, John Loiacono and if the past is any guide, he’ll be showing off some “new stuff” from future versions of Photoshop.

So, I’ll be a bit busy until next week when I’ll post a report…see ya next week!