Adobe Systems’ first major photo editing release in years has begun hitting retail shelves
Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 enables photographers to import, manage and present large volumes of digital photographs shot in RAW format.
According to the company, it will help photographers spend more time behind the lens and less time at the computer.
More than 500,000 photographers participated in the public beta program over the last 12 months.
Recognizing their efforts, Adobe is offering Lightroom at a special introductory price of US$199 through April 30. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of US$299.
John Loiacono, senior vice-president of Adobe’s creative solutions business, said professional photographers rarely moonlight as software developers. Fortunately, he added, they were willing to give it a shot.
Everything, from image viewing and evaluation tools to timesaving editing features, was developed with the help of photographers.
The final version of Lightroom includes changes to the Library and Develop modules complementing improvements to the Slideshow, Print and Web components. While in the Library module, new advanced keywording tools help photographers filter through large collections, and an improved import dialogue with more flexible file handling allows more choice when determining file location.
Additional tools added since the last beta include a Hue, Saturation and Luminance targeted adjustment tool for precise and intuitive image edits. Clone and Healing features provide non-destructive edits to eliminate sensor dust across one or many images.
