The 1.4 update for Adobe’s Lightroom and the 4.4 update for Camera Raw, the Photoshop Raw importer, contain a number of errors. These relate to the way that Lightroom deals with the EXIF time stamp, the conversion of raw data to the open-source DNG format and the conversion of Olympus files. While it fixes these errors, Adobe has withdrawn the software update from 13 March, which included support for the formats of several new camera types. In the Adobe Blogs Lightroom Journal,Tom Hogarty from the Lightroom team recommends users who have already updated to uninstall the update and reinstall Lightroom 1.3.1 on their Windows-PC or Mac.

The EXIF error causes Lightroom 1.4 to incorrectly modify the EXIF time stamp in the original raw file, although the information written to the XMP sidecar files remains correct. Apart from this, the raw data itself is not affected by the errors. Lightroom also reports an error when converting Olympus JPDG photos.

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Major Upgrade Features Improved Interface, Faster Browsing & Enhanced Image Processing

 Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone(TM), iPod(R) touch and Apple TV®. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

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Album DS the easiest, most feature complete tool for professional photographers to produce panoramic albums, today announced that Album DS 5.0 My Designer Edition has been honored with Professional Photographer magazine’s 2008 Hot One Award. The Hot One Awards honor the photographic industry’s best new products for professional photographers. This award marks the first entry for Album DS which just made it’s official North American debut in October 2007.

Jeff Kent, Professional Photographer magazine, Hot One Editor, also recognized the significance of this achievement: “As the Hot One Awards continue to expand, the competition for each category has heated up accordingly. For the 2008 awards, we had more than 220 total products entered in 58 categories by nearly 150 companies. That makes the 2008 Hot One Awards one of the biggest, most comprehensive photographic product competitions in the industry. Winners of a 2008 Hot One Award should be proud that they have achieved recognition in such a competitive and high-profile award process.”

The contest was judged by a panel of 18 professional photographers voting on categories that fit within their areas of expertise. The judges voted on products based on many criteria including ease of use, suitability to task, workflow, and support.

“I am absolutely thrilled with Album DS’ win, especially since we just entered the North American market,” said Bryan Linden, Vice President Marketing, Album DS. “We’ve worked very hard to make Album DS the most comprehensive photographic design product available and the fact that it works from within Photoshop(TM) a product photographers already know and love means a short learning curve for our program and true Photoshop power with Album DS ease of use. We’re very pleased with the designs My Designer Studios did for this special edition and we want to give special thanks to Dawn Erney, the lead designer for My Designer Studios.”

“With the My Designer Edition of Album DS we offer far more than just wedding album designs and also provide photographers with cards, sports traders, baby products, senior products, and more,” said Alejandro Fresno Meyer, President and lead developer, Album DS. “I ‘m really happy to be honored by this award and want to specifically thank Dawn for her fantastic designs and Bryan for his efforts introducing Album DS in North America. Album DS was born as a tool for the creative but time limited photographer who wants to easily create astonishing albums. Our main goal is to help them get to this point as soon as possible with outstanding support. We get great feedback and keep integrating customer workflow and suggestions into every release of Album DS.”

The 2008 Hot One Award winners will be highlighted in the upcoming February 2008 issue of Professional Photographer magazine. Additional information on the 2008 Hot One Awards and winners is available on Professional Photographer’s website at www.ppmag.com.

Album DS 5.0 My Designer Edition is available immediately for purchase and download from www.albumds.com and is $449.00 including more than 1070 templates all of which are automatically resizable to any album format from any manufacturer, 200 masks and sloppy borders, 560 frames, tons of special effects beyond standard b/w and sepia of most products, clipart, high resolution backgrounds and support that is happy to help and easy to reach. Any aspect of any template is quick to modify and building templates from scratch is not only possible but easy.

Simply put, Album DS will make professional photographers more productive at producing albums and will likely help inspire photographers who use it to produce albums that are just as beautiful as they are easy to design. Albums can be printed via professional lab or in-house and Album DS makes it easy to resize albums from one aspect ratio to another even after design.

Album DS is developed in Valencia Spain by Art Fotografic and has been available since early 2006. Used extensively throughout Europe and Latin America Album DS has in a very short time developed into the most flexible tool for album design available today. With a solid commitment to service and support, Album DS is poised to be a global leader for professional album design.

