Bryan O’Neil Hughes, Senior Product Manager at Adobe, gives us an idea of the next version of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).

So, many people want to see my photos immediately out of the camera, right after the recording. This is not an issue for me when we are speaking of showing the picture on the back of my camera (Nobody can see anything there, anyway…) but I actively resist when we’re speaking about final pictures. As a matter of fact, I work some more. This is something that ussually annoys a lot of other photographers, but that I consider an integral part of taking a picture (and this is a reason why I switched to digital photography early). First, I sort pictures out in Adobe Bridge. I usually keep only a small part of the images I shot. In a family reunion, I may keep half of the shots (It may vary). From a photo safari, I keep between 1% and 3% of the recorded files. The rest is not really worth it. Your mileage may vary (some will say that I should shoot less and think more, but it’s my style), but you need to select your best pictures.

Then, I enter the real development phase: I work from the RAW picture files of my camera, but this would be near exactly the same from JPEG picture files (I just prefer to start with images less digitally massaged by the camera to reach my own pictures). Consequently, a lot of what I do happens in Adobe Camera Raw (and it applies mostly to Lightroom users too). Here is how I proceed and… why.

The first thing requires to notice that the histogram of most images does not fully cover the full range from black to white: There is not real black (on the left of the histogram) and not real white (on the right). It may be an artistic choice, but in most cases this is merely a consequence of the limitations of the photo camera.

I follow a two-step approach to extend to a full light dynamic range. First, by using the Exposure control to push the highlights to the right of the histogram. Here, I pushed the Exposure to +0.35 to align the last bit of the histogram with the right hand side (I ensured that the white pixels are actually completely white, not light grey and I don’t blow them out).

Then, I do the same with shadows (and the left hand side of the histogram) using the Blacks, pushing only a little.

From this point, the picture dynamic range is maximal. It is also possible to correct the contrast, but it is not often necessary if the shooting conditions were average.Similarly, apart from significant problems in the original, it is not necessary to use the Fill light to lighten dark shadows.

The next step is to re-frame the image: Some will say that I have the bad habit of centering my subject too much, but when we speaking about very active animals, like the three jackals of this picture, I prefer to use the central AF zone of my Sony Alpha 700 which has the most sensitive and fastest AF sensor. So, I leave the re-framing job to Photoshop (even if I recognize that whenever it’s possible, it is simpler to think about framing correctly from shooting time).

For this, I use the re-framing tool in the tool bar at the top of the Adobe Camera Raw window and I choose the right frame with the mouse (thinking about painting traditions and the rule of thirds).

Some will prefer to start the whole process with re-framing (rather than waiting here for this). There are some good reasons for it (specially so when re-framing is used to remove an ugly over- or under-exposed area from the picture). I believe that in most cases, it’s more an issue of personal preference.

Next comes the most controversial step: Detail accentuation. It is easy to over-do it and I strongly recommend to keep the original Adobe settings rather than stepping all over it with too much accentuation (many people do it and I won’t give names). As a matter of fact, it’s true that I tend to force more of these fake details in web pictures than in quality prints.

The best is probably to experiment very lightly, in the Camera Raw settings, after zooming in onto the important area of the image (I’m less tempted to over-do it when it’s big in front of my eyes).

Then, it is simple to open a copy of the image in Photoshop from the “Open copy” button. It will be necessary to save a fine-tuned copy or to print it on your ink-jet printer.

I simply recommend to always convert colors (the impact is usually small but I tend to have confidence in Photoshop choices).

And here is a nice additional step that I get from Patrick Fagot, photographer that I love and whose teachings I used as a basis for my own ideas to use Photoshop, thanks to his advice during photographic trips with did together in Brazil an in Botswana. He advises to immediately add a colored frame to the best photos in order to give them a little additional pro finish and this is true that it help the picture to “pop out”.

It’s only a matter of using the Photoshop Image > Canvas size... control…

…and to choose a new size increased by a few millimeters around the image (and the right Canvas extension color – Black is often good but you can experiment).

Some will prefer the Relative control which allows to give a relative increase size, but I feel it is less comfortable.

From this description, it is possible to change a few settings around this. And I guess this will give inspiration to some of the readers.

If you want to go further: All other tips and tricks of YLovePhoto.

