SAN JOSE, Calif., – June 8, 2010 – Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) Lightroom(r) 3 software for Windows(r) and Macintosh, the essential digital photography workflow solution that allows photographers to quickly organize, enhance and showcase their images from one application. First released as a public beta in October 2009, the final version of Lightroom 3 introduces a completely redesigned performance architecture that better handles growing image libraries and provides an unrivaled raw processing engine with noise reduction and sharpening tools to achieve the highest image quality. The 64-bit capable Lightroom 3 includes new features that optimize workflows and allow images to be shared in creative ways, including support for DSLR video files and tethered shooting on select cameras.

“There have been over 600,000 downloads of the Lightroom 3 public beta, which has supplied us with a huge amount of valuable feedback from a passionate community of professional and advanced amateur photographers,” said Kevin Connor, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe. “The open dialog we have with our customers allows us to further improve Lightroom and provide the best tools they need to produce high-quality images.  We’re happy to see that so many people are anxiously anticipating the final release, so they can start taking advantage of all the new features they had a hand in developing.”

Public Beta Process Perfects Lightroom 3 New Features
Re-built from its core to be lightening fast and responsive, Lightroom 3 adds power throughout the application to provide a fluid experience for photographers. Images load almost instantaneously, and the import experience has been redesigned to be more intuitive, with added previews and default selections that give users quick access to sort through and find images. Helping streamline and adapt to photographers’ changing workflows, Lightroom 3 now allows users to import and manage DSLR video files, as well as take advantage of tethered shooting for select Nikon and Canon cameras.

New state-of-the-art photographic tools help photographers bring out the best in their images. Unrivaled Luminance and Color Noise Reduction tools help produce a clearer picture from high ISO or underexposed images while still preserving details. The highly-requested Automatic Lens Correction feature can dramatically improve the results possible with any lens by allowing users to apply profiles that correct for undesirable geometric distortions, chromatic aberrations, and lens vignette effects that most lenses introduce to the image. Users now also have a straighten tool to perfect vertical and horizontal perspective, additional presets for applying more photographic adjustment styles, and three new contemporary vignette styles and a Grain effect to add a more natural look with images.

Lightroom 3 Expands Image Showcasing
Output options have also been enhanced in this release, with new capabilities to publish collections on online sharing sites. Flickr(r) users have the ability to synch their accounts to Lightroom with one click, and integration with additional online photo sharing sites can be added via third-party plug-ins. Customizable print layouts provide more refined control over how photographers present final images, and new watermarking features with options to modify text, size, location and style, help give professionals and amateurs flexibility for branding images. Lightroom 3 now also includes the ability to export polished slideshows as video files with the option to add audio and title screens.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for Windows and Macintosh is available now at www.adobe.com/store, for pre-order via Amazon.com and NewEgg.com and will be available soon at retail and online outlets such as Frys, BestBuy.com, Costco.com, Walmart.com, Staples.com, OfficeMax.com, OfficeDepot.com and select camera stores. The estimated street price is USD $299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for qualified registered Lightroom users. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OS X v 10.5, 10.6 with Intel(r) based processor, or Microsoft(r) Windows(r) 7, Windows Vista(r) Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise or Windows XP with Service Pack 3, Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 processor, 2 GB RAM and a 1,024×768 resolution screen.

Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom. Join the Lightroom community on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lightroom) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/lightroom).

Commenting is now enabled, so you can query how help is written, or ask questions. As a Moderator, I do recommend that you take issues that take more than a single comment to solve to either http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom, http://forums.adobe.com/community/labs/lightroom3 or http://lightroomforums.net.

To find out more check out Phosphors, the official blog for Lightroom, Photoshop and Bridge Help.

The link is http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Lightroom_2.1

From the Adobe Labs site:

“The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers. The Lightroom team would like the community to help verify the quality of this update through normal usage as this will ensure that the application is tested on a diversity of hardware and software configurations not available internally at Adobe.”

Major Software Upgrade Further Simplifies Photography Workflows

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 29, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer’s essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish. As Adobe’

s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.

