Adobe has officially released Lightroom 5 for Mac and Windows as both a part of the Creative Cloud subscription suite and as standalone software. Creative Cloud subscribers can add the software by download immediately, while standalone users an upgrade to version 5 for $79 or buy the product new for $149 from Adobe. The program, which has been in beta testing for the last couple of months, features new editing tools, more sharing and publishing options, video slideshows, Smart Previews and more.
The Advanced Healing Brush, which helps fix irregularly-shaped imperfections such as dust spots, and the Upright tool which automatically straightens objects are two of the new editing abilities. Users can also apply off-center or multiple vignettes in a single image with the Radial Gradients tool.
Video can now be added to slideshows alongside still images and music; the Book models adds new abilities to create, personalize and print photo books from a variety of pre-designed templates and now allow users to create their own templates. The new Smart Previews lets photographers make edits to images offline, which are then applied to the original images when the library housing them is reconnected.