Album DS 5.0, Makes creating panoramic wedding albums a breeze from within Adobe Photoshop(TM) a program professionals already know and love. Album DS is very easy to use even for those with limited Photoshop experience and acts like a album design dashboard from within Photoshop. Version 5.0 adds several new features including Album Easy effects, ability to load most Photoshop actions as Album DS buttons and so much more. Album DS is developed in Valencia Spain by Art Fotografic and has been available since early 2006. Used throughout Europe and Latin America Album DS has in a very short time developed into the most flexible tool for album design available today. With a solid commitment to service and support, Album DS is poised to be a global leader for professional album design.

Collages.net was recently honored with its seventh, eighth, and ninth Hot One awards from Professional Photographer magazine.

Langhorne, PA, January 08, 2008 –(PR.com)– Collages.net was recently honored with its seventh, eighth, and ninth Hot One awards from Professional Photographer magazine. Winning first place in three categories of the prestigious competition – display item, website, and online printing/order fulfillment service – Collages.net was recognized for its gallery wraps, its Build Your Brand marketing campaign, and collagesDesktop™ + collagesColor™.

“We are very excited about the award from Professional Photographer, most especially because it reaffirms our belief that photographers are looking for creative, innovative, and flexible products from a company committed to high quality and excellent customer service,” stated Director of Product Development, Deirdre Gillin.

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Veodia’s Browser-Based Video Service Rolls Out Additional Features Appealing to Apple Enthusiasts and Widget Addicts

New video capture plug-in for Mac OS, iPhone Portal and Channel Widget give Veodia users more options to create and share high quality broadcast content.

Palo Alto, Calif. (PRWEB) November 15, 2007 — Veodia, Inc., the first provider of a browser-based, TV-quality video broadcasting service, today announced that users can broadcast video while running Mac OS X with the launch of the Mac OS video capture Plug-In. This feature makes it possible for those operating in a Mac environment, such as university professors, publishers, bloggers and creative departments to create video content using their current systems. In addition, content produced with Veodia can now be viewed via simple Veodia Widgets that are easily created and sit on any web site, be it a blog, company home page or corporate dashboard.

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onOne Software Announces Availability of Essentials 2 for Adobe® Photoshop® Elements Software
New version incorporates newly acquired PhotoTune color correction software

Portland, OR - November 6, 2007 - onOne Software, Inc., announces today the availability of Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop Elements. This updated version of onOne Software’s popular software suite includes technology from onOne Software’s newly acquired PhotoTune color correction software, and onOne Software’s Mask Pro, PhotoFrame, and Genuine Fractals software products fine-tuned specifically for Adobe Photoshop Elements.

“Make it Better! Cut it Out! Frame it! and Enlarge it! These four tools incorporated in Essentials 2 allow amateur and advanced amateur photographers to spend less time in front of their computer screen correcting their digital images and more time behind their camera taking pictures,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “And with this new version of Essentials comes an entirely new version of the Make It Better tool. It is now even easier for users to quickly optimize their image’s color, contrast and brightness by comparing side-by-side adjustments and simply picking the best settings visually.”

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Digital Photography for Print Production
Best Practices White Paper Now Available from the Ghent Workgroup

Download for free at www.gwg.org

Ghent, Belgium - November 7, 2007 - The international Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG), which in five years has become one of the world’s most respected graphic arts best practice organizations, today announces the availability of the GWG Photography White Paper.

The GWG Photography White Paper gives publishers and photographers a compact set of digital photography guidelines for print production.  Correct implementation of ICC color management and standards is essential to ensure that maximum quality is maintained from the original capture through to the final printed result. The GWG recommends using these guidelines for digital photography projects for print production.

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iStockphoto Selects myPhotopipe.com, Inc. as Exclusive Provider of Prints
PR Newswire

ATLANTA, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — myPhotopipe.com, Inc. , a web-based online provider of digital photo processing and related services, today announced that it has entered into a strategic relationship with iStockphoto(R) to provide a “print-your-image” option on the popular stock imagery and video website, effective October 11, 2007.

Starting with iStockphoto users in the United States, members will be able to order prints of any image on the site that is made available for Prints by the artist. Prints may be purchased using the micropayment system pioneered by iStockphoto. Eight print sizes will be available on four paper surfaces (matte, glossy, watercolor and canvas). The iStockphoto site will incorporate a live cropping tool with seamless integration back to myPhotopipe.com’s national photo lab in Atlanta.

