Watch the video:

From Adobe’s press release:

First Major Release since April 2010 Packed with New Features and Huge Performance Enhancements

SAN JOSE, Calif. — March 22, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS6 beta, a preview of what’s to come in the next release of the industry standard in digital imaging, is available as a free download from Adobe Labs. Customers can download the beta, try out the experience and provide feedback to the product team. Packed with groundbreaking new innovations, features and incredible performance enhancements, Photoshop CS6 beta is available for the Mac OS and Microsoft® Windows® platforms. The final release is expected in the first half of 2012.

“Photoshop CS6 will be a milestone release that pushes the boundaries of imaging innovation with incredible speed and performance,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president 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.”

New Features in Photoshop CS6 Beta

Photoshop CS6 beta demonstrates Adobe’s focus on huge performance enhancements, imaging magic and creativity tools that offer customers a new experience in digital imaging. Key features include new additions to the Content-Aware tools: Content- Aware Patch allows greater control by letting users select and duplicate an area of an image to fill in or “patch” another, and Content-Aware Move lets users select and magically move an object to a new place in the image.

Customers will experience incredible performance, powered by the new Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine*, enabling near-instant results from popular editing tools including Liquify, Puppet Warp, Transform and Lighting Effects; and a refined, modern interface featuring dark UI options to make images pop. New and re-engineered design tools make creating designs faster and more efficient. Vector layers allow users to apply dashed lines and gradient strokes, searchable layers quickly zero in on any layer, and new type styles let designers swiftly apply type treatments to their designs.

In addition, the Photoshop CS6 beta offers all the features of Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, such as new 3D editing features and quantitative imaging analysis capabilities. These features will be included in the shipping version of Photoshop CS6 Extended when it becomes available.

Pricing and Availability

The Photoshop CS6 beta is available immediately as a free download in English and Japanese. At installation, users will be required to provide an Adobe ID to complete a one-time login and online product activation. For information on how to install Photoshop CS6 beta, visit www.adobe.com/go/photoshopcs6. Customers can submit feedback via the Photoshop CS6 beta forum.

Users can also connect with the Photoshop team via the community-powered site; on Facebook; YouTube; Photoshop.com blog; or via Twitter.

Christmas is next week, so I thought it would be fun to create a collection of gift ideas to buy for the photographer in your life (or even to treat yourself to)! From the plain to the bizarre, this collection contains something that matches everyone’s price range. Read on for some holiday inspiration!

Gorillapod

If you have ever read any of my articles before, you’ll know I am a massive fan of the Joby Gorillapod. What’s not to like? A flexible lightweight tripod that you can wrap around almost anything.

For more information about the Gorillapod check out my other Phototuts+ article: Quick Tip: Try a Tripod Alternative or alternatively see a few product examples through the image below:

Digital Photo Frame

An simple, fun way of showcasing your best photography in your own home. You can also purchase digital photo frames with built in Wi-Fi for easier updating of photos. You can usually purchase a decent digital photo frame from as little as $50.

Camera Cufflinks

For the well-dressed male photographer, how about a set of these camera cufflinks? They offer a little bit of fun to any shirt, and each cufflink is hand made.

Diana Mini Lomography Film Kit

Lomography is really fun type of photography. The images produced are unique, colourful, and often blurry, but despite this the little Russian camera is still very popular. You can pick up this modern day version from only $90, rather having to purchase a classic lomography camera which could can set you back several hundred dollars.

Wacom Tablet

Tablets allow you to control your image editing with the precision of your own hand. It makes editing photos much easier and often much more enjoyable. Prices start from around $67 for a small Bamboo tablet, ranging up to a Cintiq at around $2000.

Canon or Nikon Coffee Lens Mug

Canon released the 70-200mm coffee mug lens a couple of years ago and since then Nikon have also released their version. You or your friend can amaze on-lookers when you take a sip of coffee out of your $1000+ camera lens.

Priced at around $30-40, they are a fun novelty item to own.

Pelican Secure Digital Memory Card Case

Memory cards are getting ever-smaller, and are extremely easy to lose once you take them out of your camera. Placing them all in this secure memory case is one way to help prevent this problem. Pelican memory cases are available from $16, but you can find other cheaper cases from about $5.

