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Adobe releases Lightroom 5.0 beta

Never knock a good public beta of a useful application.

On Monday, Adobe released a beta of version 5.0 of its Lightroom image editing program. The new version, a 437 megabyte download via MacUpdate, offers the following fixes and changes:
– 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.

The Adobe Lightroom 5.0 beta is available for free and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.7 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.