“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,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Lightroom and Camera Raw at Adobe. “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.

Photoshop Lightroom 2: Smarter, Faster and More Accurate
The enhanced Library module in Lightroom 2 helps streamline and accelerate photographers’

workflows. With the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives, Lightroom 2 and its powerful Library Filter Bar makes it easy for users to quickly find the images they need. The Suggested Keywords feature helps photographers keyword their images by making intelligent suggestions based on their own previous efforts. New dual-monitor support allows users to expand their workspace, giving them flexibility to edit and organize images in a way that maximizes an additional display.

In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust color, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. The new Graduated Filter expands the toolbox in Lightroom, allowing for edits to larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination. Lightroom 2 also helps photographers print more efficiently by quickly arranging photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with flexible and customizable templates to maximize paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster.

Developers can further extend the Lightroom workflow with Web, Export and Metadata Software Development Kits available at the Adobe Developer Connection, http://www.adobe.com/devnet/.

Ground-Breaking Innovation in Raw Technology
New raw technology gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer. To minimize surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customized profiles to suit different tastes. Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com) for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw 4.5, along with the DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles.

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.

“One of the big reasons why Lightroom has become such a phenomenon among serious photographers is that Adobe built it with the input of a very vocal user community,” said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). “Adobe really listens to the issues and challenges today’s photographers face and they’ve built a complete solution that not only meets the needs of photographers; it really feels like it was made just for us. The enhancements to Lightroom 2, combined with the power of Photoshop, give photographers the ultimate freedom to produce professional images quickly.”

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available now through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store in English, French and German with the Japanese language version planned to be released at a future date. The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel® based processor, or Microsoft Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4® processor, 1 GB RAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen. Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information –

anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United Sates and/or other countries. Pentium is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation, or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Mark left the Photoshop team after Photoshop 7 shipped and went to work developing a new paradigm in image processing which would finally ship as the product named Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Jeff Schewe is fond of saying about Mark, “be careful what you wish for”!

For example, around the time I first joined the Photoshop 5.0 beta a lot of Photoshop customers had requested a multiple undo. What we got was far more than that, and came in the form of the ‘History’ feature, which had the ability to take snapshots and paint from different history states.

Six years ago Mark left his position as chief architect of Photoshop in order to start work on the Shadowland project (which became Lightroom) and right up until this week Mark was fine-tuning the controls for non-destructive localized editing in Lightroom. Ever since Lightroom launched, users have been asking for was a means to dodge and burn raw images, and if you have been testing the Lightroom 2.0 public beta, you will know that you can now also paint with colour, saturation and clarity, plus you have really accurate auto masking with flow and density brush controls. It’s yet another example of Mark’s programming genius and gift for innovation.

Over the last ten years or so I have enjoyed taking part in the various internal discussion lists at Adobe and Mark’s direct involvement with testers like myself has always helped make it an exciting and challenging experience for all involved. What’s made it particularly rewarding for me is that Mark is someone who understands what photographers want from their software and we could often see our thoughts and ideas evolve into finished features.

I don’t think one can downplay the significance of Mark’s departure because the contribution he made to the development of Photoshop and Lightroom has certainly been enormous and it goes without saying that his presence will be missed at Adobe.

On the other hand, with Lightroom 2.0 now at public beta much of the groundwork on Lightroom has already been accomplished (especially on the non-destructive image processing side) and he leaves at a time where the Lightroom team has expanded from a team of one (Mark) to now include over fifty talented individuals who have all successfully guided Lightroom from concept to finished product.

While Mark’s departure does leave a gap, Lightroom’s future looks set to continue when development gears up for work on version 3.0. As for what Mark is going to do next, it is known that he is now going to Microsoft in Seattle, and that his future work there won’t involve digital imaging, but instead be focussed on the “user experience”. So remember Jeff’s advice and be careful what you wish for!

New in Lightroom 2.0 beta
An improved layout in the Library module allows for a more intuitive approach to image organization by simplifying the location of the features needed to find and filter photographs. A new feature called Smart Collections automatically updates collections with images that match desired criteria such as star-rating, keyword or other metadata. “The Suggested Keywords feature eases the task of keywording by making recommendations based upon keyword associations across a catalog as well as the use of keywords in neighboring images.”

Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta includes improved memory handling through 64-bit support for OS X 10.5 Intel Macs and Vista 64-bit operating systems. Additional enhancements in Lightroom 2.0 beta include support for a dual monitor configuration that maximizes a photographer’s workspace and can be easily adjusted to meet a particular workflow. Additionally, the Develop module has been updated to provide the ability to correct specific parts of an image without affecting other areas. Now, fundamental photographic techniques such as dodge and burn can be performed using the same non-destructive approach, allowing unprecedented control within the Lightroom program.

Beta Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta is available as a 30-day trial for free download on Macintosh and Windows platforms at http://www.labs.adobe.com/downloads. Existing Lightroom 1.0 customers will be able to test the beta for an extended period until Aug. 31, 2008 and can invite friends to take part in this trial period. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel-based processor, or Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1 GBRAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen.

The interactive nature of the Wiki means that any Lightroom user can add comments and links to the existing documentation. Obviously these will be moderated to keep them relevant to educating the user about using Lightroom.

The announcement was made in a number of places: Lightroom Forums.net, Adobe Lightroom on Flickr and the Adobe User forum.

Lightroom Evangelist George Jardine has written the launch post of the new blog for the Lightroom Team: Lightroom Journal. It promises to be an interesting and useful resource.

“Welcome to the official Adobe Photoshop Lightroom blog! This is the place where you will find all the inside information, tips, techniques, and hidden secrets you need to help you get the most out of Lightroom, made available to you straight from the horse’s mouth: the Lightroom team. Once in a while, you may also find links to web photo galleries posted here, as most of the team members are accomplished photographers in their own right. Knowing this crew, there will also be a healthy dose of random, but related posts about all things digital and photographic. But mostly it will just be a place for you to follow the inner thinking of the team, as we work our way toward making Lightroom better and better with each daily build. Thanks for helping us make it great. And please feel free to leave us a comment or suggestion.”

SAN JOSE-Adobe Systems Inc. is acquiring 7.7 acres here from SJW Corp. for $32.5 million. The two public companies originally agreed to a 5.5-acre, $25-million deal in April that was scheduled to close in August but never did. In mid-November, a contiguous 2.2-acre property was added to the deal and earlier this week Adobe closed on all but one acre, SJW’s director of real estate Janelle McCombs tells GlobeSt.com. Combined, the acreage is known as the Delmas property.

The 5.5-acre parcel, located at 374 W. Santa Clara St., is immediately adjacent to SJW’s headquarters and one-half mile from Adobe’s headquarters. Currently developed as surface parking, the property is entitled for approximately one million sf of commercial real estate with 15,000 sf to 50,000 sf of street-level retail. The additional 2.2-acre property, which sits adjacent to the 5.5-acre site, is entitled for 325 high-rise residential units above 5,000 sf to 15,000 sf of street-level retail. The one acre that Adobe has not yet acquired holds a 16,000-sf historic office building.

Adobe officials said in April that the 5.5-acre property was acquired to provide assurance the company would have the Downtown land necessary to expand operations as needed. Randy Knox III, Adobe’s director of real estate, facilities and security could not be reached Tuesday for comment on whether the additional 2.2 acres would be developed as employee housing, re-entitled for additional office development or used to some other purpose.

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Reuters, the news agency whose image was tarnished earlier this year when a freelance photographer provided doctored photos of bombing in Beirut, wants to ensure such changes can be found.

“I am pleased to announce today that we are working with Adobe and Canon to create a solution that enables photo editors to view an audit trail of changes to a digital image, which is permanently embedded in the photograph, ensuring the accuracy of the image,” Glocer said in the blog posting, a transcript of a December 11 speech at the Globes Media Conference in Tel Aviv.

“We sought a technical solution so that we had total and full transparency of our work. It’s what we stand for. It’s what we’ve always stood for. And we hope that it will provide reassurance to editors and consumers of our services,” he said. “Transparency and truth are important to us.”

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