Adobe today announced the launch of a free public beta of Photoshop Lightroom 5 for both Mac and Windows, offering a peek at the next major version of the company's digital photo management and post-production software. The beta program runs through June 30, with the official release of Lightroom 5 planned for later this year.
Lightroom 5 Upright tool (Click for full size)
Lightroom 5 beta offers photographers and enthusiasts many new features including:
- Advanced Healing Brush allows customers to heal imperfections and remove distracting elements - Upright tool analyzes an image to automatically level horizons and straighten objects like buildings to correct a keystone effect - Radial Gradient tool creates off-center or multiple vignette effects - Smart Previews allow customers to edit images without needing the original raw file - Video slideshow enables customers to combine still images, video clips and music in a creative HD slideshow - Upgrades to the Book module enhancing the ability to create, customize and order elegant photo books using a variety of tailored templates
Lightroom 5 Radial Gradient tool (Click for full size)
Adobe's Sharad Mangalick has more on the new features in a blog post on the company's Photoshop.com Blog.
Adobe has yet to announce pricing or an exact release date for Lightroom 5, which will compete with Apple's Aperture software. Aperture 3 was released over three years ago, but Apple has continued to enhance the software with minor upgrades since that time and slashed the price to $79.99 with the launch of the Mac App Store in January 2011. Adobe responded a year later by cutting Lightroom's price in half to $149 with the launch of Lightroom 4.
Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years.
iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack)
At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors.
Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Apple has completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model, according to a paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report.
iPhone 17 Air mockup based on rumored design
The EVT stage involves Apple testing iPhone 17 prototypes to ensure the hardware works as expected. There are still DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT (Production Validation Test) stages to...
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too.
2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple didn't update the...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 3:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
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The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM.
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Wednesday April 30, 2025 4:01 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In a victory for Epic Games, Apple was today found to be in violation of a 2021 injunction that required it to allow developers to direct customers to third-party purchase options on the web using in-app links.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has been handling the Apple vs. Epic Games dispute for the last five years, said that Apple is in "willful violation" of the injunction she issued to ...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 7:00 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone 18 lineup will introduce a major leap in memory performance, according to new information shared today by Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station. Apple is reportedly planning to equip the 2026 models with a high-capacity six-channel LPDDR5X memory configuration, significantly upping the memory bandwidth for future AI features and multitasking.
Expanding the memory bandwidth...
3 Years on Aperture 3! I waited and waited, and moved to Lightroom a few months ago. Now the disparity is really becoming clear. Sure, lots of posts about Apple giving the pros the backseat - but isn't it becoming super clear? FCPX, Mac Pros with super long refresh cycles, and Aperture showing its age years ago... I love apple, but not as a professional anymore.
I don't need this. I'm a photographer who learned how to use Photoshop and do all my file management in Bridge.
I consider Lightroom and Aperture applications for the computer illiterate among us in the trade. Learn how to use your tools instead of settling for the "idiot version" people!
Wonderful that you've developed a workflow that works. For you. However, simply because other people don't use your method doesn't mean they're wrong and you're right.
What exactly are people "settling for" in their 'idiot versions'? We're using one piece of software, you're using two to do the same job? And we're the idiots?
I'd rather be a happy, friendly artist than an arrogant, grumbling technologist. But, hey, what do I know? I'm probably an idiot. ;)
3 Years on Aperture 3! I waited and waited, and moved to Lightroom a few months ago. Now the disparity is really becoming clear. Sure, lots of posts about Apple giving the pros the backseat - but isn't it becoming super clear? FCPX, Mac Pros with super long refresh cycles, and Aperture showing its age years ago... I love apple, but not as a professional anymore.
Well there are a lot of "professionals" or people who call themselves that..:rolleyes:.. that still get everything they need to get from Apple. Music and movie studios don't seem to be crying foul with Apple nor do large corporations of the arts that use Macs and Adobe certainly feels their professional software is still worth coding on Mac rather than making crap ports. I'm finding that more "Apple enthusiasts" tend to have this annoyance. Not make excuses here but to be honest about it you don't really need a Mac Pro to do any heavy work. The top iMac can handle Maya, AutoCAD and the like extremely well. I've been on Mac for well over 15 years and I know system software well enough.
I don't need this. I'm a photographer who learned how to use Photoshop and do all my file management in Bridge.
I consider Lightroom and Aperture applications for the computer illiterate among us in the trade. Learn how to use your tools instead of settling for the "idiot version" people!
I made a lot of money a few years ago, teaching dinosaurs like you how to use modern software to improve your workflow. Mostly grumpy technophobes who love nothing more than tweaking images to death, one by one, slowly, and safely.
File management and Bridge don't really go together seeing as bridge is really just a portal to your own file management. Put a folder here, etc.
'Learning' photoshop doesn't a genius make. Although it's an awesome program most of it isn't necessary to users of DAM software, where library management and batch processing is king.
Careful who you call idiots on here, please, especially when you come across as having no idea about what you so easily dismiss.
Professionals don't need to be told what software works best for their individual workflows, and most these days don't have the time to wang around on photoshop all day.
A degree of Computer illiteracy (if it were even that) is in this case preferable to not being out there being a 'professional photographer', even less so a cantankerous, old fashioned, presumptuous fool, with out of sync delusions of superiority.
