News, news, news..

From the entire crew of PhotoshopNews.com and PixelGenius, here’s wishing you all a very happy holidays (or should that be holidaze?). And no, this isn’t a self portrait by Jeff Schewe…it’s merely a coincidence that  Schewe’s beard is getting so long that he resembles ole’ St. Nick now commonly called Santa Claus.

PhotoshopNews.com will be on holiday hiatus until the new year.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

As we approach the end of 2007 we wanted to ask some of the leading figures in the Photoshop community which books they had found most inspiring and in the case of authors, which books they had written were they most proud of. We got some interesting and quite varied responses. So if you are still stuck for ideas about what to get a Photoshop geek for Christmas, here are some reading tips from the experts.

To keep this article seasonal we didn’t want it to be entirely about Photoshop and digital imaging. We did also ask people to nominate a book for recreational reading. After all, the holiday season is a time for relaxing and leaving work to one side! To help you find out more about the books recommended here we have created links to Amazon.com for all the books featured here.

Ben Willmore

I wrote Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed because it was the book that I personally would look for when a new version of Photoshop is released. As a seasoned Photoshop user, when a new version is released, all I really need to know about is the new stuff and that’s all that the Up to Speed book covers. I wish I could find similar titles for all the other programs I use (like Mac OSX Leopard for instance). I don’t have the patience to search through hundreds upon hundreds of pages to find the new stuff in a bible-sized book or deal with the limited coverage in the more cookbook style books, so I decided to write the book that I thought was missing from the shelf. This short, low priced guide is the fastest way to get “up to speed” when a new version is released.

I enjoy writing the book because if forces me to search through every nook and cranny in Photoshop and discover all the small changes that I would have never noticed if I was working on a book that covered both the old and new features. It also gets me to explore features in much more depth than I have in the past.

Readers seem to love the book and the only complaints I’ve heard relate to the binding on the first printing. Peachpit Press (my publisher) really screwed up on the first batch and they were falling apart in readers hands. Peachpit will replace any of the early copies that fell apart.

I started the book with Photoshop CS2 because that was simply the time when I realized the need for such a book. I wish I would have thought of it much earlier.

I don’t think I’ve made it through any other Photoshop books this year, but here is a recommendation for a non-Photoshop book: The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. This is the best book I’ve read in about a decade and has been a deep influence in how I’ve changed the structure of my life over the last year or so.

John Nack

I read quite a bit online, but I don’t read too many printed books—at least not cover to cover. So, I’d suggest the following based on what I’ve nibbled this year:

Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations, by Simon Rich
Bite-sized chunks of mordant hilarity, which of course makes it right up my alley. The book is so slight that you can almost read it all while waiting in line to buy it.

I Am America (And So Can You!), by Stephen Colbert
Nobody else makes being asinine so funny. Colbert manages to poke fun without being shrill, and without condescending.

Music for Chameleons, by Truman Capote
I don’t know Capote very well & thus can’t compare the short stories in this collection to his other work, but I found them consistently engrossing.

My American Century, by Studs Terkel
Terkel brings to life the voices of Americans from every walk of life in the last hundred years, putting real texture on the bones of historical events. The narratives (such as they are) can get a little haphazard and pedantic from time to time, but I welcome the insights into so many real lives.

Andrew Rodney

I have not read as many books as I should. But one book I can highly recommend and quite new to the market is The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch (published by Rockynook). I’ve had a passing interest in HDR but didn’t know much about it. Chapter 1 of the book is worth the price of admission as it’s an excellent primer covering the fundamentals of HDR, image encoding and the somewhat controversial concepts of dynamic range versus bit depth. I didn’t fully grasp the potential of really high-bit (32 bit encoding), and HDR until I read this well written chapter. I was equally naïve about the various file formats that support HDRI until reading chapter 2. The two chapters greatly aid in supporting the rest of the book which covers both best practices for capturing images for HDR and the various software products available for processing bracketed data. The discussion of true HDR camera systems we may see in the future was fascinating! Bloch does an excellent job of using various analogies to clearly explain some rather complex concepts and his style is humorous and never dry. An entire chapter is devoted to the important task of tone mapping. I thought the images provided throughout the book showed great care in this important process of tone mapping; the images don’t have that odd, HDR look I’ve seen in the past. The examples actually make you excited about the prospect of shooting and processing HDR images. One chapter covered HDR and Panoramic photography. I really hated that chapter. I got so excited about the prospect of trying this out I ended up spending $1500 for a new Carbon Fiber tripod and the entire Really Right Stuff Pano head! Seriously, I’m really looking forward to trying some of the techniques illustrated in this book. The HDRI Handbook is quite up to date (it was just released) so it covered the HDR features in Photoshop CS3 as well as a number of Mac and Windows software products that handle HDR processing. Print quality, illustrations all the images is top notch. At 341 pages, there’s no fluff to be found and I think this was a great primer on a subject I only knew about in passing. An added bonus is a CD-Rom containing tutorials files, many used within the book that I could test until I was savvy enough to produce my own images to play with. There’s a lot of demo software as well. The companion website, http://www.hdrlabs.com/news/index.php should give you an idea of what to expect both from this excellent book and from the exiting new field of HDR digital imaging. The web site like the book has a ton of content and is beautifully designed. Highly recommend.

