Adobe Lightroom fans pay attention, the next version is on it’s way. As usual Adobe are trialling the latest build with those comfortable to throw caution to the wind and run beta software (that’s me). Getting a window into the upcoming features before most consumers do is always a kid in a candy store moment, and most betas these days have been through solid internal alpha testing and are unlikely to cause issues with your machine.
So throw photographers out there, it’s time to throw caution to the wind and grab the free beta of Lightroom 5. Just remember it’s free for the duration of the beta, in a couple of months, you’ll need to pony up the cash to upgrade.
Of course if you’re already living in the future with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, you’re always up to date and will get the update for free.
New Features in Lightroom 5 Beta
- Advanced Healing Brush – Easily remove objects and fix defects—even those with irregular shapes such as threads or lint—with a single brush stroke. Take precise control over what’s being removed as you make unwanted objects just disappear.
- Upright – Straighten tilted images with a single click. Upright analyzes images and detects skewed horizontal or vertical lines. You choose one of four correction methods, and Upright can even straighten images where the horizon is hidden.
- Radial Gradient – Lead your viewer’s eye through your images with more flexibility and control. The radial gradient tool lets you create off-center vignette effects, or multiple vignette areas within a single image.
- Offline editing with Smart Previews – Easily work with images without bringing your entire library with you. Just generate smaller stand-in files called Smart Previews. Make adjustments or metadata additions to Smart Previews and your changes will be automatically applied to the full-size originals later.
- Video slideshow sharing – Easily share your work in elegant video slideshows. Combine still images, video clips, and music in creative HD videos that can be viewed on almost any computer or device.
- Improved photo book creation – Create beautiful photo books from your images. Lightroom includes a variety of easy-to-use book templates, and now you can edit them to create a customized look. Upload your book for printing with just a few clicks
If you want more detail, The Verge have a great hands-on post highlighting some of the new features in version 5 of Lightroom.
Get it now for Windows or Mac from Adobe Labs.
