Adobe has just announced the release of the latest version of its workflow and image editing software, Photoshop Lightroom 4, and the good news is that the price tags have been slashed.
The new Version 4 will now cost $149/€109 – that’s more or less half the original price – with the price of upgrades and academic editions also falling to $79/€62.
Lightroom 4 is being billed as a major release, offering new adjustment controls to improve the dynamic range from cameras, and capture more shadow details and highlights.
There’s also new and improved auto adjustments to, “dynamically set values for exposure and contrast, and additional local adjustment controls including Noise Reduction, Moire and White Balance.”
A new Book module makes it easy to create print photo books via a variety of easy-to-use templates, and a Map module provides location tagging and reverse geo-tagging controls.
Built in video support lets photographers play, trim and extract frames from video clips shot on cameras, backed by video-specific presets and the ability to tweak clips. Videos can be exported as a H.264 file or published directly to Facebook or Flickr.
Product Highlights:
- Highlight and Shadow Recovery
- Photo Book Creation
- Superior Image Processing
- Extended Video Support
- Non Destructive Environment
- Selective Editing Brushes
- Advanced Black and White Conversion
- Superior Noise Reduction
- One Click Adjustments to Multiple Images
- Tight Photoshop Integration
- Fast Performance Across Platforms
- Intuitive Environment
- Develop Presets
- Extensive Image Management Tools
More details can be found on the Adobe website.
Here’s the press release:
SAN JOSE, Calif., — March 6, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 4 software for Mac OS and Windows. Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution helping amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance and showcase their images.
First released as a public beta in January 2012, the final version of Lightroom 4 is now available for US$149 for the full version and US$79 for the upgrade, providing an incredible value for photographers. Lightroom 4 introduces refined technology for superior shadow and highlight processing, ability to create photo books, additional local adjustment controls, and enhanced video support.
“Feedback from our customers is invaluable in developing Lightroom and the real trick to a great release is to combine these insights with Adobe’s unrivalled image processing innovation,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president of Digital Imaging Products, Adobe. “Lightroom 4 is a stunning new release that will enhance photography workflows and help photographs stand out from the crowd.”
New Features in Lightroom 4
Lightroom 4 is a major release, adding significant new capabilities and innovations. New adjustment controls maximize dynamic range from cameras, recovering exceptional shadow details and highlights. The software features new and improved auto adjustments to dynamically set values for exposure and contrast, and additional local adjustment controls including Noise Reduction, Moire and White Balance.
Lightroom 4 provides photographers the tools to create beautiful photo books with text controls and a variety of easy-to-use templates, as well as a direct link for photo book creation from within the new Book module. A new intuitive Map module displays images already assigned a location, provides location tagging and reverse geo-tagging controls and saved locations for easy assignment of a photographer’s common locations.
Now, native video support gives photographers the capability to play, trim and extract frames from video clips shot on DSLRs, point-and-shoot cameras and smartphones. Video-specific presets and many standard Lightroom image adjustment controls can be applied to video clips, and adjusted videos can be exported as a H.264 file or published directly to Facebook or Flickr.
In the Develop module, presets fully utilize new processing technology and the addition of soft proofing helps photographers tune images in a destination color space to ensure content looks its best. In addition, customers can now email images directly from Lightroom using an email account of their choice.
Adobe Photoshop Family
Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Extended are at the heart of the Photoshop family, joined by solutions for users at every level who want to bring out the best in their digital images either at home, in the office or on the go. Photoshop Lightroom addresses the workflow needs of amateur and professional photographers, helping them create, manage and showcase images in impactful ways. Photoshop Elements provides consumers with powerful yet easy-to-use tools that organize, edit, create and share photos memories. For mobile devices, the Adobe Photoshop Touch app helps users transform images with core Photoshop features custom-built for tablets; and Adobe Photoshop Express is a free app for simple photo fixes and enhancements, and sharing to social networks.
Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is now available for Mac and Windows at www.adobe.com/store. The estimated street price is US$149 for new users or US$79 for upgrades. For more detailed information about product features, upgrade policies, pricing and language versions, please visit www.adobe.com/go/lightroom.
Users can also connect with the Lightroom team directly on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lightroom), via Twitter (www.twitter.com/lightroom) or on the Adobe Lightroom blog (http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal). For Lightroom how-to videos, visit http://www.youtube.com/lightroom.
