Adobe Systems has begun shipping Lightroom 2, the latest version of its software toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. The new program supports 64-bit operations on Macintosh computers equipped with Intel processors running for Mac OS X 10.5, as well as PCs running Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, Adobe said.
Lightroom 2 promises to simplify photography from shoot to finish, said Tom Hogarty, the senior product manager for Lightroom at Adobe.
"A worldwide community of photographers provided valuable insight and feedback, as part of the Lightroom 2 public beta program, ultimately helping us deliver a better product," Hogarty explained. "We've considered their requests, which helped us develop useful features that make it easier than ever for our customers to quickly refine, enhance and present brilliant photographs."
Photo Touch-Ups
Lightroom 2 is targeted at avid photography enthusiasts in need of a less time-consuming way to visually organize thousands of images stored on one or more hard drives. To ease user navigation among thousands of photos, the library module within Lightroom 2 displays information pertaining to image count, available collections, occupied disk space and status. The module's new keyword capability also makes it possible for users to quickly find the specific photo they need, as well as specifying the import criteria for instantly creating a "smart collection" on the fly.
The upgraded program's Develop module includes a local adjustment brush that gives users the ability to fine-tune the color, exposure and tonal range of specific image areas without making any changes to other areas of the photo. Even better, users can modify larger image areas through the use of the program's new graduated filter. Simply click and drag to create the gradient on an image, and then adjust exposure, vibrancy, clarity and saturation, either in isolation or in any combination....

More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61033)