I found this video on some of the new masking and refining mask features in Adobe Photoshop CS5. This alone would be worth the price of the upgrade – imagine the time you save when you have to mask out someone with hair or soft edges. Mid May can’t arrive soon enough.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 available on amazon.com

Adobe has announce the new Photoshop CS5 (for those who are counting this is version 12 of Photoshop). I have been using Photoshop since version 4 back in the mid 1990s. And this is one of the first times I will be buying the software the day it is available.

Typically I like to wait a few months so that the software can be broken in by the general population. Software often times is buggy right out of the box and you want to wait till they have a bug patch. However, Adobe Photoshop and the other software is pretty dang stable – rarely have I had the software crash on me – ever.

And so why do I want to buy it right away? Some features such as HDR Pro, Content Aware fill, better mask selections, and other magical features that will help me work faster and create even better images.

Here is a cool video that goes through some of the top videos.

And I will be purchasing the full Adobe CS5 Design Premium Suite. Because I do use Dreamweaver, InDesign, Illustrator, Fireworks, Acrobat, and of course Photoshop. So I need to save about $599 – ugh. Expensive.

Lightroom 3 Beta 2

S-Curve

I usually don’t bother using beta software – beta software is used for testing and is often buggy and not fully reliable. However, it is also cutting edge – it has the latest features for software that will be released at a later date.

Adobe Lightroom is the most popular software used to manage, edit and work with photographs for photographers. I have been using it since version 1.5. I have played with their beta software for about 5 minutes total – just to get a feel of what new features are coming in future releases. And I am excited for Adobe Lightroom 3!

The latest beta has a real curves tool! Just like in Adobe Photoshop you can now play with the curves and you can be boring with the typical S-Curve or you can go nuts! Here are a few examples of the curves tool in action. You can be sure I will be using the curves tool on my photographs – I love the S-Curve it is one of the best basic edits you can do to make your photograph fantastic.

Going Nuts with the Curve Tool

Chances of me going nuts like the second example? Slim to none. However, the curves tool is extremely powerful. You can create some awesome effects. Now I just wish I could stack the curves tool with more curves. In Photoshop I will often have 2 curves adjustment layers.

And maybe in the next version of Lightroom they will have a feature to design wedding albums from within Lightroom. Apple’s Aperture lets you do that and it is a pretty cool feature.

The results of nuts

Photomatix Pro has been the choice of software for photographers for quite some time now.  I have tried a few other programs (everyone seems to have a free trial) and they all have their benefits and their downsides.

HDR is an exciting technology for photographers – and it is only going to get better.  Even today some camera manufacturers are building HDR into the cameras so you won’t have to bother with software.  Till then we have a multistep process to create our images.  But I don’t mind that.  Ansel Adams would photograph with his camera and then spend a great deal of time in the darkroom creating his images with dodging, burning, and other techniques.  If you look as his prints you see his creations.

The same can be said with HDR – yes there is a lot of photo manipulation going on.  I have heard people say that pixels are meant to be punished.  And like everything in photography there is a balance to find and Photomatix gives you the tools to find that balance.

There are really two adjustments in Photomatix Pro that are the most important.  They are the Strength and the Luminosity sliders.  These have the power to make the images more real or make the images more surreal.  And you are the artist – you are the one who can push that envelop or play it safe.

So if you want “realistic” you will keep the Strength slider low (towards the left) and you will keep the Luminosity slider to the right or a higher number. And of course if you want the Harry Potter effect you can switch that – try it out!