And we mean it.
Adobe Lightroom is releasing their latest public Beta version, 3, and they want to know what you’d like.
They are calling this a medium-rare version, as they’d like to give the folks that use this program a bit of time to be heard and get the tools they really want in the latest version when it goes live and released for real.
Here are some of the improvements are in there already, that we kinda dig.

*Seamless integration with online services such as Flickr. You will now be able to upload to a site, have comments made by a client, have those comments show up in your program and continue the dialog, adding and/or changing images.
Now some of you may think that having a client (or even family members) send you comments online is not a great thing but it will streamline your workflow, and make family gatherings a bit easier.
Honestly, this one is huge for us. We’ve been tired of doing post in one program, downloading it, uploading into another, and then posting. Whew.
Plus you will be able to create a slideshow with music in HD to show off your work in the best (ahem) light.

Another cool built in feature is the improved Noise Reduction, built right in. Yes, we all go to Noise Ninja and it does a photo good, but Adobe wants to be the best in class.
Here is a look with a comparison screen:

If you are printing your work, you can now drag and drop your images anywhere on the page and utilize the maximum paper, perhaps even in a sequence and arrangement that would look good on it’s own.
We did ask if you could add custom text, and maybe do your own layout, but that’s another program. This beta didn’t include that feature. Maybe you could ask for that.

However, they did add significant watermarking capabilities so you can still brand your work in solid, fairly easy to use, tools.
There are some other new tools such as grain additive tools.
Yep, we took out the grain,now may photogs wanted to add it back in to give it a “look”
Notice I didn’t say film look.

So we encourage you to take a look, download the beta version here.
Add comments to the forum, here and perhaps when Lightroom 3 is released you’ll get the tools you wanted.
But join in the discussion. How else will anyone now what you want?

This process is one of the things we love about Adobe.
They have a dedication to making your lives better by providing the most current tools or you to use.
As updates come on every other piece of gear, Adobe always takes care of their piece of the puzzle, pretty darn quick.
Working with a company whose entire product life is dedicated to making tools or us to improve our visual lives, gets our vote every day.
Sure here are other software makers out here whose plug-ins work perfect with Adobe.
And some pro applications, especially for journalists, that connect seamlessly with Adobe products.
And that’s the point: they all connect to one software brain that is always evolving.
Their business is your imagery.
We like that.

So when they ask you what you’d like, go ahead and let them know.

Please note!
this is a BETA version so do NOT move all of your files over to this version.
Any work you do bring in, remember to save it elsewhere.
This came right from the folks at Adobe, so you should follow that caveat.
Things may change and we don’t want you to be caught with files that can’t. Change, that is.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Photo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.