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Adobe has spruced up Photoshop CS6's tool for creating HDR images--at the same time that it's updated editing tools with features that make high-dynamic range photos less interesting to me.

HDR images combine multiple shots taken over a range of bright to dark exposures. That means that the shadow detail can be taken from the bright images and the highlight detail from the dark images.

Used in a tame way, an HDR image shows more of the full range of tones the human eye can see. But plenty of people prefer the more unusual or even outrageous effects … Read more

Don't beat yourself up if you didn't know that some modest video editing abilities are tucked into the premium version of Photoshop CS5.

But expect a lot more starting today, when Adobe Systems releases an open beta version of Photoshop CS6 code-named Superstition.

The new version brings video from the higher-priced Extended version of Photoshop to the standard version, and it adds editing features such as the ability to apply Photoshop tone and color adjustments. And instead of relying on Apple's QuickTime, the new tool draws from Adobe technology elsewhere in the Creative Suite, such as the … Read more

As Adobe Systems prepares to release Creative Suite 6, it's in the midst of two major shifts: the addition of its Creative Cloud subscription and the addition of design tools using Web standards.

And we want to know what you think of the change.

In conjunction with Jefferies, a financial research and investment banking firm, CNET is conducting a quick survey about Adobe's Creative Cloud and embrace of Web standards. It's only nine multiple-choice questions long, so it's very fast and easy to fill out.

We'll be publishing results of the survey later so you can see if other people see things your way. If you are open to us asking you follow-up questions, you can leave your e-mail address at the end of the survey, but it's completely optional. Of course, you also can leave comments on this post. … Read more

Adobe Systems has released a second advance look at Photoshop CS6 that shows new work to give a hardware boost to the image-editing software.

The graphics processing unit (GPU) speeds the Liquify tool, which lets people smear images in a finger-painting way, according to a Zorana Gee, a Photoshop product manager. She demonstrated the change in a YouTube video, the second in what looks to be a series of previews of the software. An earlier Photoshop CS6 preview showed new raw image editing tools adopted from the Lightroom 4 beta, a darker user interface, and improvements to brush size selection. … Read more

Unimpressed by Adobe Systems' Creative Cloud, its forthcoming $50-per-month subscription plan? Adobe wants to change your mind.

The company offered some new details today to show people that the Creative Cloud plan gets people access to more than just the full Creative Suite (CS) Master Collection and tablet-oriented Touch programs. Specifically, according to Scott Morris, senior director of product marketing on Adobe's digital media team, there are these elements:

• The Creative Cloud will include Adobe's Muse and Edge software for creating Web pages. Muse won't be part of the Creative Suite, and Adobe hasn't decided whether … Read more

Adobe Systems has published a glimpse of the forthcoming Photoshop CS6, an update that brings the dark workspace and raw-image editing tools from the new beta of its sister program, Lightroom 4.

Bryan O'Neil Hughes, an Adobe senior product manager, showed off a bit of the new software in a YouTube video published yesterday. Photoshop CS6 is set to debut along with the sixth version of Adobe's Creative Suite in the first half of 2012.

Darker photo backgrounds are all the rage for photo software since they make photos stand out nicely; the darker interface used in Lightroom … Read more

Adobe Systems has responded to complaints about its Creative Suite upgrade prices with a new option for customers who bought earlier versions of the software.

The company, which plans to release its CS6 software bundles in the first half of 2012, had offered upgrades only to those who'd bought CS5 or CS5.5. That raised a ruckus, especially after Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, griped about the upgrade pricing in an open letter.

Adobe's now changed course with an upgrade offer for CS3 and CS4 users, too. That offer, though not yet detailed, … Read more

If you are running Adobe CS5 or CS5.5 and have updated to OS X Lion, you may encounter an error with the Adobe Extensions Manager utility in which you cannot install any new extensions.

This issue was found in early December by a number of Adobe CS5 users who had upgraded to OS X Lion, and after investigating the issue, Adobe issued a patch to the software that should allow the Extensions Manager to work properly again. The update has been available in Adobe's Update Manager, so if you regularly update your Adobe software, then you should be … Read more

It's time for Photoshop customers to think carefully about how to pay for the software, because Adobe Systems is curtailing upgrade deals to steer people toward a new $600-per-year subscription for a wide range of its products.

Subscription pricing, in which a person gets rights to use software for period payments, has been a mixed success in recent years. Red Hat has made it work with Linux and related server software, but Microsoft's enthusiasm for subscription pricing seems to be emerging mostly through online services such as Office 365.

Adobe--a software powerhouse going through a rough patch with layoffs … Read more