Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0 is the latest release of the consumer-based video editing program from Adobe. It is a scaled down version of their professional level package Premiere Pro and can be purchased as a bundle with Adobe Photoshop Elements. If you were wondering what happened with versions five and six (the last version being four) Adobe decided to bump it up to match with Photoshop Elements 7.

What do you need to run Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0? Currently it is only available on Windows, where you need 1.8 GHz (3 GHz for HDV or Blu-Ray, Dual-Core processor required for AVCHD) or better machine with 1 GB of RAM, a Mouse, a 16-bit color display with 1024×768 resolution at 96DPI or less, a DirectX 9.0 compatible display adapter/driver, QuickTime 7 software, a DVD-ROM drive (compatible burner required to burn DVD) or Blu-Ray, and around 4.5 GB hard disk space available.

So what is new with this version of Adobe Premiere Elements?

• InstantMovie – will let you create movies with little or no effort. Using creative techniques from Hollywood directors, you just choose a theme and InstantMovie edits your clips together with coordinated music, titles, effects, and transitions. You can then customize the final result if you want.

• Videomerge – will let you put your subject into a new setting. By filming your subject on a solid color background, the Videomerge technology will extract your moving subject from the background and drop it into a new setting.

• SmartSound – will let you energize your movie with a variety of soundtracks that automatically adjust to match the length of your movie. Adobe Premiere Elements will detect the tempo of the music and synchs the beginning and end of each scene with the beats.

• InstantMovie & Slideshow Themes – includes fairy tale, secret agent, music video, and extreme sports.

• Edit in AVCHD – lets you import and edit video from the latest AVCHD camcorders. You can edit and view your movie with drag-and-drop ease in the large monitor window where you can trim and split clips, drop filters and effects right on a frame. You can even restore shaky footage with the Image Stabilizer filter.

• Analyze Footage – automatically for quality and interest as well as apply Smart Tags. This will let you quickly find your most interesting, highest quality clips.

Source: feeds.blogcritics.org

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Photokina 2008: Adobe has lifted the lid on Creative Suite 4, the latest version of its huge design and production suite. Of most interest to photographers will of course be Photoshop CS4, which brings some interface changes (tabbed windows) as well as 64-bit Windows support and OpenGL support to use graphics cards to speed up operations (and provide nifty zoom and rotation tools) and a new non-modal approach to adjustment layers. We’ve been using Photoshop CS4 in Beta form since May and will bring you more extensive coverage of all the new features once Photokina is behind us.

Press Release:

Adobe Introduces Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended

Landmark Release Packs Powerful Editing Punch and Harnesses the Creative Potential of 3D

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sept. 23, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, the highly anticipated, new editions of the professional industry standard software for digital imaging.

Providing a fluid user experience, complete creative control and higher efficiency, Photoshop CS4 leverages the power of the latest hardware to extend imaging possibilities and offer faster, more flexible ways to accomplish core tasks like image adjustments and masks. All of these features and more can be found in Photoshop CS4 Extended, which serves users with advanced motion graphics functions, dramatically expanded 3D visualization capabilities and precise image analysis.

Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended will be available as stand-alone applications or key components of the Adobe Creative Suite® 4 family.

“Photoshop is about delivering cutting-edge innovation that really pushes the boundaries of digital image editing,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for professional digital imaging at Adobe. “This version is no exception with some stunning new imaging technology that complements our work to bring more control, simplicity and speed to everyday tasks.

By streamlining the most popular workflows for the professional, technical or home user, Photoshop CS4 brings new levels of accessibility to the gold standard in digital imaging software.”

Complete Creative Control and Effortless Efficiency
Photoshop CS4 software now makes impossible tasks, possible. Content-Aware Scaling adds a revolutionary technology that enables users to intelligently size and scale images with a simple drag of the mouse. New Auto-align and Auto-blend modes generate composites based on extended depth of field and 360 degree panoramas now with seamless tones and colors.

