This is the first of a three part series introducing the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Public Beta Program and the upcoming new features and enhancements to the new version.

Some of the new features included for you to play with in the Lightroom 3 beta are:

• Brand new performance architecture, building for the future of growing image libraries
• State-of-the-art noise reduction to help you perfect your high ISO shots
• Watermarking tool that helps you customize and protect your images with ease
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio—designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images, you can now save and export your slideshows as videos and include audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Film grain simulation tool for enhancing your images to look as gritty as you want
• New import handling designed to make importing streamlined and easy
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo sharing sites directly from inside Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)*

For more details on the new functionality in the Lightroom 3 beta:

• Watch 3 short videos about what’s new in the beta
• Read the blog post from the Lightroom team to learn about the vision behind the features included in the beta.
• Find helpful resources on the new NAPP Lightroom 3 beta Resource Center.
• Read the release notes (PDF) for detailed information

The Lightroom 3 beta program is available to the public, so that means anyone with an Internet connection can download it and start putting it to the test. You do not need to own (or have tried) a previous version of Lightroom. The version of Lightroom 3 beta software available for download is offered in English only. You can download the beta and use it until the product expires. The current Lightroom 3 public beta will expire on April 30, 2010.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta is available as a free download to anyone on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. Visit to learn more and download the beta. Feedback can be submitted on the Lightroom forums Users also can connect with Adobe at www.facebook.com/lightroom or www.twitter.com/AdobeLR, and can add the tag #AdobeLR3beta to tweets about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta

About Viveza

Viveza, powered by U Point technology for direct on-image editing, is powerful and precise tool available to control light and color in photographic images. Corrections and enhancements to brightness, contrast or color can easily be made in a fraction of the time needed by other tools without the need to create complicated selections or layer masks. For more product information including video lessons visit: www.niksoftware.com/viveza

Viveza installs as a plug-in filter for Lightroom 2 and is accessible via the Lightroom Photo>Edit In… menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, with edits applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF file and not the original. Viveza also takes advantage of Lightroom and its efficiencies for every day tasks, like the ability to edit multiple images in one session, saving time for photographers.

Pricing and Availability

Viveza retails for $249.95.  Current owners of Viveza may download a free update at www.niksoftware.com/lightroom.

Nik Software also announced that all of its remaining photographic filter products are being updated to support Lightroom as well, beginning with Color Efex Pro 3.0. As these Lightroom-compatible versions become available, current owners will receive updates free of charge. All products are expected to be available by the end of the second quarter of 2009.

Customers interested in purchasing all 5 Nik Software products for Lightroom or Aperture only may pre-purchase the Nik Software Complete Collection for Lightroom or Aperture for $299.95. Customers who pre-purchase the Complete Collection for Lightroom or Aperture will receive email notification for each product as they become available.

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• Canon PowerShot G10
• Panasonic DMC-G1
• Panasonic DMC-FX150
• Panasonic DMC-FZ28
• Panasonic DMC-LX3
• Leica D-LUX 4

Lightroom 2 Bugs – Fixed

• Images rendered from the Slideshow export process produced a jagged effect on hard edges relative to the quality of normal JPEG export
• Increased the number of characters allowed in Web gallery labels beyond 150 characters
• Catalogs with hundreds of root (top level) folders caused very slow launch times
• Drag and drop to move a subfolder to a different folder showed the incorrect photos in the grid
• Print Sharpening produced edge artifacts in certain conditions
• Density defaulted to 100 percent for initial stroke regardless of position of slider
• The  Adjustment brush created blocky, straight edges to brush strokes under certain conditions
• Lightroom could become unresponsive when using the graduated filter under certain conditions
• It was possible to lose the ability to edit an adjustment brush setting after applying a graduated filter with hidden pins
• Turning auto-mask on produced a lag in Lightroom performance in when applying the adjustment brush
• Print to JPEG functionality produced a low resolution image when printing photos with panorama aspect ratios
• Extended characters in a folder name caused Edit in Photoshop functionality to fail
• Smart collection did not respond to changes in custom metadata

Lightroom 2 Enhancements

• Camera profiles are now available in the Calibration panel in the Develop module.  These profiles are designed to provide different interpretations of raw capture.