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FotoFlexer Adds New, Powerful Features to the World’s Most Advanced Web-Based Image Editing Solution

Three New Patent-Pending Technologies Enable Functionality Not Even Available in Expensive Desktop Image Editing Software While Remaining Free for All Users

Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) October 9, 2007 — FotoFlexer, the world’s most advanced Web-based image editing solution, today announced a bevy of new features that let users do more with their images than any other online editing site - and in some cases, even more than can be accomplished with desktop photo editing software like Photoshop. And, unlike Web-based photo editing sites that charge their users a premium to access the most useful and powerful features, FotoFlexer continues to provide more features - and more advanced features - while remaining completely free for all users.

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FXBear.com Introduces All-in-One Video Converter Software with Free Lifetime Updates

FXBear Software Solutions today announced the release of new all-in-one video converter software (www.fxbear.com/video-converter.php) which allows users to perform two-way conversions between eleven popular video formats.

London, England (PRWEB) October 4, 2007 — FXBear Software Solutions (www.FXBear.com), the makers of the popular and award-winning audio conversion software, today unveiled their new all-in-one video converter which includes free lifetime updates to the package. Unlike many video file converters, this video conversion tool offers two-way conversions between eleven popular video formats, and can decrease the file size of an 800mb video to under 300mb.

“We’re proud to release our new video conversion software as a follow-up to our audio conversion tool,” says Terry Bytheway, founder of FXBear Software Solutions. “The new software package gives users greater control over their video files, whether they want to archive family videos or decrease a video’s file size to share it online through popular video sharing sites like YouTube.”

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JAlbum (www.jalbum.net) releases a free hosting alternative for your pictures. With 8 million published albums, the free JAlbum software is one of the most popular tools in the world for producing web photo albums. Up until now, users have needed to have their own web site to put their albums. This new service makes publishing stunning photo albums easier than ever.

(PRWEB) October 4, 2007 — Three million photo sharing enthusiasts use JAlbum to publish web photo albums. These users have had to find their own hosting solution for their albums, which has limited the JAlbum user base towards the more tech-experienced. With the new hosting alternative, JAlbum is opening up for a much broader market, simplifying the process of publishing photo albums to a few easy clicks. The free account holds 30 MB and fit about 200 pictures to start out with. Users will also be able to upgrade their account for more storage.

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Apple Introduces New iPod classic
New 160GB Model Holds Up to 40,000 Songs

SAN FRANCISCO—September 5, 2007—Apple® today introduced the new iPod® classic, featuring 80GB or 160GB of storage that holds your entire collection of music, photos, video, podcasts and games—up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. Now in its sixth generation, the new iPod classic delivers all the features customers love about their iPods, plus an enhanced user interface featuring Cover Flow™ and a new all-metal enclosure. iPod classic is priced at just $249 for the 80GB model and $349 for the 160GB model.

“The first iPod put 1,000 songs in your pocket—this new iPod classic can put 40,000 songs in your pocket,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With a thinner, all-metal enclosure and an enhanced user interface, the iPod classic is ideal for people who want to hold everything on their iPod.”

The new iPod classic holds up to 160GB of storage in an all-metal anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel enclosure. iPod classic works seamlessly with iTunes® so you can import, manage and then easily sync your favorite content. You can buy music, video and games for your iPod classic from the iTunes Store with more than six million songs available for preview and one-click purchase.
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This video will walk you through the features and benefits of Quark Print Collection. Quark Print Collection is the ideal choice for publishing imposed documents, whether you are a publisher looking for an in-house solution to produce booklets and other multi-page jobs or a professional printer looking for a simple and flexible solution for your imposition needs. Quark Print Collection offers an unmatched balance of power and value — an advanced feature set at one low price.

Download the video and enjoy!

Shellie L. Hall
Editor-in-Chief

CreativeBlvd.com

 Quark Print Collection: Download

WRITE BROTHERS® Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Release of Movie Magic® Screenwriter™ VERSION 6

Glendale, CA (PRWEB) August 31, 2007 — Write Brothers® (www.screenplay.com) announces the release of Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 screenwriting software, the ultimate all-in-one industry standard story-writing tool.

Movie Magic Screenwriter handles script formats for motion pictures, theater, television, novels, comic books and more. It automatically manages every nuance of specialized formats so the writer can focus on creative content. This new version of Screenwriter, optimized for the latest versions of Windows and Mac OS X, includes dozens of new features that make writing and rewriting faster and easier.

