Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements gain new mobile-friendly features
Adobe has released brand new versions of its consumer-level photo-editing and video-editing suites with the launch of Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 and Adobe Premiere Elements 12.
Version 12 of both suites add mobile-friendly features and a number of new editing tools, but critically remain standalone applications, allowing users to purchase them outright as opposed to signing up for an ongoing cloud subscription.
Bing pares Hometown Photo contest to ten finalists, vote now
In August, Microsoft's search engine Bing launched a contest for all the photographers out there, calling for them to submit images for a chance to win a rather nice prize package. Professionals and amateurs alike were invited to send in images depicting hometown pride by grabbing a stunning shot of the local environment.
Today this contest reaches its most crucial juncture. Bing has narrowed the choices down to ten and now the decision moves to the people.
CyberLink PowerDirector and PhotoDirector head deeper into Adobe territory
CyberLink has unveiled the latest version of its flagship video creation tool, PowerDirector 12, and image editor, PhotoDirector 5. And these are major updates, too, with some particularly interesting high-end additions.
Multicam editing isn’t something you’d expect to find in a consumer video editor, for instance. But PowerDirector 12′s new MultiCam designer might just change all that with its ability to easily combine, organize and edit footage of the same event from up to four cameras.
Corel launches PaintShop Pro X6 with 64-bit support, new selection tools
Corel has added 64-bit support to the brand new release of Corel PaintShop Pro X6, which should deliver major performance improvements on large-memory PCs running 64-bit versions of Windows. The new build also comes with a number of new selection tools, while the Ultimate build gains two new plug-ins.
The new 64-bit build comes with the promise of superior performance, with Corel claiming a 78 per cent performance increase when cataloguing JPEG files over the previous version. PaintShop Pro X6 also gains improved memory manage across both 32-bit and 64-bit builds, with the promise of accelerated file operations and effects application.
Flickr for iOS gets a revamp with new filters and photo editing tools
Yahoo has released Flickr 2.20 for iPhone and iPod touch, a major new update to its app for quickly sharing and uploading photos using your iOS device’s camera.
The new build adds three major new filter-based features to its roster, plus adds new camera tools while dropping the paywall on some of the more professional editing tools. Both sets of tools are also jazzed up with new animated transitions for "the best camera experience yet".
Grungetastic transforms ordinary photos into grimy works of art
Most graphics software will do its best to clean up your photos, removing noise, optimizing brightness and contrast, and generally leaving them bright and polished.
If you’re bored with this approach, though, you could always try Grungetastic ($0.99 iPhone -- $7.99 Windows, Mac), which prefers to reduce colors, add layers of scratches, dirt and grime, tear image borders, and generally leave your pictures looking as though they’ve been left in a box in your garden for a very long time.
Back up, sync and share your photos with Picturelife
There are many ways to back up or share your photos online. You’ll probably have some at Facebook, for instance. Perhaps more at Flickr. Or maybe just a folder at Dropbox or some other cloud storage site, where you can access them from any convenient browser.
Checking out yet another photo management service probably isn’t a task which ranks high on your list of priorities, then. But with Picturelife, at least, it could be worth the effort, because this isn’t just some "me too" site: it’s packed with genuine photo management power.
6tagram for Windows Phone 8 -- the next best thing to an official Instagram app?
A common complaint addressed to Windows Phone 8, which is coming from users of the tiled smartphone operating system, the tech media or those who like other platforms, is the lack of an official Instagram app. Even though third-party clients like Instance -- which now has over 330,000 users -- prove that the popular photo and video-sharing network has its fair share of fans on Windows Phone 8, Instagram has yet to be persuaded to build a homebrew app. Let's not even approach the rumors, none of which have yet to bear fruit.
In my opinion, the lack of an official Instagram app for Windows Phone 8 is an issue blown out of proportion. Instance is a competent third-party client and, by the looks of it, the upcoming 6tagram is shaping up to be an ever better offering than any other non-official app available for the tiled smartphone OS. I have been using 6tagram for the past couple of days -- it is still in beta at the moment -- to tell you what you can expect after the public launch.