Both releases include new camera support for the following models:

• Canon EOS 1000D (Digital Rebel XS/EOS Kiss F)
• Canon EOS 50D
• Fuji FinePix IS Pro
• Kodak EasyShare Z1015 IS
• Leaf AFi II 6
• Leaf AFi II 7
• Leaf Aptus II 6
• Leaf Aptus II 7
• Nikon D700
• Nikon D90
• Nikon Coolpix P6000
• Olympus SP-565 UZ
• Pentax K2000 (K-m)
• Sigma DP1
• Sony A900

Lightroom 2.1 also includes a number of fixes for issues that were introduced with the Lightroom 2.0 release. The details of those fixes are listed in the Read Me file associated with the update.

The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers. The Lightroom team would like the community to help verify the quality of this update through normal usage as this will ensure that the application is tested on a diversity of hardware and software configurations not available internally at Adobe.

By default, this Lightroom 2.1 release candidate will remove or overwrite your existing Lightroom 2.0 installation. If you wish to return to Lightroom 2.0 after installing Lightroom 2.1, simply reinstall Lightroom 2.0 from your original download file or from the CD after performing the following:

• Mac: Delete this file before reinstalling Lightroom 2.0: Library/Receipts/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.pkg.
• Windows: Uninstall Lightroom 2.1 using the Windows add/remove program utility.

Both versions of the application share the same catalog format allowing your catalogs to be opened by either version without complications.

If you do experience an issue with this release candidate please report it to the Lightroom User to User forum.

For more information on Lightroom 2 please visit the Lightroom pages on Adobe.com

If you remember – last April Adobe released public beta of Lightroom 2.0 – and how much buzz was in the net with its new features – particularly with localized adjustments tool. Well now it is shipping, and not only has all these features, but also some brand new too.

Price: Lightroom 2 is $299 or available as a $99 upgrade for Lightroom 1 customers. There is also 30 Day Trial available

• Ian Lyons’ comprehensive overview – Wow!
• Uwe Steinmueller’s overview
• A wealth of video & more from Scott Kelby’s gang in the Lightroom 2 Learning Center
• Video training from Adobe’s Julieanne Kost: Part 1 & Part 3; Part 2 is on the way. See also Julieanne’s full list of LR topics
• A one-hour training video from Colin Smith
• Gilles Theophile’s pensées (en Français)
• The Lightroom Tasmania Adventure (kicking off now)
• A few words from Tom Hogarty, Lightroom Product Manager
• A video podcast from Adobe’s Terry White

Top enhancements are:

• Localized corrections — Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
• Improved organizational tools — Find the images you need quickly and easily.
• Multiple monitor support — Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
• Flexible print package functionality — Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
• 64-bit support — Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.

And the top ten enhancements from Matt Kloskowsky point of view:

1. Localized Corrections (AKA: Dodge and Burn) – If Lightroom 2 came out and this was the only new feature I’d upgrade in a heartbeat. Localized Corrections is the non-destructive dodging and burning that we’ve all wanted for so long. But I have to say this – it’s so much more. It goes WAY beyond what I expected from dodging and burning in Lightroom (which is why it’s called Localize corrections and not just dodge and burn) and I think you’re going to love it.
2. Better Photoshop Integration – Now you can open your files as Smart Objects, Merge to Panorama or even export straight to Photoshop’s HDR from Lightroom.
3. Post-crop vignetting – if you’ve ever tried to darken the edges of a cropped photo with the lens vignetting slider you’ll know it doesn’t really work. That’s where the post-crop vignette comes in.
4. Multiple Monitor support – can you say “Finally!”?
5. Picture Packages in the print module.
6. Output Sharpening in the print module and it really works this time around. I’ve seen tests compared to Lightroom 1 and the print sharpening is noticeably better.
7. Smart Collections – Collections were great in LR 1 but smart collections make using collections a lot easier.
8. Printing directly to a JPEG file in the Print module. So if you send your photos off to a lab now you can save the files right from within Lightroom’s Print module.
9. Suggested Keywords – Get this… Lightroom will start suggesting keywords to you once you start keywording your photos. It’s weird to explain so make sure you stop by NAPP’s learning center to see it in action.
10. OK, I’m going to give you two here. First there’s a new filter panel in the Library module that makes getting to your photos easier and faster because it’s right there with your photos (instead of tucked away on the left side panels). Next, the Slideshow and Web modules both have Content panels as well as Collection panels. So now you can very quickly switch slideshows without having to jump back to the Library module and choose different photos.

You can get more info about its exciting features from John Nack’s post.

Lightroom 2.0 beta builds on the success of the first Lightroom beta program and provides us, photographers with early access to next release so that we can kick the tires and ensure that this release meets our needs. Don’t delay. Download now and send them your feedback. Lightroom 2.0 beta expires at the end of August 2008.

What are you waiting for? I am already downloading it.