Photomatix 3.0.3 Released

HDRsoft have released an updated version of Photomatix which includes several bugfixes.
Photomatix is a photo enhancement tool which deals with photography produced under difficult lighting conditions. Using Exposure Blending and Tone Mapping, images can be produced from multiple bracketed exposures, which offer a more balanced result. Photomatix 3.0.3 can be downloaded from the HDRsoft website. The upgrade from version 2.x to version 3.0 is free of charge. Download the Windows Version here and the Mac version
here...

FocalPoint 1.0 Released

onOne Software, Inc., announced the release of their new software plug-in, FocalPoint 1.0 for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. FocalPoint is a selective focus and vignetting plug-in designed to help photographers easily blur and/or vignette areas of an image. It is available for immediate download at onOne.

Essentials 2 for iPhoto

onOne Software, Inc., announced the availability of Essentials 2 software for iPhoto users. Essentials 2 for iPhoto is a collection of four easy-to-use software tools based on technology used in the professional level onOne Software Photoshop® plug-ins PhotoTune 2.2, FocalPoint 1.0, PhotoFrame 3.1 and Genuine Fractals 5. Essentials 2 is designed to be used in iPhoto to help correct color, creatively blur a photo for dramatic visual impact, add creative borders and resize digital images for high quality large prints. Visit onOne for more info.

CHDK - Hacking Your Canon Point & Shoot

lifehacker.com have posted an excellent article on the Canon Hacker's Development Kit. CHDK is a free, open source project with which you can add features like RAW shooting mode, live RGB histograms, additional photographic settings, motion-detection, time-lapse, longer video recording and even games onto your existing Canon camera. The beauty of CHDK is that it is non-permanent and non-destructive, you can use when you want to; CHDK makes no changes to your camera. Installing CHDK entails having a couple of files added to your camera's memory card. Removing it involves simply restarting your camera without the memory card present.

UK Photographers Rights

Simon Moran and Linda Macpherson have announced the launch of the UK Photographers Rights PDF. The guide is intended to provide UK Photograpehrs with a short summary of the main legal restrictions on the right to take and publish photographs.

The guide was written by Linda Macpherson LL.B, Dip.L.P., LL.M, who is a lecturer in law at Heriot Watt University. The guide is a 2 page PDF, which can be printed out on the front and back of an A4 page. The guide is intended as an overview of the current legal situation in the UK for photographers, it is not a definitive bible of UK law. It can be downloaded directly from sirimo.co.uk, visit Simon Morans site for other useful information and articles.

PhotoAcute Version 2.8 Released

PhotoAcute have released Version 2.8 of PhotoAcute Studio, their Super Resolution based application for enhancing digital images. Their Super Resolution technology is designed to process sets of photographs taken in continuous mode to produce high-resolution, low-noise pictures. It increases image resolution, removes noise without losing image details, corrects image geometry and chromatic aberrations and expands the dynamic range. Visit http://www.photoacute.com/ for more information.