Shutterbug Staff

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced its call for entries
to the seventh annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA). The program honors
and recognizes the most talented and promising student designers, photographers,
illustrators, animators and digital filmmakers from the world's top design,
film, interactive and Web higher education programs. This year, the competition
will accept entries from 30 participating countries.



Now in its seventh year, this world leading design competition has been expanded
to include more students from across the globe by adding Croatia, Czech Republic,
Hungary, India, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. These students are invited
to join students from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the
United States in submitting projects. The nine submission categories include:
animation, digital illustration, digital photography, interactive and Web design,
live action, motion graphics, environmental graphics and packaging, multiple page
print design, and single page print design.



The designers of the 2007 ADAA marketing campaign were a collaboration of winners
and finalists from the 2006 competition. A team of seven submitted the unique
concept "Going Places," which reflects their personal experiences
of the ADAA program. The "Going Places" design will appear on all
ADAA collateral, including competition posters, postcards, and advertisements.



Also new this year, Adobe will be accepting submissions online through April 27,
2007. Entries will be judged digitally in May and semifinalists will be asked
to mail in their entries for the final phase of judging. Students must submit
projects based on the use of Adobe design environments, such as Adobe Creative
Suite, Adobe Production Studio, and Macromedia Studio. Projects are reviewed and
scored by an independent panel of six distinguished judges, including Carole Guevin,
publisher of Netdiver.com; Jan Wilker, co-founder of karlssonwilker inc.; Armin
Vit, founder of UnderConsideration; Sande Scoredos, executive director of Sony
Pictures Imageworks; Andrew Lin, vice president at Paramount Vantage; and Gaby
Brink, co-founder of Templin Brink Design.



Judges will select the winners and finalists, based on originality and effectiveness
in communicating project objectives. Finalists will receive a trip to San Francisco
to participate in the awards ceremony, and an opportunity to showcase their work.
Finalists will also receive a selection of Adobe software products, meet with
leading industry professionals during studio tours, and have the opportunity to
participate in internships such as the 2007 SIGGRAPH Guerilla Studios. Award winners
will be announced at the awards ceremony on August 2, 2007 at the DeYoung Museum
in San Francisco. Each winning entry will receive a US$5,000 cash prize.



Corporate sponsors of this year's competition include Xerox Corporation
for print communications and Toppan Printing Co., America Inc. for printing services.




For additional information about the 2007 Adobe Design Achievement Awards or to
submit an entry, visit www.adobe.com/go/adaa.

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced an update to the public beta of Adobe
Photoshop Lightroom software at the Photokina tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. Available
immediately for download from Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom),
this update unites the product feature set for Windows and Macintosh platforms,
giving professional photographers a new way to import, manage and showcase large
volumes of digital photographs. More than 325,000 people have opted to try Lightroom
during the beta period and feedback has been fueled by over 3,400 of them sharing
input in Adobe online forums. The final version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is
expected to ship in early 2007.



The final branding of the software, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, confirms its place
within the Photoshop family, a line of products that meet the needs of novice
snapshooters, photo hobbyists and a diverse set of professional customers.



Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta 4.0 offers improved digital photography workflow
tools, including a precision white balance selection option and a more streamlined
and elegant user interface experience with customizable controls. An intuitive
new tone curve adjustment feature provides powerful image correction capabilities,
allowing users to visually obtain excellent midtone, shadow and highlight adjustments.




New enhancements in the Develop and Library modules include time-saving tools
such as the ability to re-name and convert files to Adobe Digital Negative Format
(DNG) after importing into the Lightroom library. New filters, search presets
and organizing options allow for quick retrieval of images and greater flexibility.




Lightroom supports over 125 native raw file formats, in addition to JPEG and TIFF,
and brings raw conversion into a single workflow experience. The latest camera
models supported by this beta are the Nikon D2Xs, Sony A100, as well as preliminary
support for the Canon Digital Rebel XTi (400D) and Nikon D80. This support means
that photographers can use Lightroom with even the newest cameras on the market,
knowing that the image files will be recognized today and into the future.



Adobe hosts an online community site for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta which
features artists in the Lightroom Showcase Gallery (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/gallery)
and provides an arena for photographers to share their portfolios using Lightroom
slideshow functionality. Photographers will find inspiration in the documentaries
of well-known photographers posted in the community and gallery.



Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta is available for free download from the Adobe Labs
Web site at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom.
Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4.3, 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor
or Windows XP SP2, Intel Pentium 4 Processor, and 768 MB RAM and a 1024x768 resolution
screen. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta is a universal binary application that
will run natively on PowerPC and new Intel-based Macintosh systems. The final
version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is expected to ship in early 2007. Further
details around pricing, system requirements and availability have yet to be determined.
...

Adobe has released an updated beta version (v3.3, 11/10/05) of their Adobe
Camera Raw plug-in for raw file conversion with a few enhancements. (Compatible
only with Photoshop CS 2 as well as Elements 3.0 and 4.0.) Support for additional
cameras has also been added, including the Canon EOS 5D, EOS 1D Mark II N, Pentax
*ist DL and *ist DS2. A minor fix has also been made to the Adobe DNG converter,
"improved decoding for some camera models". Do note that this is a
beta version, although it appeared to work perfectly in my preliminary tests.
When installing the Camera Raw plug-in, be sure to follow the instructions exactly
as described on the Adobe web site. The download for Mac and Windows is available
at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/new.jsp.

...

Adobe Systems has collaborated with MEDIUM Design Group of Santa Barbara, CA
to create the ultimate messenger bag for digital photographers and other creative
professionals. This stylish limited-edition bag will be sold exclusively at
Barneys New York and online at adobe.mediumdesigngroup.com.
It features a secure laptop compartment, as well as multiple pockets for memory
cards, cables, PDAs, cell phones and other accessories. There's also a
unique MP3 pocket which includes specially designed buttonholes and hooks, allowing
users to run headphone cables outside the bag.

...