Julieanne Kost

Window Seat: The Art of Digital Photography and Creative Thinking is a complete view of a creative project from the artist’s perspective. I took my own experience of shooting images out of airplane windows to create a unique seminar in three parts: a manifesto of ways to stay creatively alive; a portfolio of stunning photographs, with commentaries describing my experiences and thought process; and a technical appendix that includes the details of the images were shot, manipulated, and prepared for printing.

In the midst of an experience as inorganic as business travel, this collection of photographs came into existence by a completely organic process. They came about not because I first had the idea to do a whole portfolio of photographs shot out of airplane windows. Instead, I was moved to shoot one photograph, and then another, and then 3,000 more over the course of five or six years.

Here are some of the books that Julieanne also recommends from her website:

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book - Martin Evening
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby
Photoshop Lightroom Adventure - Mikkel Aaland
Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers - Martin Evening
The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Studio Techniques - Ben Willmore
Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One - Deke McClelland
Real World Adobe Photoshop CS3 - David Blatner, Conrad Chavez and Bruce Fraser
Photoshop Masking and Compositing - Katrin Eismann
Real World Color Management - Bruce Fraser
Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy - Bert Monroy
Photoshop Restoration and Retouching, Third Edition - Katrin Eismann

I will also tell you that I just read Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky. I don’t know if people will want to put it on their Christmas list, but here was a quote that I thought was appropriate:
“On the whole, there are extremely few people with new ideas, or who are even the merest bit capable of saying something new – so few that it’s almost strange”.
- Dostoyevsky

Seth Resnick

Without a doubt the two best so far would have to be The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book by Martin Evening and Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 by Jeff Schewe and Bruce Fraser. That said, there is also Martin’s Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers and Andrew Rodney’s Color Management for Photographers. I also really enjoyed reading Eric Meola’s books: Last Places on EarthBorn to Run: The Unseen Photos on Bruce Springsteen. There was also Stephen Wilkes’s Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom book. and his book called

And then there was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It gave me a very clear, and vivid sense of the life in Afghanistan without feeling like I was being lectured to by a politician. It was sort of a wake up and open your eyes kind of book. I did know what was coming next but still enjoyed the book.

Martin Evening

I had an extremely busy start to the year. I was in the midst of finishing off first of all The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book, which was followed soon after by the publication of Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers. Of the two, I was particularly proud of the Lightroom book since I had spent so much time preparing and revising it over a 15 month period. I was pleased when it was finished, but of course not long after I had to write the Lightroom 1.1 update!

In between working on my books I did find time to read all the way through Peter Krogh’s The DAM book, which proved incredibly useful, offering professional insights into the art of image management. I certainly learned a lot from it and recommend to others as the book on this subject.

I have always been interested in space exploration and NASA photography. One of my favourite photography books is Full Moon by Michael Lightman. So I am hoping Santa will be kind enough to get me Postcards from Mars: The First Photographer on the Red Planet by Jim Bell. If you think email communication is a phenomenon of the late 20th century, well think again. The Victorians had their own Internet, in the form of ‘The Telegraph’. I did first read Tom Standage’s book The Victorian Internet some years ago, but it cropped up in discussion recently and thought it worth highlighting because it is a fascinating book that reveals many interesting parallels with the way we use and regard the Internet today.

