Adobe has released final versions of Lightroom 3.3 and Camera RAW 6.3, which are now available.  The new versions add RAW file support for the following camera models:

• Canon PowerShot G12
• Canon PowerShot S95
• Nikon D7000
• Nikon Coolpix P7000
• Nikon D3100
• Olympus E-5
• Panasonic DMC-GF2
• Panasonic DMC-GH2
• Pentax K-5
• Pentax K-r
• Samsung NX100
• Samsung TL350 (WB2000)
• Sony A560
• Sony A580

If Adobe updater does not do this for you, you can get the downloads and installation instruction at the following links.

The camera raw update and full details are…HERE for Mac and…HERE for Windows.

The Lightroom 3.3 update is…HERE for Mac and HERE for Windows.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

If you have not bought the upgrade it is also on sale…

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Upgrade

I love and highly recommend Lightroom. I use it everyday and it keeps my 70,000 image portfolio at my finger tips. Super easy to use and deceptiveily power

WOOHOO!

As with the other plugins, these updates are also free. You can download them on the Nik Software site…HERE!

If you’ve been waiting to take the plunge, I have added a link for the complete package and it is on sale for less than $450. That is for all of the plugins! As of this writing the description does not include HDRPro, but that is incorrect this collection is for all plugins.

Nik Software Complete Collection – Professional Photographic Tools for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture

Nik Sharpener and Nik Dfine are going to be able before the end of the year.

If you don’t own these filters, I think you should. They are all outstanding and work really really well. As I have said before, at least one Nik filter touches every image I’ve taken…

I’ll make it easy, here are links to Nik products. Go on I know you want them!

Color Efex Pro 3.0-Complete

Viveza 2

Silver Efex Pro

Sharpener Pro 3.0 by Nik Software

Dfine 2.0

Here are the highlights.

• Compatibility with Mac OS X version 10.6.4 has been added.
• Support for RAW images captured with the D3100 has been added.
• Information for lenses used with the Auto Distortion correction function under Camera & Lens Corrections in the Develop section of the Edit List has been updated.
• An issue that prevented smooth display of graduations when certain RAW images were opened has been resolved (however this issue may remain in some images)
• An issue that caused certain RAW images to be displayed too brightly with Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.2.0–2.2.4 has been resolved.
• When the Image Dust Off function under Camera & Lens Corrections in the Develop section of the Edit List was applied, block noise was generated in some very rare cases. This issue has been resolved.

The link for the upgrade for Mac is…HERE.

The link for the upgrade for PS is…HERE.

If you son’t already own NX2 and don’t have this version it is worth upgrading. It has always been stable and fast for me. You can buy it from Amazon with the link below.

Nikon Capture NX 2 Full Version

Here are the details and you can download the software…HERE.

ViewNX 2 Primary New Functions

Revamped user interface

Three workspaces

It is easy to switch between the three workspaces—Browser, GeoTag, Edit—with the simple click of a button on the Toolbar.

• Geo Tag workspace
• Browser workspace
• Edit workspace

Four background colors

The color of the workspace background can be selected from white, grey, dark grey and black, depending upon the brightness of images.

Changing palette display, thumbnail list display

As the Browser palette at the left of the ViewNX 2 window and the Edit palette at the right of the window can be displayed separately, working with ViewNX 2 is more efficient. What’s more, as unnecessary palettes can be hidden, the workspace can be maximized. In the Browser and Edit workspaces, the Thumbnail List option can also be selected to display image details with thumbnails.

New image editing functions

(1) Crop

Save only the desired portion of a photo.

(2) Auto Red-Eye

Correct the “red-eye” effect that often occurs in photos of people taken with a flash.

(3) Straighten

Straighten photos taken at an angle.

(4) Auto Lateral Color Aberration

Correct color shift caused by chromatic aberration and reduce lateral chromatic aberration.

Movie editing functions

Trim

Use to specify and extract only the desired portion of a movie file.

Save movie frame as still image

Saves a specified movie frame as a JPEG image with the same pixel count as the original movie frame.

Improved print functions

(1) Printing date/time shot

Print the date images were captured over or below the images.

(2) Background color

Select one of four background color options for printing.

(3) Metadata

Select the shooting information to be printed with images from a detailed set of options.

(4) Header/Footer

Text can be input for use as headers and/or footers with printing

Greater collaboration with my Picturetown

Simple viewing

Images uploaded to my Picturetown can be viewed in the ViewNX 2 Browser window. This allows users to check the images uploaded to my Picturetown without opening a Web browser and entering their login e-mail address and password every time.

