André De Paepe

Adobe Systems Incorporated has released today Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta to the public for both Windows and Mac OS.

Photoshop CS6 brings many new features to the table, including increased performance and new creative tools. Some of these new features include Content-Aware Patch, which lets users select and duplicate a certain part of an image and patch it with another; Content-Aware Move, which allows users to select and move an object to another area in the image, and 3D editing features. All features that will be released in Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended will be available in the beta version.

"Photoshop CS6 will be a milestone release that pushes the boundaries of imaging innovation with incredible speed and performance," said Winston Hendrickson, vice president of products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. "We couldn't wait to share this beta of Photoshop CS6 with our customers and are looking forward to hearing from them and seeing the ways they are incorporating the beta into their daily creative workflows."

The beta version can be downloaded here.

Odisha (Orissa) govt restricts foreign tourists visiting primitive tribes

The Odisha government decided to regulate and impose certain restriction on the visit of the foreign tourists and researchers to the areas inhabited by primitive tribes in the state.

Henceforth no foreign tourists and researchers intend to visit the areas inhabited by the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG's) such as Bondas, Dongaria, Kondh and other primitive communities will do so without the permission of the District Magistrate.

In case of any violations, criminal case will be initiated against the tourists, tour operators and sponsors and appropriate action will be taken, the state government warned.

Official sources said a copy of the permission of the District collector will be marked to the inspector Incharge of the local police station who will ensure that the conditions mentioned in the permissions should be strictly followed.

While granting permission to the tour operators and the tourists to visit the primitive tribes, the district collector has been asked to impose such condition as necessary to protect and uphold the cultural ethos and dignity of the tribal community.

No permission will be granted to visit the PVTG's at night and no photographs or video clippings of the tribals belonging to the PVTG's will be allowed.

Concretely, in order to visit the tribal people in Odisha, a special permit is needed. Every foreign visiter has to sign with the state tourism officer that:

• he/she will not take any picture of the tribals
• he/she will not enter the houses of the tribals
• he/she will not have any contact with these people

Watching them is allowed, but nothing else.

Adobe has launched their Lightroom 4 software today which has been designed to provide photographers both professional and enthusiast, with the tools they need to edit images and video.

Adobe Lightroom 4 has been created to enable you to easily import, organize, and tweak, and output large numbers of high-resolution photo files.

New features added or updated to Lightroom 4 include:

Click here to read the dpreview Lightroom 4 review

Canon has unveiled the EOS 5D Mark III DSLR – a 22.3 Megapixel full-frame camera with a 61-point AF system, a top shooting speed of six frames per second, and ISO capabilities up to 102,400 – which succeeds the hugely popular EOS 5D Mark II in Canon’s DSLR range.

The EOS 5D Mark III’s 22.3 Megapixel full-frame sensor makes it the highest resolution camera in Canon’s EOS DSLR range and it incorporates the 61-point autofocus system seen in the flagship EOS-1D X model.

The key specifications of the EOS 5D Mark III include:

• A 22.3 Megapixel, full-frame CMOS sensor.
• A 61-point AF with up to 41 cross-type AF points.
• Zone, Spot and AF Point Expansion focusing modes.
• A DIGIC 5+ processor for fast image processing.
• Up to 6fps shooting speed.
• ISO 100 to 25,600 as standard, ISO 50 to 102,400 with expansion.
• +/- 5 stops of exposure compensation.
• High Dynamic Range (HDR) shooting in-camera.
• Full HD Movie shooting with ALL-I or IPB compression.
• 29mins 59sec clip length in Full HD Movie.
• Timecode setting for HD Movie shooting.
• Headphone port for audio monitoring.
• 59ms standard shutter lag.
• Transparent LCD viewfinder with 100% coverage.
• 8.11cm (3.2”), 1.04 million-pixel Clear View II LCD Screen.
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System (EICS).
• CF and SD card slots.

Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda has won the World Press Photo 2011 award. The prize comes for his image of a woman holding a relative wounded during protests against Yemen's President Saleh. The World Press Photo Contest 2012 also awarded prizes in 18 other categories ranging from Arts and Entertainment to Portraits.

Canon has expanded its EF lens range with the addition of three new lenses – the EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM L-series standard zoom and the EF24mm f/2.8 IS USM and EF28mm f/2.8 IS USM lenses, which are the first ever wide-angle prime lenses to incorporate Canon’s Image Stabilization (IS) technology.

Adobe  public beta program for Photoshop Lightroom 4

January 10 2012, Adobe today announced a public beta for Photoshop Lightroom 4,, available as a free download from its website until the full version goes on sale in "early 2012." This release includes major changes to existing photo management, editing, and sharing features. Among the changes are expanded video editing, a built-in photo book builder that uses Blurb for the fulfillment, simplified RAW adjustments, soft proofing, new geolocation features and the ability to apply noise reduction and white balance and selectively to a photo.