Finding, previewing and managing image assets jumps to a new level of power and convenience with Adobe Bridge CS4, beginning with fast start-up performance, right through to speedy transfer of images to Photoshop CS4. New path-bar navigation and workspace selection buttons across the top of the Bridge window let you instantly go to just the right display for every task.

Also included are new Camera Import controls, visual folder navigation, and a Carousel View for larger image-group selections.

Photoshop CS4 takes advantage of the latest graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware to deliver superior performance. The software offers a smooth pan and zoom experience that allows users to easily edit images at the highest magnification while maintaining clarity.

The new Canvas Rotation tool makes it simple to rotate and work on an image from any angle. Photoshop CS4 helps keep work areas clutter-free with a new unified application frame, tab-based interface and self-adjusting panels that make it easy to quickly access advanced tools, and provide a more fluid way to interact with the application.

Harnessing the Power of 3D
Photoshop CS4 Extended includes all the new features of Photoshop CS4 plus the ability to manipulate 3D imagery easier than ever before. Now, creativity knows no bounds, as users can paint directly on 3D models and surfaces, merge 2-D files onto 3D images and animate 3D objects.

The 3D engine has been rebuilt from the ground up to provide faster performance, allow editing of properties like light and the ability to create more realistic renderings with a new high-quality ray-tracer. Video professionals have the ability to turn any 3D object into a video display zone and can animate 3D objects and properties with ease. In addition, the core motion graphics editing has been improved with more efficient single-key shortcuts.

“The 3D painting enhancements in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended save us valuable time by enabling artists to paint directly on our 3D flight simulator models in Photoshop instead of using a separate 3D paint program,” says Luis Barcena, executive vice president of databases and modeling for Aechelon Technology, Inc., a leader in real time computer graphics applications for training, simulation and entertainment markets. “Additionally, the ability to perform localized color correction in Photoshop CS4 Extended lets us easily color correct and balance simulated environments and terrain databases using images taken in different climates to achieve a more realistic and compelling user experience.”

Photoshop CS4 Extended software continues to challenge traditional use, allowing medical professionals to volume render multiple medical image scans (DICOM image stack) into a volume that can be viewed from all angles.

The Evolution and Expansion of the Adobe Photoshop Family
The Photoshop product family has experienced an unprecedented year, in which new products have been introduced and every existing product has been updated. The year began with the anticipated launch of Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac, winning Best of Show at Macworld 2008.

The launch of Photoshop Express in the Spring marked a new direction for the line — a free, rich Internet application (RIA) for anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos online with eye-catching effects.

In July, major updates and enhancements were made to the popular Photoshop Lightroom™ 2 solution for serious photographers, followed by the launch of Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 software for hobbyists and now, Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended for professionals.

Source: www.dpreview.com

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Imaging giant Adobe has announced Adobe Photoshop CS4, promising enhanced features to help boost photographers’ productivity.

Claimed improvements include more refined, natural results using the Dodge, Burn and Sponge tools, enhanced Auto-Align and Auto-Blend and new 360 degree panoramas.

Adobe claims the new software will unleash ‘unrivalled editing power’.

‘New Adjustments and Mask panels slash the time it takes to make non-destructive colour and tone adjustments and create and re-edit feathered, density controlled pixel and vector masks,’ claims the firm.

A more advanced version, CS4 Extended, adds features such as 3D editing and multi-media workflows, including ‘richer motion graphics capabilities’.

UK prices had yet to be announced at the time of writing.

Source: feedproxy.google.com

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Adobe has delayed an update that will add support for Flickr users to its Photoshop Express online image editing and storage service. The service, currently at the Beta stage, allows images to be stored or pulled from the users’ other websites and edited without over-writing the original. The latest update, which also adds a ‘Save As…’ feature and the ability to embed slideshows in other websites, has been postponed to allow bugs found late in the development process to be fixed.

The update, which was to have launched at 4:01 GMT today is currently unavailable. Here is the UK press release about the service, which at present only allows users to sign up as US residents.

Press release:

Adobe Photoshop Express Public Beta Adds Flickr Support

“Save As” and Embeddable Player Now Available as Community Feedback Drives New Features

London— May 8, 2008 —  Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced a major update to Adobe® Photoshop® Express beta (www.photoshop.com/express), including integration with Flickr and a “Save As” functionality, two of the most requested features by early adopters. Additionally, a new embeddable player will allow users to post their Photoshop ® Express ® slideshows to sites such as Facebook, Myspace, blogs and more. Released as a public beta in March 2008, Photoshop Express is a free rich Internet application (RIA) available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos with eye-catching effects. As the newest addition to the Photoshop family line, Photoshop Express has taken much of Adobe’s best image-editing technology and made it simple and accessible to a new online audience. Within the first week of launch, hundreds of thousands of people registered for an account and within the first month, over 60,000 public Web albums were created.

“We’re overwhelmed by the positive response to the Photoshop Express beta and all the people who are actively editing and showing off their photos,” said Doug Mack, vice president of Consumer and Hosted Solutions at Adobe. “Photoshop Express will continue to evolve over time as we listen to user feedback and build a complete hosted solution that gives people the right balance of performance, convenience and that ‘wow-factor’ that makes their photos stand out from the rest. We’re fortunate to have innovative technologies in our arsenal like Flex® and Adobe Flash® Player that guarantee the overall experience will always be engaging and dynamic.”

Enhancements Extend Community, Accessibility and Creativity
Photoshop Express provides convenient access from right within the application to photos posted on social networking sites like Facebook, Photobucket, Picasa and now Flickr. Photoshop Express serves as a complementary solution for people with Flickr albums who want to upload or download photos into Photoshop Express, add special effects and send them back into Flickr to share with the community. The experience is seamless, so users never have to leave their community environment. 

The new “Save As” feature allows users to save multiple versions of an image in addition to the original version. Also new to the lineup is the embeddable player, which lets users post their slideshows to Facebook, MySpace, and other sites to share with friends and family.

A Convenient, Single Destination for Storing, Editing and Sharing
With Photoshop Express, users get 2 gigabytes of free storage, can upload and sort anytime and from anywhere, edit non-destructively to always preserve the original image, and share online in creative ways.

With just a few easy clicks, Photoshop Express empowers anyone to make standard edits, such as removing blemishes and red-eye, converting to black and white, cropping and resizing and much more. Photoshop Express features a collection of creative effects such as Pop Colour, which highlights a single colour in a photo; Distort, which distorts facial features or objects; and Sketch, which makes photos look like artistic drawings. Even users with limited photo editing knowledge can simply select what looks best from a line-up of sample photos with visual hints showing different variations of the added effect. Photoshop Express offers a variety of fun sharing options, including “My Gallery” that highlights collections of user photos called Albums. The unique slideshows feature interactive animation that make photos float and fly across the screen, allowing for an engaging sharing experience.   

Free and Available Now
Adobe Photoshop Express public beta update is available for free via any Web browser, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and others at http://www.photoshop.com/express. Photoshop Express was created with Flex, Adobe’s free, open source framework for building RIAs. Flex applications provide a consistent, rich user experience across operating systems and all major browsers. An Internet connection and an up-to-date Flash® Player 9 are all that are required to experience Adobe Photoshop Express. In its early phases, Photoshop Express is available to US residents-only in English. Users may experience slow performance if accessed outside of the US. Future updates will include availability in other languages and countries.

Source: www.dpreview.com

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Imaging software giant Adobe has updated Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw to provide raw file support for nine more digital cameras.

Available as free upgrades to existing users, Lightroom 1.4 and the Camera Raw 4.4 plug-in support the Canon EOS 450D, Nikon D60, Pentax K20D, Pentax K200D, Sony A200, Sony A300, Sony A350, Olympus SP-570 UZ and Fujifilm FinePix S100FS.

The Lightroom 1.4 update also provides printer driver compatibility for the Apple Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 system, according to Adobe.

To download the Lightroom 1.4 update visit www.adobe.com/downloads

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.4 plug-in is included in Photoshop CS3 and is available as a free download for users of Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Elements 6 and Premiere Elements 4.

Visit www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html

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Source: www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

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