Simple upload to my Picturetown from ViewNX 2

Images can be uploaded from ViewNX 2 to my Picturetown using simple drag and drop operations from the folder displayed in the ViewNX 2 Browser window.

Other ViewNX 2 Functions

Files can be converted to a different format and image size can be adjusted

Aspects such as brightness, contrast, highlights and shadows can be adjusted for both JPEG and RAW images

Equipped with a variety of display modes including Thumbnail Grid, Thumbnail List, Image Viewer and Full Screen

Comprehensive RAW image processing with Exposure Comp., White Balance and Picture Control adjustments

Custom Picture Controls can be created and saved. Custom Picture Controls created with a Nikon camera can be imported into ViewNX 2 and exported to compatible cameras. (RAW images only)

Nine color labels and ratings (up to five stars can be specified) enable detailed organization and classification of images

I am sure the rest of the packages will be rolling out shortly.

Per Nik Software and a link to the free updates is…HERE.

Version 2.003 for Mac includes:

• 64-Bit Compatible
• Fixes additional minor bugs

Viveza 2.003 has been updated for 64-bit compatibility for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. If you are currently running a workflow that supports 64-bit, such as Adobe Photoshop CS5 and/or Macintosh OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), please download this update.

However, if you are currently using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and/or Macintosh OS 10.4 (Tiger), which do not run natively in 64-bit, the update is currently not compatible in these environments.

Version 2.003 for Windows includes:

• 64-Bit Compatible
• Fixes additional minor bugs

Of course, if you don’t own Viveza, you can buy it from me!

Viveza 2

The noise reduction is vastly improved, but will it unseat Define as my go to product? Check back next week and we’ll compare the two of them.

Read what Adobe says….HERE.

Support for several new cameras has been added in this update. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras. Also, Camera Raw 6.1 includes new lens correction functionality that can apply profile-based corrections to accommodate geometric distortions, chromatic aberration and lens vignette effects. Manual corrections for geometric distortion as well as vertical and horizontal perspective transforms are also available. A handful of lens profiles are included for automatic correction and more can be created by the community with the Adobe Lens Profile Creator.

Adobe recommends that you use the select “Updates” from the help menu and install this automagically. If that does not work, here are the links.

The full details for Mac users are…HERE.

The full details for Windows users are…HERE.

Here are the juicy details:

myZenfolio is the perfect mobile companion for your Zenfolio account. It allows you to easily manage and show your photos hosted on Zenfolio, as well as upload new photos directly to your Zenfolio galleries.

Features

• Browse, create, modifgy groups, galleries, and collections
• View your photos online through a native iPhone experience
• Upload photos taken with your iPhone
• Upload original size or low resolution images
• Set Access Control rules (public, private, password)
• Edit titles, captions, categories, and keywords
• Move and delete photos
• Send e-mail invitations

The great news is that is works just as well as the main site! Very fast and very easy! The thing that I like the most, if I want to show someone my work, I don’t have to keep pictures stored on my iPhone, with a couple of taps on my iPhone I can show my images instantly…in a word awesome…and even better its free!

This is a must have win win situation. In other words if you have an iPhone and don’t have a Zenfolio account, go get one. If you have a Zenfolio account and don’t have an iPhone, go buy one!

Download the app for your iPhone…HERE.

Adobe has built a pretty cool webpage with a countdown timer for the launch party…HERE.

Things I’ve played with in LR3

I have been shooting with high and higher ISO lately and the Luminace Noise Reduction button now works…and it it works really well getting that “stained glass” noise out of a high ISO image.

LR3 now supports importing and managing video! How cool is that? No editing (YET!) and no built in player, but at least you can ingest the videos at the same time as your stills.

Here are the highlights:

• Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images
• Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras
• Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta for outstanding overall high ISO quality
• Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control
• Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback
• Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback
• Support for a bunch of new cameras

Of course Adobe’s Lightroom Journal blog reveal all of the juicy details…HERE.

And you can download the beta and play with it yourself…HERE.

Fractalius is digital art software from Redfield and it is really so much fun, that you’ll have a hard time stopping once you start.

I really enjoy making digital paintings…taking one of my photographs and via the power of the computer turning it in to something completely different. Fortunately, you don’t have to have any artistic talent at all, but a good picture to start with helps a lot. A few clicks and voila, art! Ok, perhaps not art and I am reluctant to use that word, but I have seen other users make some fantastic images and so I had to try it myself and now I can’t stop Fractaliusing.

