Software News

This morning Adobe announced an update to their popular Lightroom Mobile app that lets your smartphone do things previously possible only with a true digital camera. Key to the update is a new HDR Raw capture mode enabling mobile photographers to achieve dynamic range on their mobile device rivaling that of a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

I’ve worked with all the popular film emulators and black-and-white conversion plug-ins, looking for the one that met my workflow and esthetic requirements. After countless hours, I’m still not fully convinced of their efficacy as such. Still, they are fun to use and do fill a niche. So far, I’ve found Alien Skin’s Exposure X2 does the most convincing job so that I feel comfortable enough within my own alien skin—see what I did there?—that I’ll continue to use it, so to speak.

Some trends just won’t go away: Billboard magazine notes that U.S. vinyl album sales are up 53 percent, generating $416 million in sales. Stereophile, our sister publication, reviews new analog audio equipment and you can purchase new Nikon F6 or Leica M-A film cameras from Shutterbug advertisers. Ferrania is back making film and the Japan Camera Hunter website is making their own film, a discontinued Agfa emulsion they’re calling JCH StreetPan 400. Amazon’s top-selling photo item is Fuji’s Instax Mini Instant Film. There’s even a new twin-lens instant camera, Mint’s InstantFlex TL70, and yes, I gotta get me one of those.

Back in 1987, the Knoll brothers created a program they called “Display” that was intended for creating special effects in films. A year later they renamed the product “Photoshop,” and after showing it to Adobe the iconic brand was born.

We all like free stuff, right? Well, all it takes is a quick click of your mouse to download Auto FX Free and get 10 full-version Photoshop plug-is at no cost. The free collection works with Mac and Windows and includes two effects each from five popular Auto FX software suites.

Phase One today released Capture One Pro 10, a powerful upgrade to their Raw conversion and image-editing software package. Designed for pros and amateurs alike, this new version offers an improved user interface, enhanced performance, and compatibility with over 400 digital cameras.

High dynamic range photography was a really popular technique for awhile, until it fell out of favor in some circles because of heavy-handed processing that often resulted in surreal looking images that were over-saturated, too contrasty, and over-sharpened.