DNG

It's a full moon as I write this. And the moon's phattest phase brings glad tidings: Adobe has finally shipped a fully functioning version of Bridge CS5. So when the Adobe Application Manager prompts you to download the latest updates to Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, and the Bridge, skip the first two for all I care and then drop whatever you're doing and download the last.

Previous to today, one of the Bridge's best new features, the Export panel, has been non-functional. Not somewhat impaired or slightly rough-around-the-edges, but just sitting there like an irritating lump, entirely inoperable. If you tried hard enough, you could make the Export panel display the "Select Modules to enable" message (see below), only to claw your eyes in disbelief as you stared at the blank space where some downloadable modules ought to be. But, ha! It was all a fun joke meant to test your loyalty. Now the Export panel actually works, and I'm actually here to tell you how to actually use it.

See, the spanking-new Export panel lets you batch-export images to Facebook, Flickr, and Photoshop.com. Which is swell and everything. But my favorite feature is called Save to Hard Drive. Despite its dopey name---presumably your images are already on a hard drive---it serves a much-needed purpose: Save to Hard Drive batch-converts your raw images to JPEGs so you can make them available to clients, friends, and other mere mortals. Read more » 

At last, a guest who knows a good martini when he is offered one. This week's guest, Tom Hogarty, besides being discriminating beverage connoisseur, is also the Adobe Project Manager for Lightroom, Camera Raw and the DNG file format. We wanted to talk with Tom specifically about the Lightroom part of his job, because the newest version of the product is currently in public beta (from Adobe Labs), meaning it's downloadable for you to check out yourself. Yes, you're welcome.

Tom concisely calls Lightroom his digital assistant, that is, the device which handles all the necessary tasks for managing your digital photography. Then we remind him that it's "Martini Hour" (even if it's more like a half-hour) and he can be a little more effusive. 

Here are some of Tom's favorite things about the Lightroom 3 Beta that he graciously shares with us: Read more »