How do the best photographers turn RAW data into beautiful images? Bestselling author and award-winning photographer Mikkel Aaland shows you how. His straightforward, visually oriented instruction will take you step-by-step through the process of capturing, organizing, and optimizing RAW images. You'll learn how to produce the best possible digital images, using Photoshop CS2, Adobe Bridge, and Camera Raw. Aaland--whose pioneering work in digital photography dates back to 1981--draws on his own 30 years of experience, as well the expertise of over 10 top-notch professional photographers who generously share their tips and techniques. His personal, easy-to-follow style illuminates and inspires, but doesn't intimidate or needlessly complicate. You'll get immediate results when you apply these solutions-oriented techniques to your own photographic work.

Adobe Systems has announced an update to Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop(r) CS2, extending RAW file support to 17 additional digital camera models. Available as a free download from Adobe's Web site, the plug-in builds on the raw file support integrated in Photoshop CS2 for digital cameras from leading manufacturers such as Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Mamiya, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Sony.

With the addition of the new plug-in, Camera Raw functionality in Photoshop CS2 now supports more than 113 different camera models and allows professional photographers to easily manipulate RAW files without sacrificing any image quality.  Now professional photographers can more quickly and easily import and manipulate RAW data, saving time while increasing artistic control.

New cameras supported by Adobe Camera Raw 3.3 plug-in and DNG Converter include Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 1D Mark II N, Canon EOS 20Da, Fujifilm FinePix E900, Fujifilm FinePix S5200/5600, Fujifilm FinePix S9000/9500, Kodak EasyShare P850, Kodak EasyShare P880, Mamiya ZD, Nikon D200, Olympus E-500, Olympus SP-310, Olympus SP-350, Olympus SP-500UZ, Pentax *ist DL, Pentax *ist DS2, and Sony DSC-R1.

Is It Really Photoshop for Photographers?

By Joe Farace

"Waddaya mean," my friend Ralph, asks, "what else is Photoshop for?" I hated to be the one to break it to Ralphie but Adobe Photoshop has changed a lot in its journey from that cute little FotoMat desktop icon, to the all-seeing-eye, to the oh-so-Forrest Gump feather. It's evolved from just being a photographer's tool to one embraced by artists and Web designers too, so there are lots of tools that photographers seldom use. (Other than Save for Web, how often do you use Image Ready?)

Along the way, stuff--as they say--happened. When handed a tool that has the capacity to capture images unhindered by film processing costs, some of us have unleashed our internal creative demons and shoot, shoot, shoot. Where once a wedding photographer may have had a hundred, maybe two hundred, 5x5 proofs to edit, they are now faced with four hundred or more images. And while Photoshop CS2 Bridge, bless its pea-pickin' heart, is a good way to edit lots of images, it ain't the fastest way. Enter Adobe Adobe Lightroom, a.k.a. Photoshop for Photographers.

Finally, the successor to the Nikon D100 makes the scene
with lots of impressive features and performance passed down from the D2X

By Joan T. Sherwood

I have been shooting with the Nikon D200 for a month now, and really I have mostly great things to say about it. Before the full review appears in the March issue of Professional Photographer, here are notes on the results of my initial experience with the camera using a Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G IF-ED AF-S DX VR lens, which is an 11.1x zoom lens designed for everyday photography. It's NOT a pro-level zoom lens. In the action shots, I believe focus results would be much better with a fast, 2- to 3X zoom.

Read the full article.

The next generation of Nikon software, Capture NX, incorporates U Point technology from Nik Software Inc., which lets you place a control point on the color you want to edit and use simple sliders, all visible at once in a configuration that looks like fork tines, and make adjustments to elements like hue, saturation, brightness, contrast. The user can customize most aspects of the tool, such as the area of influence. You can also place multiple points on a single image and have two points work relatively to each other. In demos here, Nik representatives showed the tool in use to just point at the blue portion of sky in a photograph, set the white of the clouds to be unaffected, and upping the saturation of the blue to create a bolder image.

Capture NX will feature improvements to batch processing and image browsing. A new Edit List entry will track any effects or edits made to an image. The entry can then be removed, altered or duplicated on the list without any destructive effects to the original file. Users will be able to save or undo the effects of the U Point technology Control Points in NEF files at any time. Nikon will also introduce selection tools and color management control to Capture NX.

The software should be release in spring of 2006. Prices and upgrade information are currently unavailable.

What are you doing with your non-mouse hand? Want to make it more productive?

Logitech and Adobe Systems Incorporated are showing the results of a collaboration to provide creative professionals and new levels of control with AdobeCS2 and standalone CS2 applications: the NuLOOQ Professional Series. The new Logitech product line comprises the NuLOOQ navigator, an innovative device used in conjunction with a mouse and a keyboard to manipulate images and documents, and the NuLOOQ tooldial, customizable on-demand interface software that provides quick access to design tools. Both are designed for use with the Mac versions of Adobe CS2, Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2, and Adobe Photoshop CS2.

The NuLOOQ Professional Series places the frequently used tools and options in the Adobe Creative Suite right at your fingertips, letting you do toolbar and option bar selections and functions without having to go to keyboard shortcuts or the mouse.

My Life Designs is showing the best looking photo jewelry we've seen yet. Why? It's real sterling silver jewelry, not something you assemble yourself with a tiny print cutout. It's heavy. The photo is permanently sealed to the silver with  a clear coating that doesn't yellow or peel. Owner and designer Kimbra Orr offers many pieces, like charms, pendants, bracelets, rings, pet tags and zipper pulls. Stop by the Web site or call 877-501-LIFE to ask about wholesale purchase for professional photographers.

Lowepro has introduced a new line of Stealth Reporter bags with a new water-resistant top zipper design replacing the previous velcro-down rain hood. The zipper is sealed for water resistance and the zipper pull fits into a little hood to keep water from entering at that point. The underside of the zipper has a padded flap to protect the gear inside from any scratching.

The top flap now has one big clip instead of two. The shoulder strap has new dense padding and can be configured to carry on one shoulder, cross-shoulder, with a small stabilizing belt strap, or as a sling bag. The padded segment slides along the shoulder strap so that you can move it to where you need it.

D650 AW and D550 AW models have a well padded laptop compartment and a fully adjustable divider system. All models come with the All Weather Cover to protect the bag in harsh elements.

Corel today announces the release of Painter IX.5, a free uprade for registered Corel IX users. The  update includes three new painting palettes that help the user get a faster start in the photo painting process. Underpainting gets the image ready for the painting process; Auto-Painting uses adjustable randomized automated brush strokes to give the user a base to start with; and Restoration allows the user to bring back photographic detail where you want it.

The update also includes new tools: an eraser, a rubber stamp, and a cloner brush. Video from Lynda.com will come free with the purchase of Painter IX.5, which will be available in April. The Painter IX.5 patch for registered Painter IX users should be available on the Corel Web site for download today.