For light reading I would recommend Restless by William Boyd as my favorite novel of the year. It is an ideal book to read over the holidays or if you are on a long journey. Set in England in the seventies, it is a story of a young woman who comes to learn the truth about her mother, Sally and her secret wartime identity. I would rate this as one of William Boyd’s best, alongside Stars and Bars, The Blue Afternoon and Armadillo.

Russell Brown

I actually have not looked a very many books this year. I’m not exactly sure why this is, but it just happened. My only recommendations would have to be Ben Wilmore’s book called Photoshop CS3 Up-To-Speed. Mikel Aaland’s book on the Iceland Photoshop Lightroom Adventure. Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers, by Martin Evening. Finally, Jeff Schewe’s new book: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Mac Holbert

As a self-taught digital printmaker I am always looking out for new books that explore the subject. I started my company in 1989 – a time when there was no Internet and there were no books on digital anything! I struggled with the new tools and made many mistakes but I eventually learned what I needed to create a successful printmaking studio. I can only imagine the hours I could have saved in the early days if I had had access to in-depth, real-world information on how to scan, process, print, and curate an image! I see many “How To” books but find most of them too general and most often aimed at the neophyte. Although these books serve a purpose for the casual “hobbyist” I tend to seek out books that delve a little deeper into the “business” of printmaking. I have chosen two books that were published in 2007 that fall into this category.

301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques - Andrew Darlow is an encyclopedia of valuable information gleaned not only from his own vast experience but also from many of his friends and fellow digital printmakers. Darlow doles out task specific tips and techniques as he generally covers the creation of a print. He makes you stop and consider your choices and often presents you with possible solutions that you may not have ever considered. This book is best suited for the intermediate to advanced user as much of the information presented may not be meaningful to the uninitiated.

The real value of the information presented in this book is that it is culled from actual users. When a specific substrate or device is discussed it is usually a first person experience. Because of this it more accurately reflects the real concerns and issues of the larger printmaking community not just one individual’s view of the subject. Like any book that covers such a broad subject not all the information is appropriate for every reader. Regardless, I find this to be an invaluable addition to any digital printmakers library. This is time-tested information. It is a resource that I think you’ll find yourself referring to for years to come.

Fine Art Printing for Photographers by Uwe Steinmueller & Juergen Gulbins is a true manual for fine art printmaking. It is aimed at those users who are ready to take their output to the next step. Creating a fine art digital print requires a level of expertise far above that required to create “snapshot” prints on one’s home computer. This book clearly outlines the process and provides invaluable information for the fledgling fine art printmaker. In addition to an overview of different printing technologies, the book covers what I consider to be the most important aspects of fine art digital making: Color Management; Fine Art Digital Workflow; Substrate choices and handling; Specific fine art printers; Printer drivers and RIPs; Print Presentation.

One thing I particularly liked about this book was its length, 226 pages. It’s not the “typical” digital bible that attempts to cover every possibility in 500-600 pages. Fine Art Printing for Photographers is concise and well organized focusing just on the needs of the fine art printer. It provides a solid but flexible foundation that allows it to be customized for the individual needs of the end user. The hidden value in this book is in how it breaks down the steps necessary to improve printmaking skills. It leaves many of the decisions to the individual. It points out in its introduction that experimentation is crucial and is, in most cases, the only way one can truly determine whether or not a particular product or technique is appropriate for one’s unique set of needs. The authors present their approach but never assume that their way is the only way. This book provides an excellent structure for learning how to improve one’s printmaking skills. I highly recommend this book!

Jeff Schewe

Well, I’m very pleased that Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 by Bruce Fraser and I is shipping and being well received. But it’s a bittersweet pleasure because I wish Bruce could have seen it. However, I’m very sure that he’s pleased with the results, wherever he’s at. I’m also rather tickled with the cover! It’s my favorite “15 foot mutant penguin” shot. (much better than the unknown soccer shot they were going to use).

As for other books, although not new (it was published last year) I’ve found a new appreciation for Bruce’s Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop book. The reason I’ve spent so much time reading it was that earlier this year, I helped fulfill a consulting contract for Bruce working on the sharpening in Camera Raw 4.1 and Lightroom 1.1. Thomas Knoll had wanted to work with Bruce to substantially improve the capture sharpening and while we didn’t get it done for the launch of Lightroom nor Camera Raw 4.0, we did get it done. I must say that my copy of Bruce’s book is well thumbed over and I know for a fact it had a major impact on both Thomas and Mark Hamburg (Lightroom founding engineer) because I saw Mark reading the book while he was coding the sharpening processes. While it’s got Photoshop CS2 in the title, pretty much everything regarding sharpening is the same in Photoshop CS3 with the exception that now, I use Camera Raw 4.3.1 (current) to do all my capture sharpening.