The main news seem to be the added support for the following SLR cameras:

• Nikon D7000
• Nikon D3100
• Pentax K-5
• Pentax K-r
• Samsung NX100
• Sony Alpha 560
• Sony Alpha 580

Download freely all these upgrades from the Adobe web site: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/ (in English).

Detailed changes

New Camera Support

• Canon         PowerShot G12
• Canon         PowerShot S95
• Nikon          D7000
• Nikon          Coolpix P7000
• Nikon          D3100
• Olympus     E-5
• Panasonic  DMC-GF2
• Panasonic  DMC-GH2
• Pentax        K-5
• Pentax        K-r
• Ricoh          GXR, GR LENS A12 28mm F2.5
• Samsung    NX100
• Samsung    TL350 (WB2000)
• Sony           A560
• Sony           A580

New Lens Profile Support

**These lens profiles were in the previous release but have been updated to address quality concerns.
NOTE: The Pentax, Tamron and Sigma profiles are the result of collaboration between Adobe and the respective lens manufacturer.

Lightroom 3.3 Bugs – Fixed

• Edit in PS CS4 from LR 3.2 did not give option to render to TIFF/PSD
• Process Version defaulted to PV 2003 when Lightroom’s installed Develop Presets are applied on Import
• All Auto-ISO values were not properly handled for the Nikon D3s
• An error could be generated when sorting by “User Order” in Collections
• There was an incorrect Profile Name tag for Canon 18-55 and 17-40 lens profiles
• Facebook album selection only displayed up to 25 albums
• Lightroom 3 could fail to launch Photoshop CS5 if Photoshop CS4 was uninstalled after the Photoshop CS5 installation
• Numerous cloning or healing spots could have caused Lightroom to become unresponsive
• Lightroom could have crashed when the metadata filter is selected and the grid is displaying all images in the catalog
• Lightroom 3.2 could have failed to import all of the images from an iPhone 4
• Some Sigma X3F raw files were rendering incorrectly
• Choosing the “Make a second copy to” option on import would result in incorrect folder structure for the second copy
• Resetting the crop angle by double-clicking the Angle slider removed a custom aspect ratio
• A tooltip for the Japanese language version of Lightroom 3 displayed the wrong keyboard shortcut for “Flag as Pick”
• Paste Settings did not apply to all images in the Develop module Filmstrip
• Smart collections in Lightroom 3 did not use the same definition of “All Searchable Metadata” previously available in Lightroom 2
• Text watermarks or portions of text watermarks could have failed to be applied to images on export
• SmugMug publish collection dialog included a mixture of English text  when using a language setting other than English
• Lightroom would not import files from the Panasonic LX5 that were shot with the iZoom Function set to above 90mm
• Choosing the Limit File Size option in the export dialog could have stripped certain EXIF fields from the exported file
• The Targeted Adjustment Tool may have performed slowly in the Lightroom 3.3 release candidate
• A single image published to multiple collections for a single publish service did not display comments properly
• Updating an existing Develop preset with all settings could have failed under certain conditions
• The watermark drop shadow settings behaved differently in Lightroom 3.2 when compared to Lightroom 3.0.  They have been returned to the Lightroom 3.0 behavior.
• The YYYYMMDD file renaming option was not available when the Lightroom language setting was set to Dutch
• An existing Smart Collection updated to filter for all photos with “Ratings is Zero” would show all images in the catalog
• Publishing an empty category to SmugMug would cause an error
• JPEG exports in the Lightroom 3.3 Release Candidate were significantly slower than the same export process in Lightroom 3.2.
• A graphical Identity Plate included in output was not correctly color managed
• Deleting all images in a Flickr photoset could have caused Lightroom to return an error message
• Changing the sort order to “User Order” while in Survey View on the Mac may have caused an error to appear
• Lightroom could have failed to respond when viewing an image containing numerous cloning or healing spots at 1:1 view
• RGB values were not displaying properly in the white balance tool
• The Smart Collection criteria “Folder starts with” was not working properly
• The navigator panel in the Develop module would incorrectly display threshold information when holding down the alt or option key and applying adjustments
• Applying a flag, star or label setting to an image via the toolbar in the Develop module while in auto-advance mode would result in an incorrect setting display for the subsequent image
• The application of color noise reduction at low color temperatures (e.g., tungsten or candlelight) could have provided results below our quality standards

Camera Raw 6.3 Release Notes
These items have been FIXED in Camera Raw 6.3:

