ie8 fix

photoshop

Revamped DNG format shows new Lightroom possibilities

Adobe Systems isn't making any promises, but an update to company's Digital Negative (DNG) image format paves the way for two important features in Lightroom: panoramas and high-dynamic range photography.

Lightroom is for editing, cataloging, and publishing photos, especially those shot in higher-end cameras' raw formats. Raw photos consist of data captured directly from the image sensor without in-camera processing into a JPEG. Although raw photos offer better quality and flexibility, they're also much less convenient than JPEGs.

One aspect of their inconvenience is that raw photos usually arrive in proprietary formats from camera makers. Adobe has … Read more

Get CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 (Win) for free

When it comes to freebie photo software, savvy users typically look to favorites like GIMP and Paint.net.

Those are great tools, no doubt about it, but why not score a commercial product if you can? Especially if you have the chance to get it for free?

For a limited time (the site says 98 days are left, but I suspect that's a mistake), Download Crew has CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 (Win) free of charge. This program has a list price of $99.95.

PhotoDirector 2011 comes from the company behind PowerDirector, a top-rated video-editing tool. It's an all-in-one … Read more

Fourandsix releases image-authenticator software

Fourandsix Technologies, a startup founded by a former Photoshop bigwig and a image-analysis guru, has released its first product, the FourMatch software to detect changes to an image.

The most obvious use for the $890 Photoshop plug-in: ensuring that digital photos used as legal evidence are authentic.

The company lists other possibilities, too, though, such as checking that nobody's fiddled with digital images of insurance claims or contest entries, or ensuring the legitimacy of photos that might be published as the truth.

Company executives have good street cred in the area: the software came from Chief Technology Officer Hany … Read more

Adobe: Next Photoshop won't support Windows XP

Apparently 11 years was long enough.

Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001, and Adobe said today that the current CS6 version of Photoshop will be the last one to support the operating system.

"The Photoshop team would like to provide advanced notice that Photoshop CS6 (13.0) will be the last major version of Photoshop to support Windows XP," Adobe Product Manager Tom Hogarty said in a blog post.

The reason, he said, is that modern performance-sensitive software requires modern hardware graphics interfaces that Windows XP lacks, in particular a way to tap into the power of graphics … Read more

Adobe Photoshop Touch iPad app now supports Retina Display

Owners of the latest iPad who use Photoshop Touch can now view their images in all their Retina Display glory.

Version 1.3 of Photoshop Touch for the iPad now handles the higher resolution found on Apple's third-generation tablet. The new support will not only enhance images but also render the interface, text, and other areas more "crisp and clean," according to Adobe.

Photoshop Touch users can also now work with images of print quality, up to 12 megapixels with several layers included. The default resolution is 4.2 megapixels with 10 layers, but users of the … Read more

The 404 1,073: Where it could use some more bacon (podcast)

Piggybacking (waka waka) on Jeff's encounter with a candied bacon ice cream sandwich at the Sony E3 press conference last week, we can't help but indulge in Burger King's new bacon-topped sundae.

And even if Jeff's dietitian won't let him have it, we can still stare longingly at the press shots and tell you about our own favorite encounters with the swine.… Read more

Apple shows some love for photo and video pros

As a replacement for the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro that a lot of pro video and photo editors use, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display may sound mighty tasty. Faster innards, with a high-resolution, high-contrast 15.4-inch display and all the essential ports -- as long as you're willing to possibly have to waste one of the two essential Thunderbolt ports with dongles for FireWire and Ethernet -- at a lighter 4.5 pounds is a potentially winning combination if you've been schlepping around one of the older, heavier models. On the downside, still a glossy screen, though Apple claims less glare.… Read more

Superman, Spider-Man, and friends photobomb history

Yalta Conference, 1945: Winston Churchill, check. Franklin D. Roosevelt, check. Josef Stalin, check. Darth Vader... wait, what? Yep, that's the Dark Lord himself hovering behind the "Big Three" at the historic summit to discuss post-war Europe.

He's there courtesy of Agan Harahap, a professional photographer and avowed history buff who photoshops superheroes (and a few villains) into famous historical photos -- to strange and sometimes ironic effect.

Harahap, who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, told Crave that his Super Hero series arose from his concern that too many people get their view of history from games like Call of Duty these days.

"We don't care anymore about what really happened in past days. We actually learn history from the game, movie etc.," he said. "And after that, what is the meaning [of] hero nowadays?" … Read more

Blame the app stores: Adobe Touch apps not in Creative Cloud

When Adobe Systems launched its Creative Cloud subscription last week, it turned out not to be as comprehensive a package of software and services as the company first planned.

The company initially pitched the $50-per-month subscription plan as an all-you-can-eat offering, but limits on app store sales meant that Adobe had to strip its Touch apps for Android and iOS tablets out of the Creative Cloud.

"Our intention is to have Touch Apps included in the annual membership. However, we use iOS App Store and Google Play to deliver this software and unfortunately, the infrastructure of the app marketplaces … Read more

Adobe will issue free security fixes for CS5 apps after all

Adobe has apparently changed its mind about requiring customers to pay to get recent security patches for its Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash Professional products.

The patches cover vulnerabilities that could let a remote user execute malicious code and take control of computers that are running the products.

A post to Adobe's security blog dated yesterday says the following:

We are in the process of resolving the vulnerabilities...in Adobe Illustrator CS5.x, Adobe Photoshop CS5.x (12.x) and Adobe Flash Professional CS5.x, and will update the respective Security Bulletins once the patches are available.

Users may monitor … Read more