Stuffed Pillow Applications

If you are a true nerd, or know of a friend who just loves Photoshop, then you can buy a pillow at $15. Check them out at My Suite Stuff.

Currently they are in the middle of revamping their shop, so orders cannot be placed for the next few weeks. There are plenty of these funky pillows to be found with a quick eBay search, so don’t despair!

Eye-Fi Wireless SD card

The Eye-Fi Pro wireless memory cards provide fast, wireless photo and video transfer from your camera to your computer and an online site of your choice. It works with most cameras including Canon, Nikon, Casio, Sanyos and more. It also saves the location of every photo you have taken.

The card is very impressive, but also quite expensive as a result. For an 8Gb card you will have to pay around $135.

Battery Grip

A simple accessory to increase the battery life of your camera. Disadvantages include the weight and size, but these are brilliant on longer shoots. They come in all different sizes for all different types of cameras and therefore range in price a fair amount.

Bush Hawk Shoulder Mount

Bush Hawk have created this awesome shoulder mount for use on digital SLR’s in order to allow users to capture smoother and stunning video. They also allow for perfect support of telephoto lenses.

Ranging from $150 to $250 for the premium package, these mounts are a decent price compared to their rivals over at Steadicam which often start at over $1000.

Binoculars

Binoculars are a perfect accessory for those who do wildlife photography. Often lighter and easier to see through than a telephoto lens, they make a sensible purchase. Prices range dramatically from $50 to over $1000.

Sandisk All-in-One Reader/Writer

Check out this stylish all-in-one reader and writer for most forms of memory. If you don’t already have an in-built card reader, or you know your friend doesn’t, then I would highly suggest it. It can be bought at an awesome price of $22.

The Digital Photography Book

Scott Kelby tackles the most important side of digital photography – How to take professional quality shots using the same tricks as pro photographers. His book is easy to read and not full of the jargon that you often find in other books, perfect for someone interested in getting into photography. Currently a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032147404X?ie=UTF8&tag=photo05e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=032147404X”>Amazon are selling it at $16.49.

Tuts+ Membership

How about purchasing a Tuts+ Premium membership for a friend? One payment of $78 for the whole year gets you access to all the Premium sites, tutorials and articles on photography, Photoshop, web development, motion graphics, vectors, music, computer graphics and flash.

Alternatively you can purchase Premium at $9 a month or $22 for 3 months.

A Brand New Lens

Every photographer loves getting a new lens. If your budget can afford it then go ahead, with thousands to choose from at least one will make a nice gift. If you’re on a smaller budget, how about picking up a fixed focal length lens?

Flash Guns

Ranging from around $20 to $1000, flash guns come in all shapes and sizes. They are extremely useful for portrait photography.

Focalware iPhone application

Focalware calculates the sun and moon position for any given location and date. Use the interactive compass to determine the path and height of the sun or moon. Photographers and film makers who are always asked by their clients for the sun, moon and stars, can now deliver. Focalware is only $5 and can be gifted to friend.

Prints

Why not print your friend a canvas, mouse mat or even a calendar? Various websites offer this service, but you could try Eye-On Designs, or make use of the service built into iPhoto and Aperture.

CyberShot Digital Camera TX9

How about a digital compact camera that can shoot 3D photos using just one lens? At just under $400, it is pretty expensive for a compact but the price is well justified due to sheer range of unique features.

Not Sold? A Few More Ideas…

• Film camera – You can pick up old film cameras for as little as $30
• Film scanner – To scan your old film slides into your computer
• Subscription to a photography magazine
• Memory – A tad dull but important nevertheless.
• Filters – How about a set of creative filters?
• Wireless Triggers – If they own a flashgun, a wireless trigger is always handy.
• Remote – A timer remote is handy for anyone doing long exposures.
• Light meter – Helpful for any photographer to use.
• Reflector – Used to reflect light onto a subject

Good Luck!

Hopefully, these ideas will help you to pick the perfect gift for the camera-lover in your life. Fortunately, it’s a gadget-heavy hobby, with plenty of different presents to choose from!

