photoshop

Photopaddles physically 'Photoshop' your pics

Here's a low-tech way of spicing up your camera phone shots--plastic mustaches. Photopaddles by designer Steven Haulenbeek are made of clear plastic and meant to be placed between your camera phone and your subject to create a humorous effect. Aside from adding a mustache to your lady friend or eyeglasses to your bicycle, other variants let you say no to something or add a thought bubble.

A number of phones provide software to do this, most notably Korean brands Samsung and LG. If you have an iPhone, there's probably an app that does this, too. But the physical … Read more

Even old master Photoshop can learn new tricks

Unlike its predecessor, which didn't really offer much in the way of new features but overhauled its look, Photoshop CS5 (Windows | Mac) leaves the interface practically untouched to focus on major feature improvements.

The big changes include automatic lens correction, better high dynamic range processing, content-aware filling, "intelligent selection", and enhanced tools for 3D image creation in Photoshop Extended (Windows | Mac). More than three dozen minor tweaks were also made, small improvements--such as building a "straighten" function into the Ruler tool and pumping up Raw image noise management--that nevertheless dramatically cut down time-consuming procedures.

Take … Read more

Adobe announces angst-laden iPad software effort

Adobe has begun a new effort to bring imaging software such as Lightroom to the iPad and other tablet computers--but the leader of the work also is fretting over the control Apple has over it.

"I love making great Mac software, and after eight years product-managing Photoshop, I've been asked to help lead the development of new Adobe applications, written from scratch for tablet computers. In many ways, the iPad is the computer I've been waiting for my whole life," Adobe's John Nack said in a blog post Thursday. "I want to build the … Read more

Adobe update tests Photoshop CS5 lens correction

Adobe on Thursday released a beta version of an update to its new Photoshop CS5 software that adds the ability to automatically correct lens problems in raw image files.

The Camera Raw 6.1 update beta uses profiles of several cameras and lenses to automatically fix color problems called chromatic aberration, geometric problems called distortion, and darkened corners called vignetting. In addition, in the raw files, photographers can manually change the perspective of a photo somewhat, for example making the converging lines of a building parallel in a shot taken from the ground looking up.

The update also adds support … Read more

New tricks for Photoshop, death throes for LimeWire

Photoshop Creative Suite 5 roared out of Adobe's coding lab with a slew of feature changes that spell out actual improvements (unlike the last release's mostly visual overhaul) in this decades-old premium powerhouse of an image processor.

Features that automatically correct your lens and improve the way the editor processes high dynamic range (HDR) are two significant additions. Enhanced 3D image tools and a more effective algorithm for filling in image holes with information taken from neighboring parts of the photo are two others that help make this version of Photoshop a must-have for serious image-manipulators. Get a … Read more

Cash cow out of the barn: Adobe shipping CS5

The official debut was two weeks ago, and now Adobe Systems is actually delivering its Creative Suite 5 software to customers.

The CS5 software spans a broad range of uses--image editing in Photoshop and Photoshop Extended, video editing in Premiere Pro, Flash application creation in Flash Pro, Web page design in Dreamweaver, and more. New to the suite is Flash Catalyst, geared to let designers without much programming experience convert application mock-ups created in Illustrator or Photoshop into working Flash applications.

Adobe sells these programs alone or packages them up into suites tailored for various market segments. At the … Read more

Adobe releases Lightroom 2.7--but what's next?

Adobe Systems released Lightroom 2.7 on Tuesday night for Windows and Mac, adding support for raw images from an expected range of newer cameras: Canon's Rebel T2i, Sony's Alpha A450, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-G2 and G10, Olympus' E-PL1, and some medium-format models from Leaf and Mamiya.

The company's standard procedure has been to issue minor updates to let the photo-editing and cataloging software handle the proprietary raw image formats from higher-end cameras. Lightroom 2.7 and the corresponding version 5.7 plug-in for Photoshop CS4 users are available at Adobe's download site, and the DNG … Read more

Photoshop CS5 tries advancing photo frontier

Two years ago, Adobe Systems thought the only big change coming with Photoshop CS5 would be the complete overhaul needed to build a 64-bit Mac version. With the unveiling of the software Monday, though, it's clear Adobe far exceeded that low expectation.

Photoshop CS5 brings a number of high-profile features for photographers, artists, and the broader designer market that uses the software. It's just one of numerous changes among the Creative Suite 5 packages Adobe is unveiling at a Monday event, but it's one of Adobe's highest-profile programs. So without further ado, here's what's … Read more

Adobe tests new Canon, Olympus raw support

Those eyeing Canon's newest SLR, the Rebel T2i, or Olympus's new high-end compact camera, the E-P1, now can get support for those cameras' raw images in Adobe Systems' Lightroom and Photoshop--though only as a release candidate for now.

Adobe releases occasional updates so its software can decode the proprietary raw image formats from many higher-end cameras. Raw images offer greater flexibility and quality as compared with JPEG images, but they require manual processing to convert them into a useful form.

And software companies such as Adobe and Apple must stay on top of a constant stream of new … Read more