As for other books, well, everybody else has already posted my favs for the Photoshop genre so I’ll add my favorite recreational reading authors. I’m a long time fan of John D. MacDonald, the author of the Travis McGee mysteries. And yes, I re-read them a lot whenever I need my McGee fix. I’m also a fan of Robert B. Parker (primarily the Spenser series). Fortunately, there’s a new one out as of October (so I’m sure to get the hardcover for X-Mas). Anybody who knows me knows that I’m an odd blend of part McGee and part Spencer in my world view.

Katrin Eismann

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Real World) by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe
To the point, invaluable information, gets into the essential details and controls every photographer needs to get the most out of ACR.

The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch. An excellent book on HDR that has enough technical info for the geek and inspiration for the artist. Excellent illustrations and examples.

Adobe Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed by Ben Willmore. To the point information, excellent overview of all things new in CS3.

Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing by Garrett White. Don’t look for step by steps in this book – look for inspiration and a tremendous overview of excellent art.

Other books:

Rock and Roll by Lynn Goldsmith. Fantastic photography and insights into the music that shaped a generation…or the generation that shaped the music! Makes a great gift for the secret rocker in your life!

Perception and Imaging, Third Edition: Photography–A Way of Seeing by Richard D. Zakia. Photography is about seeing – not moving sliders around. Dr Z’s book is the book on perception – both visual and psychological.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

From authors Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggen comes a new book dedicated to creative digital imaging titled The Creative Digital Darkroom.

Due to be released in January of 2008, the book is now available for pre-order from Amazon (we hope Amazon has gotten over it’s “difficulties” dealing with pre-orders).

Book Description
This tutorial takes photographers beyond the quick tips and gimmicky effects of many digital photography books. Author Katrin Eismann — an internationally acclaimed artist, bestselling author, and gifted educator — offers high-profile work, including her own, as examples for teaching photographers how to use the digital medium to create, edit, and output images that reflect their true vision.

Co-authored by photographer and teacher Sean Duggan, The Creative Digital Darkroom translates skills, concepts, and nomenclature of the traditional darkroom into digital solutions for photographers who sense that, despite the newness of the technologies at hand, there remains a timeless method for learning and practicing photography the right way. This is not a Photoshop book per se, but it does focus on the photographic aspects of Photoshop, something other books claim to do but rarely have the discipline to accomplish.

The Creative Digital Darkroom includes:

• Four sections that cover the black & white darkroom, the color darkroom, creative techniques, and production essentials
• Chapters that begin with a thorough foundation followed by numerous tutorial examples that apply the theory to real-world examples
• Examples and a layout that enables readers to find, understand, and apply the featured techniques quickly and easily
• The authors are both renowned photographers and Photoshop experts

Clearly, The Creative Digital Darkroom is not your typical digital photography “how to” book. It’s ideal for intermediate and advanced photographers, artists, and educators looking for clear, concise, insightful, and inspiring information and techniques on how to make their photographs shine. The language, and techniques will immediately appeal to serious students and professionals, and the original tutorial images and high-profile work will make the book an important visual resource for educators and art appreciators.

Paperback: 429 pages
Publisher: O’Reilly Media, Inc. (January 11, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0596100477
ISBN-13: 978-0596100476
List Price: $49.99
Amazon Pre-order price: $31.49

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Source: Newsweek
Written by Perter Plagens

How is that even remotely possible? The medium certainly looks alive, well and, if anything, overpopulated. There are hordes of photographers out there, working with back-to-basics pinhole cameras and pixeled images measured in gigabytes, with street photography taken by cell phones and massive photo “shoots” whose crews, complexity and expense resemble those of movie sets.

Step into almost any serious art gallery in Chelsea, Santa Monica or Mayfair and you’re likely to be greeted with breathtaking large-format color photographs, such as Andreas Gefeller’s overhead views of parking lots digitally montaged from thousands of individual shots or Didier Massard’s completely “fabricated photographs” of phantasmagoric landscapes.