Are you hoping for a particular photography-related Christmas present? Let us know in the comments!

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Photo Retouching Photoshop Tutorials

Rose The One – The sexy pink tutorial
Author has given a pink tone to the original photograph. This effect is just suitable for indoor photos as its background is based on a light color, a bit dreamy, so a background with high contrast between dark and light doesnt fit this tone.

How to fake reflections in Photoshop
Adding a reflection is a great way to draw attention and improve a dull water/sea/river photo.In this tutorial, author will explain you how to do it in post-processing.

Adding color to your subjects in photoshop
Most of us now use a handy little tool “Actions” in Photoshop for correcting an stylizing our photographs. But if you want your subject to pop, and actions sometimes seem to flatten the colors of your image especially of your subject then ypu must go through this article.

Soft and dreamy movie effect
Author will create a soft, dreamy effect on the face also make it stand out with warm color from the background darkened. With few simple steps your photograph can get a special effect like its in a movie scene.

Reducing Wrinkles With The Healing Brush In Photoshop
In this tutorial, author will tell about the Healing Brush, by far the best photo retouching tool in all of Photoshop, and how we can use it to easily reduce distracting skin wrinkles in an image.

Color your Black and White Photos Easily
Ever had a photograph you wished was in color? Read on and find out how to color it in using nothing more than the Brush Tool and Curve Adjustments.

Removing Skin Blemishes With The Spot Healing Brush
In this Photoshop tutorial, author will tell about ne of the most amazing and time saving photo retouching tools available, the Spot Healing Brush, the first of three image “healing” tools in Photoshop.

Blending exposure and adjusting light in Photoshop
This tutorial is a advanced version of exposure blending where you take one RAW shot that is exposed correctly for the land and then sky is recovered afterwards and saved as a second file. These two files can then be blended together using masks. This tutorial will also show you how to use photo filters to alter the light in your image.

How to add vignette to photos in Photoshop
Vignetting is the process of darkening the corners of a photo as it can help direct the eye on a particular subject of the photo, minimising distractions. Vignetting can also improve photos by giving them an artistic look and making them somehow more interesting. Author has used this technique to draw the focus on building rather thatn on tourists.

Improve photos by straightening the horizon in Photoshop
In this tutorial, author has straightened the horizon of the photograph as the horizon, especially in a landscape or seascape photo, can make or break your photo. A tilted horizon is not a good idea, unless it can aid the effect you’re trying to achieve.

Basic exposure blending in Photoshop
One problem you can encounter in photography is lack of dynamic range. The dynamic range is the range of light levels that can be seen from black to white. In this tutorial author will share with you some techniques for basic exposure blending.

Complete portrait retouching
In this tutorial author will tell you how to make a complete portrait retouch. You will know how to remove blemishes, retouch and enhance the skin, eyes, eyebrows, lips, as well as improve the highlight and shadow to make your picture look natural, vivid and beautiful. During this process many different techniques are shown and everything is explained in detail.

Adjusting skin tones in Photoshop
In this tutiorial, author have answered a common question about how to adjust skin tones in a photo. This can be anything from someone coming out looking a bit overly red to hiding a rash that isn’t normally there.

Post-Processing Infrared Photographs in Photoshop
In this tutorial, author will share his method to editing those starkly ‘red/magenta’ photographs or we can say Infrared Photography.

Selective Noise Reduction using Photoshop
Its every photographers nightmare. That fuzzy grain and colour dotting that seems you ruin your images. Noise. It lives in the shadows, loves high ISO’s, grows as you correct underexposed images and it destroys detail throughout a shot. Author will share you about how to beat this noise.

High Key Glow Effect In Photoshop
In this Photoshop tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a high key glow effect, which is a fancy way of saying we’ll be applying a glow only to the highlights in an image. This effect works especially well with wedding portraits since it’s great for adding a romantic, magical look to your photos.

Quick-Masking Soft Light Leaks on Photographs in Photoshop
This is a tutorial on how to recreate light leaks on photographs similarly to the those found on film photos that have been exposed to light via a crack or gap in the case. It is not as sharp and defined as most light leaks, as a softer finish is more appealing in this case.

