Adobe releases first public beta for Lightroom 5
updated 03:52 pm EDT, Mon April 15, 2013
Adds Advanced Healing Brush, other new tools
Adobe has posted the first public beta of Lightroom 5, an upcoming upgrade of its photo workflow software. The software adds several new features to Lightroom, such as an Advanced Healing Brush, designed to smooth over unwanted objects and blemishes. A new Upright tool meanwhile analyzes and image and automatically aligns objects at bad angles, such as buildings and horizons.
A Radial Gradient tool can be used to produce multiple and/or off-center vignettes, and Smart Previews support editing without the original RAW file. New slideshows can combine videos, stills, and music. The Book module, used to create and order photobooks via templates, has received several unspecified improvements.
The beta is a free download for both Mac and Windows users. Adobe isn't saying when the final version of Lightroom will be released, however, except for sometime "later this year."