Internet Explorer addon IExif lets you view EXIF data for web images
EXIF metadata provides a great way to better understand digital images and how they were taken: the camera used, the lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and more. But browsing this information for photos you find online is normally rather awkward, as you’ll have to download each and every image, before manually opening it in your preferred viewer.
Fortunately, Internet Explorer addon IExif takes a simpler approach. Whenever you’d like to know more, just hover your mouse cursor over an image on the current web page, and IExif will extract and display its metadata (if there’s any available).
Microsoft's Fresh Paint makes a splash on (some) Windows Phone 8 devices
Following Photo Editor by Aviary, that was released earlier this month, yet another picture editing app is now available on Windows Phone 8 -- the Microsoft-developed FreshPaint. The new offering arrives on the tiled smartphone operating system six months after the launch of its Windows 8/RT sibling.
According to Microsoft, FreshPaint for Windows Phone 8 "lets you make original works of art, or turn your photos into beautiful paintings with just a few taps". The app is quite easy to use, allowing users to snap pictures, add filters on-the-fly (users can choose between three distinct ones when taking a photo) and create new digital paintings, as the main highlights.
Artweaver 4 adds tabbed interface, new drawing and paint tools
Boris Eyrich Software has announced the release of Artweaver 4.0, the latest edition of its popular painting tool. It’s a significant update too, especially in comparison to the rather underwhelming 3.0, with both Artweaver 4.0 Free and the more powerful commercial Artweaver Plus (yours for around $40) gaining some worthwhile features.
Both editions benefit from a tabbed document interface, for instance, which makes it easier to switch between images.
Photo Editor by Aviary arrives on Windows Phone 8
Major app developers are starting to notice Windows Phone 8. The tiled smartphone operating system got Adobe Reader, BBC iPlayer, Pandora, Spotify, Team Viewer, Temple Run, Tumblr, all in the past couple of months, with Flipboard, Oggl Pro, Path and Vine to arrive "soon".
But, amidst all the major launches and announcements, Aviary also released its photo-editing app, which almost flew under the radar.
Will you buy Nokia Lumia 1020 Windows Phone?
Today, US mobile operator AT&T starts taking pre-orders for Nokia's latest Windows Phone -- the Lumia 1020. The Finnish maker's new handset follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, the Lumia 920 and Lumia 900, by being exclusively available at the aforementioned carrier in the local market. It goes for $299.99 on a two-year contract, which is on a par with what AT&T charges for a similarly-specified Apple iPhone 5, and $100 more than the equivalent HTC One.
The Lumia 1020 contract pricing is rather bold considering that, on a two-year agreement at AT&T, the Lumia 920 can be had for $99.99 (which makes it $200 less expensive). Although the cost of the new Windows Phone 8 handset has yet to be revealed in other major markets, it's safe to assume that it will be priced higher than the Lumia 925 or last year's Lumia 920.
Snap2Img lets you quickly create contact sheets for any set of pictures
Understanding how your digital photo collection is laid out normally requires just a few moments of thumbnail browsing. Click a folder here, another over there, and you’ll quickly be able to locate the pictures you need.
If the folders aren’t accessible, though -- they’re on a CD, say, or you want friends to get a quick overview of an image set -- then it can be useful to generate a contact sheet, another image with thumbnails of your folder contents. And that’s where the free Snap2Img comes in.
Meet Nokia Lumia 1020 Windows Phone
Today, during its "Zoom. Reinvented" press event, Finnish maker Nokia unveiled a new handset called the Lumia 1020, which is the company's modern, Windows Phone 8 interpretation of the year-old 808 PureView.
Just like the 808 PureView, the Lumia 1020 sports a 41 MP camera with Xenon flash, Zeiss lens and OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), that shoots photos at a massive 7712 by 5360 resolution and is capable of 1080p video recording at 30 FPS. But, that's where the similarities end. The Lumia 1020 packs a larger 4.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 768 by 1280, which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, similar to the Lumia 925 that was unveiled in mid-May. On the front there is a 1.2 MP wide-angle camera that can shoot 720p video.
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