How to improve your dull and boring landscapes in 5min
Dull and boring photos can be improved in an instant using the magic of post-processing. In this article you’ll get a chance to see author’s workflow of transforming dull and boring landscapes into dramatic photos.

Action Zoom Blurring Effect In Photoshop
In this Photoshop photo effects tutorial, we’ll learn how to add some action and a sense of motion to a photo with a zoom blur effect. We’ll use Photoshop’s Radial Blur filter to add the initial blurring, then we’ll bring back some of the original image using a layer mask and the Gradient Tool.

Lomo-Effect on Photographs in Photoshop
The Lomo-Effect on photographs is used frequently to provide an old photograph feel or simply a colour manipulation.Author will explain you how to achieve this effect.

Photo Treatment: A Delicious Hamburger
In this tutorial author will edit a photo of a hamburger, making it looks more delicious but not very artifical. Light and a few adjustmes like deleting little holes of the bread makes a lot of difference.

Quick Tip: Precision Colour Control in Photoshop
n this quick tip, Author will show you a simple and easy way to take control of the colours in your Photoshop documents using the power of adjustment layer

The Color Replacement Tool In Photoshop
The Color Replacement Tool is not the most professional way to change colors in an image and won’t always give you the results you need, but it usually works well for simple tasks and it’s such an easy tool to use that it’s worth giving it a try before moving on to more advanced and time consuming methods.

How To Repair Scratches, Tears, and Spots on an Old Photograph
In this tutorial you will learn how to repair cracks, scratches, and spots. Author has purposely avoid using some of the quick fix tools such as the healing brush so that you can gain an understanding of the basics of photo restoration.

Faking a Dental Ad: From Gorgeous to Gross – Reverse Cosmetic Dentistry
In this reverse cosmetic dentistry tutorial, where author made an ugly set of teeth for a dental template’s “before” photo, and kept the original spotless smile as the after in the Delicious Smile Template.

Photo Effects With The Dissolve Blend Mode In Photoshop
In this tutorial, author will tell you about a lesser known but useful tool of photoshop, known as Dissolve Blend Mode. After applying a simple sepia tone effect to the image, he will add a bit more of an artistic look to it by combining the Dissolve mode with one of Photoshop’s filters. Then he will tell how to use Dissolve to easily create a speckled photo border

Photoshop Tutorial – Photo to Pencil Sketch
This tutorial will show you how to easily transform a photograph to a pencil sketch using only Photoshop’s built in tools and filters.

Photograph Retouching Tutorial
Here is the step by step detail on how to retouch photo using Clone Stamp Tool in Photoshop.

Smoothing Skin With Photoshop CS5
In this tutorial, Author will show you how to use the Surface Blur filter in Photoshop to achieve a smooth skin effect without blurring out the details of the skin texture.

Gritty HDR Photo Effects
In this tutorial, author will show you how to give your photos a grunge look with this popular Photoshop effect. Although this Photoshop effect is commonly referred as HDR Photo effect, it is it can be done with regular, non-HDR photos.

Refine Edge Tool: Remove Flyaway Hairs Photoshop CS5 (Video)
Using the Refine Edge tool, you will learn how to quickly and effectively remove flyaway hairs and other distractions from your images.

Outlining The Action In Photoshop
In this Photoshop photo effects tutorial, author will tell you how to highlight the main subject of a photo with a simple outline and he will throw in a blur effect to further reduce the importance of the background.

Photo Souping up By Photoshop
There are times when a regular photo just doesn’t cut it and you need your photo to pack a punch. Here is one technique that you may find useful. As with all photo-based techniques, it doesn’t really make up for having a crappy photo but a general re touching.

High Speed Motion Trail Effect In Photoshop
In this photo effects tutorial, we’ll learn how to add a sense of speed to an object using an easy to create motion blur effect! This “speed trail” effect is very popular in sports photography since it’s a great way to add motion, direction and excitement to an image.

The 300 Effect
In this tutorial, author will walk you through the steps to create 300 effect using adjustment layers and blend modes to achieve this high-contrast 300 look.