And the establishment’s seal of approval for photography has been renewed in two current museum exhibitions. In “Depth of Field“— the first installation in the new contemporary-photography galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, on display through March 23—the fare includes Thomas Struth’s hyperdetailed chromogenic print of the interior of San Zaccaria in Venice and Adam Fuss’s exposure of a piece of photo paper floating in water to a simultaneous splash and strobe.

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, “The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978” (up through Dec. 31) celebrates average Americans who wielded their Brownies and Instamatics to stunning effect.

Yet wandering the galleries of these two shows, you can’t help but wonder if the entire medium hasn’t fractured itself beyond all recognition. Sculpture did the same thing a while back, so that now “sculpture” can indicate a hole in the ground as readily as a bronze statue. Digitalization has made much of art photography’s vast variety possible.

But it’s also a major reason that, 25 years after the technology exploded what photography could do and be, the medium seems to have lost its soul. Film photography’s artistic cachet was always that no matter how much darkroom fiddling someone added to a photograph, the picture was, at its core, a record of something real that occurred in front of the camera. A digital photograph, on the other hand, can be a Photoshop fairy tale, containing only a tiny trace of a small fragment of reality. By now, we’ve witnessed all the magical morphing and seen all the clever tricks that have turned so many photographers—formerly bearers of truth—into conjurers of fiction. It’s hard to say “gee whiz” anymore.

Read entire article

Check out this Google Search for the “Is Photography Dead” meme.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

onOne Software Announces Compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard Operating System
Current users of onOne Software products can automatically update to latest versions

Press Release: Portland, OR - December 18, 2007 – onOne Software, Inc., provider of world-class software solutions for professional photographers and graphic designers, announces today that all of the latest versions of onOne Software’s products are compatible with Apple’s recently launched Leopard operating system.

“We are pleased to be able to provide these updates to our users for Mac OS X Leopard so quickly,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “We appreciate the loyal support of our customers within the Mac community and we’re delighted that they will be able to benefit from the creative features of our imaging software products on the new Mac OS X Leopard operating system.”

The following onOne Software products are now compatible with Apple’s latest version – Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Genuine Fractals 5.0.4, Mask Pro 4.1.2, PhotoFrame 3.1.1, PhotoFrame Professional Edition 3.1.2, PhotoTune 2.2, Intellihance Pro 4.2.1, Essentials for Photoshop® Elements 2.0, PhotoTools 1.0, PhotoTools Professional Edition 1.0, Plug-In Suite 3, PhotoFrame Frame Collections, PhotoPresets for Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom®, and PhotoPresets for Adobe Camera Raw.

New users of the above mentioned onOne Software products will automatically receive the latest Mac versions of these products which will operate with Leopard.

Existing users of onOne Software’s Plug-In Suite 3, Genuine Fractals 5, Mask Pro 4, Intellihance Pro 4, PhotoFrame 3 and Essentials 2 for Photoshop Elements can use their auto-update feature in each plug-in to receive the latest updates or they can visit the onOne website (www.ononesoftware.com) to download the latest Mac OS X Leopard compatible installers. Existing users of the Plug-In Suite 3, Genuine Fractals, Mask Pro, Intellihance Pro, PhotoFrame and Essentials for Photoshop Elements will need the following version numbers to ensure Leopard compatibility: Genuine Fractals 5.0.4, Mask Pro 4.1.2, Intellihance Pro 4.2.1, Plug-In Suite 3.1 (now includes PhotoFrame 3.1.2 and PhotoTune 2.2), Essentials for Photoshop Elements 2.0.

About the Products

• Genuine Fractals 5 can resize images over 1,000% with no loss of detail or sharpness.
• Mask Pro 4.1 easily creates high-quality masks and selections from tough subjects like hair and glass.
• PhotoFrame 3 and PhotoFrame 3 Professional Edition create stunning border and edge effects right out of the darkroom. PhotoFrame 3 Professional Edition builds on PhotoFrame by including additional frame choices, created by professional photographers Dave Cross, Jack Davis, Jim DiVitale, Helene Glassman, Kevin Kubota, Rick Sammon and Vincent Versace.
• Intellihance Pro 4 makes optimizing your images a snap by combining eight image adjustments in one place.
• Essentials 2 for Photoshop Elements software suite includes technology from onOne Software’s newly acquired PhotoTune color correction software, and onOne Software’s Mask Pro, PhotoFrame, and Genuine Fractals software products fine-tuned specifically for Adobe Photoshop Elements.
• PhotoTools 1 and PhotoTools 1 Professional Edition utilize the power of Photoshop Actions to provide a wide range of imaging tools including effects, corrections and production automation in a full-featured interface.
• Plug-in Suite 3 combines full versions of four essential software tools – Genuine Fractals 5, PhotoFrame 3.1, Mask Pro 4.1 and Intellihance Pro 4.2 – as well as the new PhotoTune 2.2 as a bonus.
• PhotoTune 2 incorporates the onOne Software’s newly acquired color-correction plug-ins – 20/20 Color MD™ 2.0 and SkinTune™ 2.0.
• PhotoPresets for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom features over 80 presets designed by Photoshop Hall-of-Famer Jack Davis.
• PhotoPresets for Adobe Camera RAW features over 100 presets for designed by Photoshop Hall-of-Famer Jack Davis.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Phase One Delivers Capture One 4 Next-Generation RAW Workflow Software Transforming RAW Data to Uncompromising Image Quality