Redfield’s Fractalius is software that is very simple and easy to use. Honestly the best way to learn it is to push all of the buttons and sliders and gizmos and see what happens. There is also a cool “roll the dice” randomizer that makes great art…well sometimes! As my friends David and Roger say, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” I am sure that you are all savvy enough that you are working on a duplicate layer so that really shouldn’t count as a tip, but if you aren’t, shame on you. Always make a duplicate layer when you use Fractalius. Two reasons, I’ve discovered that changing the opacity for some of the more bizarre variants like Glow100 look better by fading the duplicate layer a bit to reveal more of the subject under neath. This is particularly true when creating animals. Secondly, if you change your mind about your creation, just delete the layer and start over. The most difficult part of the process is picking just the right images for the effects. It takes a bit of work to get ones that work. I find that the simpler the background the more appealing I find the end results. Your results may vary so go play!

Here is a link to the Redfield site. OH, the big bummer. It is only available for 32 bit Windows versions of Photoshop. On the plus side it is only $40!

Here are some of my images re-worked as a Fractalius.

[View with PicLens]

If you Fractalius let me see your stuff!

I’m going to let onOne tell you about the software…their marketing words are better than mine!

From onOne Software:

“Add the perfect finishing touch to your images with PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition. It features over a thousand design elements like film edges, borders, textures, backgrounds and adornments. It even has complete layouts where you just drop your image in and you are done.

• Over 1,100 professionally created edge effects, backgrounds, and adornments.
• Easily add realistic film and darkroom edge effects.
• Create full-page layouts complete with backgrounds.
• NEW! Now supports 64-bit CS4 on Windows.“

Ok, I’m back. The software is dead simple to use and a lot of the time you don’t need to do much more than pick a frame and click “save”. However the fun is really when you play with frames and mke your own configurations. Your choices are nearly limitless.

The really spectacular news is that they are now offering a “free” version, seriously its free! It does have a limited set of frames (20), but they are still customizable and still quite useful. Did I mention you can own it for free?

These shots took about 10 minutes for me to frame. Here is the link to download onOne Software PhotoFrame 4.5.

[View with PicLens]

There are 245,000 books in the Amazon store including 396 about photography! Here are some ideas.

iBird is the first software that I purchased for my iPhone and I have had my phone for almost a year! It has everything that I need to know to identify birds while in the field. Great descriptions, great illustrations, great photographs (yes, some are mine) and even calls are included in this application.

Why is a correct ID so important? First, if you ever hope to see your images published they must be correctly identified and iBird will ensure that you get even tricky IDs correct. They are part of the ID centric What Bird website and so are experts at providing the details that you need to sort out what bird (sorry) you just photographed.

One of the terrific features is the bird calls. I can’t tell you how many times I have been able to take a picture  of a bird because I heard the call and could then locate the bird or even better anticipate a behavior based on the call that was being made. This bird knowledge has really helped me take better photographs and I expect iBird will advance those skills even further.

One note about birds calls. In some cases and with some bird species playing their call will cause a reaction. While this can be a boon for the photographer it can be seriously bad for the birds. Please use this feature under the American Birding Associations code of ethics.

You can buy the app at the iTunes store for a paltry $19.99. That is about $80 less than another application that I was looking a that had nowhere close to the features of iBird Explorer.

Visit the iBird Explorer website for all of the juicy details.

The more that I use Lightroom the more I like what they are doing. Even there are no big features in this release, it is still worth while for the update to ACR 5.2 (Adobe Camera Raw’s latest converter). They also have included the camera profiles that have been available from Adobe Labs for a while now. I still think that Nikon Capture NX2 does the best conversion of my Nikon NEF files, the gap is certainly narrowing.

Here is what Adobe says:

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
• Enabling auto-mask produced a lag in performance in when applying the local adjustment brush

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.

Windows Download

MAC Download

As always if you have not already done so, you can follow this link and purchase Lightroom at Amazon. Your support is appreciated.

[amtap amazon:aisn=B0018VDJVW]

Here is a gallery of images that are all set and ready to Cool Iris! So go get the download and come back for a visual treat.

[View with PicLens]

Here is what Adobe says is new:

Support for the following cameras has been added in this update. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

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

Here is a link for the windows Download.

And the MAC download too.

If you have yet to buy CS4 and you read this post anyway, you are the best and here is a link to Amazon just for you!.