• Camera Raw would not correctly read files from the Panasonic LX5 that were shot with the iZoom Function set to above 90mm
• The scroll bar could stop working properly with over 150 images in the filmstrip
• The DNG Converter could prevent customers from setting a “Destination” folder outside of their Home directory
• Some Sigma X3F raw files were rendering incorrectly
• Embedding GPS information into a Sony ARW file using third party solutions utilizing Exiftool could result in a color shift
• All Auto-ISO values were not properly handled for the Nikon D3s
• Updated Camera Raw default settings were not respected in Bridge thumbnails or previews after applying a rating
• JPEG and TIFF Previews re-rendered as over-exposed after cropping in Camera Raw
• Adjustment settings via the numeric entry field could have failed with multiple raw files selected

Known Issues in Lightroom 3.3/6.3

• A Japanese language file name is not properly preserved when uploading images to SmugMug

Known Issues in Lightroom 3.3/Camera Raw 6.3

• Raw images shot with the Nikon D7000 in Multi Exposure Mode have a strong magenta color cast.  The cast can be partially corrected by setting the white balance using the eye dropper tool. The issue will be corrected in a future update.

The final releases of DNG Converter 6.2, Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 and Lightroom 3.2 includes RAW file conversion for the Sony Alpha 33, Alpha 55, Alpha 290, Alpha 390, NEX-5 and NEX-3. Those were included in the Release Candidate versions, but they become official/final now.

Of course, other cameras are also taken into account like the all new Canon EOS 60D, the Samsung NX10, the Panasonic Lumix LX5 and the Pentax 645D.

But Sony love is still very visible here.

Download the new Adobe files (updates).

Eiffel Tower, by night – Copyright (C) Yves Roumazeilles

Now, I would like to underline the quality of a full series of posts, published by Patrick Moll on Alpha Numérique, and dedicated to comparing as precisely as possible the various offers now on the market to develop and improve as much as possible the pictures that -sometimes- we must shoot using very high levels of ISO sensitivity (with the troubling levels of digital noise that come with big ISO levels).

The list of the software programs taken into account is quite respectable:

• Image Data Converter 3
• Lightroom 3 / Camera Raw 6
• DxO Optics Pro 6
• Aperture 3
• Bibble Pro 5
• Capture One Pro 5
• ACDSee Pro 3
• Silkypix 4
• Lightzone 3
• Raw Developer 1 (dcraw)

Not bad, eh!

Even if the comparisons done here are not only for Sony photo cameras, Patrick Moll applied its tests to a quite appreciable list of cameras too:

• A100
• A550
• A700
• A900
• A330 (not ready yet when I published this post)

Even if you are not reading French, I highly recommend checking these (most of the posts are made of image comparisons using the yellow buttons to select the software program results you want to see). Even if you are equipped with Pentax, Canon or Nikon gear, the lessons you will draw from this are applicable on all the photo camera brands, concerning strengths and weaknesses of each of these software tools.

To understand the review process and the methodology, I would recommend the reading of (here, all in French):

• Introduction
• Réduction du bruit et accentuation

With the tests, body by body, you will immediately recognize the excellent results of Lightroom 3/Camera Raw 6 (these two Adobe software programs share a single common RAW file management core). Just behind, comes DxO Optics Pro 6 which is a bit more violent (or more accentuation prone) and the (not famous enough) Bibble Pro 5.

From this point, you will always be able to get the best from the photos you were forced into shooting in poor lighting conditions which required big ISO figures.

This new version of Camera Raw, with its new improvements in digital noise management, brings new options of automatic lens defect correction (vignetting, distortion and chromatic aberrations) as shown in the presentation video from Downloadsquad just below. But the best is still to go and download the beta version (unless you would prefer to avoid testing a version which is not 100% debugged by Adobe).

Ready to celebrate the arrival of 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau, a new version of the RAW conversion utility from Adobe is here: Camera Raw 5.6. It supports a whole lot of recent cameras:

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon PowerShot G11
• Canon PowerShot S90
• Leaf Aptus II 5
• Mamiya DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
• Nikon D3s
• Olympus E-P2
• Pentax K-x
• Panasonic FZ38
• Sigma DP1s
• Sony A500
• Sony A550
• Sony A850

It also solves an issue in demosaicing of some Raw files on PowerPC Mac.

Download Adobe Camera Raw 5.6.