Press Release: COPENHAGEN, Denmark–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Phase One today announced the availability of Capture One 4, the next generation of the world’s first RAW workflow software. Built on a new architecture, the successor to Phase One’s entry-level Capture One LE offers photographers – pros and enthusiasts alike – a RAW workflow solution for superior image quality.

A newly designed user interface offers high fidelity color and detail reproduction, plus new timesaving workflow features. Capture One 4 supports medium-format digital backs and a wide range of DSLR cameras.

“Our recent survey of professional photographers shows that pros have fully adopted digital and RAW format, with 89 percent of total images now being captured digitally and over 50 percent of them in RAW format,” said Ed Lee, Director at InfoTrends.

“Capture One excels at RAW workflow,” said Jan H. Christiansen, marketing director for Phase One. “Today, it is no less an art to develop digital images than to process film in the darkroom. Ours is not an ‘end-to-end’ solution, but devoted to helping photographers achieve the highest quality from the images they have captured.”

About Capture One 4

Capture One 4 marries sophistication with a simple, intuitive ease. It invokes more consistent use of shortcuts, tools and naming. It is compatible with many other popular applications; for example, users can have a seamless workflow with Capture One to process RAW files and Adobe Photoshop to post process images.

• New user interface offers maximum space for the images. Images, not sliders and controls, are the focus. A darker background permits easier image viewing and enhancements. As with previous generations of Capture One, a guided workflow is available to assist the photographer in the image enhancement process;
• View and work with up to 12 images simultaneously at full resolution;
• Multiple Variants of a single RAW image can be made with virtually no disk and performance overhead;
• Manage and transfer license codes, so Capture One 4 can be used on one computer one day and on another computer the next.
• Recover details in highlights and shadows with high dynamic range control;
• Import and export images in DNG format, for more options to share and archive;
• Powerful new shortcut architecture allows faster image import, adjustment and processing

Pricing and availability

Existing Capture One customers can upgrade to Capture One 4 at no extra cost. Designed for Windows XP (SP2)/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.11 and 10.5, Capture One 4 is available now via download at http://www.phaseone.com/4 for 129 USD and 99 EUR through Phase One’s e-Shop.

About Phase One

Phase One is a leading provider of digital image capture and work flow management technology. Phase One P+ Series digital backs open new possibilities, putting the focus back on the moment of capture. Phase One Capture One software helps streamline the capture and post-production process. Supporting DSLR, medium- and large-format photographic equipment, Phase One products are renowned for their superior quality, flexibility and speed — enabling pro photographers to realize their most subtle and most complex visions without compromise.

Phase One is an employee-owned company based in Copenhagen with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Cologne and Shanghai.

For more information about the products, visit the Phase One web site on www.phaseone.com.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Strong Adoption of Creative Suite, Acrobat and Enterprise Solutions Drives 23 Percent Annual Revenue Growth

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dec. 17, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2007.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, Adobe achieved record revenue of $911.2 million, compared to $682.2 million reported for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and $851.7 million reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. This represents 34 percent year-over-year revenue growth. Adobe’s fourth quarter revenue target range was $860 to $890 million.

“Driving our Q4 results were continued adoption of our Creative Suite 3 family of products, record revenue for Acrobat and strong momentum in our enterprise business,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer of Adobe. “As we enter fiscal 2008, we are performing exceptionally well and the Company is positioned to achieve a sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth.”

