photoshop

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

Looking for a tablet experience that runs from the sublime to the ridiculous? Meet Adobe Creative Cloud and the six tablet apps.

Creative Cloud (CC), which enters beta today, represents the nascence of Adobe's distributed design ecosystem. And it's a promising start. While it disappointingly lacks the syncing capabilities baked into Adobe Carousel or even Apple's iCloud, it does provide an intelligent drop box for working with design and imaging file formats (sorry, no video yet).

While there's direct upload and download capability via the applications, there's also a Web interface for the desktop--and for temporary compatibility with iOS devices until Adobe rolls out those apps next year. Some of the intelligence in the Web interface includes the ability to render a variety of Adobe file formats on the fly, show and hide layers in Photoshop files, and automatically generate and display a Kuler color theme pulled from images.

Oddly, though, it doesn't display any more than the most basic information for a file; for instance, it doesn't show image dimensions or any EXIF info. It also offers only the most basic sharing, which is e-mailing a link and allowing comments. Right now you're limited to the 20GB you get free with an app--that's 20GB total, no matter how many apps you buy. You don't seem to have to buy an app to use CC, which is attached to your Adobe ID. I'm not sure if that will stick past the beta period, however. You can sign up here.… Read more

Adobe Systems and Apple may not see eye to eye over the Flash Player plug-in, but they've come to an understanding with the new app store era of software distribution.

Adobe announced today that both its consumer-oriented photo and video software, Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10, are now available on the Mac App Store. The move parallels what Adobe already has done with iOS apps and expands on its earlier sales only of Photoshop Elements 9 on the Mac App Store.

The Mac App Store, a standard feature of recent versions of Mac OS X, lets Apple … Read more

After dipping its toes in the water with some limited-scope mobile apps, Adobe Systems is taking the plunge today with six programs for Android Honeycomb tablets, including the company's flagship brand, Photoshop.

The programs, each to debut in November with a $10 introductory price, fall under the new Adobe Touch Apps brand. And they tie in with the new Adobe Creative Cloud, a service for sharing files, finding services, and transferring works from the tablet apps to Adobe's Creative Suite apps running on traditional computers.

Along with Photoshop Touch, the other apps are Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler, and … Read more

Adobe Systems has updated Lightroom and Photoshop to support a number of new small, higher-end cameras from Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, and Pentax.

The software packages handle the raw photos that higher-end cameras can produce, offering higher image quality and better flexibility at the expense of convenience. And as new cameras arrive, Adobe must build support for the new models proprietary formats.

Lightroom 3.5 of and version 6.5 of Photoshop's raw-image plug-in (available on Adobe's download site) now can support a host of new compact interchangeable-lens cameras (ILCs) that lack the bulk-inducing reflex mirror of SLRs. In addition, it supports high-end medium-format cameras from Hasselblad, Phase One, and Phase One's Leaf subsidiary. The full list: … Read more

It doesn't seem all that long ago that Adobe trotted out its first consumer image-editing application, but Photoshop Elements seems to have aged fairly well over the past 10 years. It hasn't changed that much--it still has a task-based interface and modular architecture--though it's gotten a bit glitzier looking and, as it continually absorbs new technology and features from its big sister Photoshop, has gotten a lot more powerful as well.

Along the way, Adobe paired it up with a consumer version of its Premiere video-editing software. Though not 10 years old, it carries the same version … Read more

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That seems to be Adobe's approach to the entry-level photo-editing customer on the Mac.

Instead of trying to replace iPhoto with its Photoshop Elements image-editing software, Adobe is repositioning a version of the product as a complement to iPhoto in an interesting strategic move. Photoshop Elements 9 Editor is a less expensive, Organizer-free version of the product available only through the Mac App Store.

Making PSE as frictionless a step-up editor option for iPhoto makes a lot of sense, though I suspect a lot of Windows users will be baffled by … Read more

CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 is an all-in-one photography program that lets you manage, retouch, enhance, and share your digital photos. With its intuitive workflow and nondestructive editing environment, we think it's a great choice for beginners and intermediate users. Plus, with the possibilities furnished by the robust DirectorZone.com community, it might even work for more-advanced users as well.

PhotoDirector is split up into three main viewing panels: Library, for managing and sifting through your photos; Adjustment, for retouching and enhancing; and Slideshow for turning your stills into moving masterpieces.

The Library presents all of your digital photos in an … Read more

It's been too long since we last updated our How we test: Desktops page. We finally had a chance to document our recent additions this week. We haven't removed any of our old benchmarks, but if you click here you can read up on our new Photoshop CS5 test, as well as our Metro 2033 and 3DMark 11 3D tests. Riveting stuff, we assure you.