Adobe has introduced Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta software for
Mac and Windows, a public preview of new and improved functionality
to be delivered in the next major release.

Lightroom is a photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur
and professional photographers import, manage, enhance and showcase
all their images.Available as a free download on Adobe Labs
(http://labs.adobe.com/downloads), Lightroom 3 beta delivers a
preview of new tools that will be in Lightroom 3, including more
intuitive importing, unparalleled noise reduction and sharpening
tools, enhanced slideshow capabilities and direct publishing to
online photo sharing sites like Flickr, says Kevin Connor, vice
president of product management for Professional Digital Imaging at
Adobe.

Lightroom 3 beta has been completely redesigned with under-the-hood
efficiencies to better handle growing image libraries and improve
responsiveness with a higher-quality processing engine, he adds. In
the Library module, a rebuilt import system makes bringing photos
into the software more intuitive, Connor says. Users can easily
specify the source and destination of their images, and save common
processing, metadata or destination settings as presets.

The Library module also includes new capabilities to publish
collections on popular photo-sharing sites. Flickr users now have
direct access to their accounts from within Lightroom and can drag
and drop images directly into their Photostreams. Flickr Pro account
users can automatically synch their images and even view comments
made on Flickr directly within the Library. This functionality can be
extended to additional sites by adding them as new plug-ins once they
become available.

In the Develop module, an overhauled processing engine allows users
to create the highest quality images, says Connor. Improved Capture
Sharpening and Color Noise Reduction tools provide superior results
while still preserving an image's edge detail and contrast, he adds.
A new Grain tool adds a film-style grain to images, and two new
Vignette modes help photographers get a more natural look.

Lightroom 3 beta also offers advanced output options, including the
ability to export slideshows as videos with audio and title screens
that can be posted to video-sharing sites or optimized for mobile
media. New watermarking capabilities enable photographers to embed
text or graphic information directly on an image and then adjust the
size, position and opacity. In addition, photographers can customize
print layouts and save settings for future us.