Adobe Reports Record Annual Revenue in Fiscal Year 2007
In fiscal year 2007, Adobe achieved record revenue of $3.158 billion, compared to $2.575 billion in fiscal 2006. On a year-over-year basis, annual revenue grew 23 percent.

Adobe’s annual GAAP net income was $723.8 million in fiscal 2007, compared to $505.8 million in fiscal 2006. Adobe’s annual non-GAAP net income was $965.8 million in fiscal 2007, compared to $757.3 million in fiscal 2006.

GAAP diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2007 were $1.21, compared to $0.83 in fiscal 2006. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2007 were $1.61, compared to $1.24 in fiscal 2006.

Fourth Quarter GAAP Results
Adobe’s GAAP diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 were $0.38, based on 587.9 million weighted average shares. This compares with GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.30 reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 based on 602.2 million weighted average shares, and GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.34 reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2007 based on 597.3 million weighted average shares. Adobe’s fourth quarter GAAP earnings per share target range was $0.35 to $0.37.

GAAP operating income was $275.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, compared to $163.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and $255.0 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. As a percent of revenue, GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 was 30.3 percent, compared to 23.9 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and 29.9 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

GAAP net income was $222.2 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, compared to $183.2 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, and $205.2 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

Fourth Quarter Non-GAAP Results
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 were $0.49. This compares with non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.33 reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.45 reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Adobe’s fourth quarter non-GAAP earnings per share target range was $0.46 to $0.48.

Adobe’s non-GAAP operating income was $362.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, compared to $256.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and $340.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. As a percent of revenue, non-GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 was 39.7 percent, compared to 37.6 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and 40.0 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

Non-GAAP net income was $289.6 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, compared to $198.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, and $269.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP results is provided at the end of this press release.

Adobe Provides First Quarter and Fiscal Year 2008 Financial Targets
For the first quarter of fiscal 2008, Adobe announced it is targeting revenue of $855 million to $885 million. The Company is targeting a GAAP operating margin of 30 to 31 percent in the first quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, the Company is targeting a first quarter operating margin of approximately 40 percent.

In addition, Adobe is targeting its share count to be between 586 million and 588 million shares in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. The Company also is targeting other income in its first quarter to be $15 million to $17 million, with a GAAP and non-GAAP tax rate of approximately 27 percent.

These targets lead to a first quarter GAAP earnings per share target range of $0.34 to $0.36. On a non-GAAP basis, the Company is targeting earnings per share of $0.44 to $0.46.

For fiscal year 2008, Adobe reaffirmed it is targeting annual revenue growth of approximately 13 percent. The Company is targeting a GAAP operating margin of approximately 30 percent, and a non-GAAP operating margin of approximately 39 percent.

A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial targets is provided at the end of this press release.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those related to revenue, operating margin, other income, tax rate, share count, earnings per share, and anticipated business momentum which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: delays in development or shipment of Adobe’s new products or major new versions of existing products, introduction of new products by existing and new competitors, failure to successfully manage transitions to new business models and markets, adverse changes in general economic or political conditions in any of the major countries in which Adobe does business, difficulty in predicting revenue from new businesses, failure to anticipate and develop new products and services in response to changes in demand for application software and software delivery, computers, printers, or other non PC-devices, costs related to intellectual property acquisitions, disputes and litigation, inability to protect Adobe’s intellectual property from unauthorized copying, use, disclosure or malicious attack, failure to realize the anticipated benefits of past or future acquisitions and difficulty in integrating such acquisitions, changes to Adobe’s distribution channel, disruption of Adobe’s business due to catastrophic events, risks associated with international operations, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, changes in, or interpretations of, accounting principles, impairment of Adobe’s goodwill or intangible assets, unanticipated changes in, or interpretations of, Adobe’s effective tax rates, Adobe’s inability to attract and retain key personnel, market risks associated with Adobe’s equity investments, and interruptions or terminations in Adobe’s relationships with turnkey assemblers. For further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, individuals should refer to Adobe’s SEC filings.

The financial information set forth in this press release reflects estimates based on information available at this time. These amounts could differ from actual reported amounts stated in Adobe’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2007, which the Company expects to file in January 2008. Adobe does not undertake an obligation to update forward-looking statements.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

“Photoshop” is not just the name of popular software for editing photos; apparently, it can also be used as a verb – as in “we’ll Photoshop that undesirable feature out of the frame” or “we’ll Photoshop that more desirable feature into the frame.”