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Creative Pros See the Point of ‘Punctum Day’ with Bonus in Excess of $100,000 from iStockphoto
[def] punc•tum - the sudden recognition of meaning
DMN Newswire–2007-8-21–Calgary, Alberta, August 21, 2007—iStockphoto®, today announced that it rewarded its exclusive members with 100 percent of all revenues from their images sold on Aug. 20. The giveaway took place one day after the previously announced “Punctum Day,” which celebrates outstanding artistry in five categories. In total, iStock ‘exclusives’ will have received over $100,000 as a result of one day’s downloads from iStockphoto.

One iStockphoto exclusive member, Kelly Cline, says, “iStockphoto is a stellar machine that enables me to make money from what was once a hobby, and the support of the network has encouraged me to pursue it fully. Receiving the extra money is an exceptional bonus.” 

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Photographer Complaints Derail Modern Postcard-iStockphoto Deal

August 28, 2007
By PDN Online

Modern Postcard, a printing service popular among professional photographers, recently blundered into a bear trap: It announced that it was doing business with iStockphoto, and promoted the cut-rate stock service as an alternative to assignment photography.

Following a spontaneous uprising of angry photographers, Modern Postcard announced Tuesday that it is ending its relationship with iStockphoto immediately.

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Getty Images Unveils Smarter Search With Launch of New Website
Catalyst Search Tool and Other Original Features Inspire Creativity and Streamline Workflows
August 27, 2007: 12:00 PM EST

SEATTLE, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Getty Images, Inc. today announced the launch of the new gettyimages.com. Fully redesigned and re-engineered, the site serves as a powerful source for creative inspiration while delivering a more efficient search experience. Numerous enhancements make it easier than ever to find a specific image or discover an expanded selection of relevant visuals, and a flexible user interface complements a broad range of work styles.

Extensive customer input and usability studies informed the development of Getty Images’ added site features, including Catalyst, a first-of-its-kind search tool that uses interactive tag clouds to produce related concepts. Powered by proprietary technology, Catalyst gives customers the option to search via keyword cues, making it an especially helpful resource in the early stages of creative brainstorming.

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Movavi Online now downloads, converts video from YouTube, MetaCafe, MySpace; features widgets for Facebook, iGoogle, MacOS and browsers.

Novosibirsk, Russia (PRWEB) August 23, 2007 — Movavi today added new tools to Movavi Online, http://online.movavi.com, a web-based free video converter that enables users to download video and convert from one format to another - for sharing, podcasting, cellphones, iPods, and more - for free.

Where the first version of Movavi Online gave users the ability to upload video stored on a PC, the service upgrade now also enables users to download YouTube videos, video from Google, MySpace, MetaCafe and other video-sharing sites. Also, users are now able to download and watch Flash videos, convert video from the Internet to AVI, MP4, MPG, 3GP and other formats for use with iPod, iPhone, PSP, cellphone and other devices, and merge several videos into one large movie.

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 PhotoShelter to Host First-Ever Industry Town Halls Discussing the Business of Photography in the Digital Era

“Photography 2.0” Speakers Include Over 30 Photographers and Buyers from the Front Lines of American Photography

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Photography industry leader PhotoShelter has teamed up with Hewlett-Packard, JPG Magazine, liveBooks, Samy’s Camera, X-Rite and others to produce “Photography 2.0,” the first-ever series of traveling photography town hall meetings designed to bring together active image buyers and photographers from all sides of the business to discuss the impact of the Internet on their industry. The series will commence in New York City on September 14, 2007, with subsequent events to be held in Atlanta, September 17; Chicago, September 19; Portland, OR, September 24; San Francisco, September 26; and the Los Angeles-area, September 28. Photographers of any experience level who are interested in the future of commercial photography are encouraged to attend.

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Embassy Pro Books Launches New Website Offering Professional Photo and Coffee Table Books

Embassy Pro Books, a division of Embassy Digital, announced the launch of its new custom pro books website, EmbassyProBooks.com. This website allows the leading provider of prepress, printing and binding in North America to extend their already successful services to a more professional graphic design, photography and pro art audiences.
We are excited to launch our new website to offer pros throughout North America many customized options for our high quality photo and coffee table books.

Oakville, Ontario, Canada (PRWEB) August 14, 2007 — Embassy Pro Books, a division of Embassy Digital, announced the launch of its new custom pro books website, EmbassyProBooks.com. This website allows the leading provider of prepress, printing and binding in North America to extend their already successful services to a more professional graphic design, photography and pro art audiences.

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