Adds new controls for tone, noise, white balance

Adobe has released the first beta edition of Lightroom 4, its forthcoming photography workflow software. Numerous upgrades have been made over Lightroom 3, mainly in terms of tools; v4 sports new highlight and shadow recovery options, for instance, and a white balance brush, which can be used to tweak colors in a specific part of an image instead of the photo as a whole. Local adjustments can also be made for noise reduction and moiré removal.

Images can now be searched and grouped by location, and incorporate data from GPS-equipped cameras. Adobe has also implemented photobook creation with matching templates, and soft proofing, for previewing output on color-managed printers. Video support has been extended in terms of organizing, viewing, and editing clips, as well as sharing, since videos can be published straight to Flickr or Facebook.

Email functions have likewise been built into the software. The beta is currently set to expire on March 31st. The Mac version requires OS X 10.6.8 or better, along with 2GB of RAM. A Windows version is also available, for the first time discontinuing support for Windows XP in favor of just Vista and 7.

By Electronista Staff