Source: The ChronicleHerald
Written by Dawn Henwood

As a rule, I don’t, as they said in the 18th century, “paint” my face. Back in the age of powdered wigs and corseted waists, wearing make-up meant powdering one’s cheeks chalky white with an arsenic-containing substance. Even without the chemical analysis, moralists had the good sense to warn against such artificiality.

Such a virtuous stance, however, has nothing to do with my reasons for avoiding Mary Kay. It has everything to do with a lack of hand-eye co-ordination and a lack of time. Even if I had the artistic skill to wield an eyeliner pencil, I don’t know how I’d find an extra five minutes in the morning to use one. Most mornings, I’m lucky to have enough time to rustle up a pair of matching socks.

“Tsk-tsk,” Estée Lauder might chide me. “It’s not that you don’t have time; it’s just that you don’t make time.” And she’d be completely right. I do make time for other things in the morning – reading, writing, eating breakfast, hugging my kids. So I really have no excuse but my own perverse inclination. I’d rather live a full life than a photo-perfect one.

That truth came home to me last week as my family and I underwent various tortured poses in a photographer’s studio. We were there because a group portrait is an artifact my family does value. Since it had been a few years since we’d last had a formal picture taken, I was unaware of how the values of photography had changed. I learned that “Photoshop” is not just the name of popular software for editing photos; apparently, it can also be used as a verb – as in “we’ll Photoshop that undesirable feature out of the frame” or “we’ll Photoshop that more desirable feature into the frame.”

During our studio session, I also picked up on another new verb: “face-swap.” To “face-swap” means to take a face from one picture and superimpose it on the face of another picture. Ideally, the result is a portrait in which all the subjects look their very best. As the photographer clicked through the slide show of the shots she’d taken, I naturally groaned over a squint here and a toothy grin there. The photographer, however, would quickly chirp, “Don’t worry about that. We’ll just find you another face.”

At first, I felt compromised by this suggestion. Photography, I realize, is an art form. It’s never been about complete realism, but rather about how the lens enables us to view reality from different perspectives. Still, isn’t photography supposed to gesture toward realism? No, I said. I didn’t want to be Photoshopped, thank you. I would appear just the way I was when the camera froze me in time.

But I soon caved in to family peer pressure. Everyone else was face-swapping, so I figured I’d better do the same. Why should everyone else in the photo wear Sunday-best clothes while I wore my rumpled, everyday look? In the end, the picture I’ll hang on my wall this Christmas will show me as close to photo-perfect as I’ll ever be.
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Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

The largest Adobe® Photoshop® training event in the world
April 2-4, 2008 Orange County Convention Center - Orlando, FL
The Website for the 2008 Photoshop World Conference is up and accepting registrations.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Adobe is celebrating its 25th year in existence. Started in December of 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, Adobe has grown to become a $2.5 billion-a-year-company. Not bad for a couple of refugees from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center–the same place Steve Jobs went to visit to “discover” the GUI and the computer mouse.

From the book Inside the Publishing Revolution: “We were prototypical scientists in that we wanted to have an impact. We weren’t in it for financial gain” –Chuck Geschke
In 1985 it was Apple that licensed PostScript and helped Adobe form the backbone of the desktop publishing revolution. In the middle 1980s Adobe broadened their horizon by entering into the professional design software market by releasing Adobe Illustrator. Announced in 1989 and shipping in February 1990, Adobe took a leadership position in digital imaging with the release of Adobe Photoshop.

Also from Inside the Publishing Revolution: “When we all saw that first sheet of paper come out of the LaserWriter, we knew we were going to hit it out of the park.” –Steve Jobs
In 1993 Adobe created the PDF file format and offered Acrobat Reader in June of 1993 for the Mac and later for DOS and Windows.

Extending its leadership role, Adobe acquired Aldus in 1994 primarily to get PageMaker and eventually After Effects was released. About a decade later Adobe acquired Macromedia and all of that company’s technologies which, with the release of Creative Suite 3, further broaden Adobe’s software and technology portfolio.

Also from Inside the Publishing Revolution: “If anyone had told me 20 years ago that we would have a fundamental impact on the publishing industry, I wouldn’t have believed them.” –John Warnock

To get a better inside look at the first 20 years of Adobe, check out Inside the Publishing Revolution: The Adobe Story written by Pamela Pfiffner. Available on Amazon.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff