AKVIS have announced the release of AKVIS SmartMask 8.0 for Windows and Mac. This edition adds support for Ultra HD 4K & 5K monitors. Thanks to new technologies, the interface details, texts and icons scale correctly even on super high resolution monitors. Version.8.0 is a free upgrade for everyone who bought the product in the last 12 months. The software runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10; and on Mac OS X 10.7-10.11. The product is available as a standalone application and as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Corel PaintShop Pro.

Adobe are offering a sneak peek into a new feature called Content-Aware Crop, coming to Photoshop CC later this year. With Content-Aware Crop, Photoshop looks at all the pixels around the edges of your photo and automatically, seamlessly fills in the blank space with content when you expand or rotate that image. This enables users to straighten images without having to give up any of their pixels. Click through / scroll down for a video demonstration.

Magix have released a new version of Video easy HD, a beginner-level application for editing video footage. The software's native 64-bit architecture and H.264 support lets you import, edit and export videos faster than ever before, and the latest version of Video easy HD lets you edit video footage in resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD. Using the automatic image optimisation and backlight correction features, users can enhance colour, brightness and contrast and make one-click adjustments to lighting. You can burn videos to DVD or Blu-ray Disc, upload directly to YouTube and Facebook from within the program or save them on your hard drive. The new version of Video easy HD is now available in stores and online, priced at £29.99.

Xara has released Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 365, which comes with a new Update Guarantee that provides regular updates during the year. Additionally, the new release provides a number of new photo tools and SmartShapes, and significant text enhancements. Charles Moir, Managing Director said “Xara Photo & Graphic Designer has evolved into being a supremely capable non-destructive photo editor... Photo editing now includes the ability to paint enhancements or effects onto images, new pre-set filter effects, new ways of cutting images out of backgrounds and more. This really is the greatest version of Xara Photo & Graphic Designer we've ever released.” Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 365 is available for £49.99. Upgrades from v11 to Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 365 cost £24.99.

Phase One has released an update to Capture One Pro 9. Version 9.1.2, which is free to all Capture One Pro 9 license owners and Capture One Pro subscribers, adds support for the Canon EOS-1DX Mark II, EOS 1300D and EOS 80D, the Nikon D5 and the Panasonic G70 cameras; as well as the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 8mm Fisheye 1:3.5 and M.Zuiko ED 8mm F1.8 Fisheye PRO, the Zeiss Loxia 2/35, Loxia 2/50, Loxia 2.8/21, Touit 2.8/12, Touit 1.8/32, Touit 2.8/50 and Batis 2.8/18, the Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS, the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f3.5-5.6, and the Rodenstock HR Digaron-SW 5.6/90 mm/Aerial and ALPA HR Alpagon 5.6/90mm lenses.

Macphun have announced an update to Aurora HDR Pro, their latest Macintosh software co-developed with Trey Ratcliff. The features of Version 1.2.2 include added support for raw files generated by the Canon 80D, 1300D and 1DX Mk II, the Leica M (Typ 262), the Nikon D5, the Olympus SH3 and Pen F, the Panasonic GX80/85, TZ80/81/85/ZS60 and TZ100/101/ZS100, the Samsung Galaxy S7, the Sony A68, ILCE6300, RX1R II and RX10 III, the DxO ONE Digital Camera and the Fuji X-Pro2. The update also bringsa number of performance improvements. Aurora HDR Pro is available for $99.99.

Anthropics Technology has launched LandscapePro, an intelligent landscape photo editing application, available in standalone and Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Elements plug-in editions. The new software includes landscape relighting, sky replacement, 3D depth estimation, a depth of field simulator, distance controls, intelligent selection tools, and photo-adaptive controls among other features. It assumes no prior knowledge or technical skills, and photographers can create unique, dramatic effects quickly. “Inspired by the success of Anthropics’s PortraitPro software, we are delighted to introduce a new product to help photographers expand their creativity and take landscape retouching to the next level,” said Andrew Berend, CEO, Anthropics. “LandscapePro offers an innovative and easy way to create stunning landscape photography, and can be used by novices or experienced photographers alike. As its intelligent controls uniquely adapt to the features of each photo, it enables photographers to do incredible things with their outdoor photos simply by using sliders.” Pricing starts at £29.95/$39.95/€39.95.

Adobe today released Adobe Spark, an integrated web and mobile solution for "creating and sharing impactful visual stories." Free and designed for everyday communications, Adobe Spark is part of the Creative Cloud ecosystem. “Today anyone can create content and share it via social media, but most people lack the skill, time and resources to create something that cuts through the online clutter,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Media at Adobe. “With Adobe Spark, anyone can create authentic, professional looking visual content for their project, passion, cause or business." The Adobe Spark web app seamlessly syncs with Spark Post, Spark Page and Spark Video iOS mobile apps, allowing users to create, edit and share their story from wherever they are – regardless of their design experience.

The new version of Fripito for Android and iOS offers a new option for a premium subscription. Photographers and travellers can now gain access to all available guides, photo and travel tips, exclusive photos with geotagging and offline maps for a fixed monthly fee. Actually, there are two options, a one-month subscription for $9.99 and a three-month subscription for $23.99. Additionally, the option of purchasing single guides within the app is still available. You can download the Fripito app from Google Play and iTunes.

Duo-Pisces have released PSMania 1.0, their new photo editor for iOS devices. Perfect for photo enthusiasts, PSMania allows anyone to apply interesting image processing effects to their images. There are more than thirty different image filters to choose from, and most offer a slider to adjust the filter parameters in real time. PSMania is free and available through the App Store in the Photo & Video category.

Corel have released AfterShot Pro 3, which adds an all-new highlight recovery algorithm, comprehensive watermarking, layer-based blemish correction, as well as dynamic update abilities. "Collectively, we’re now capturing trillions of photos each year. Photographers need a simpler and more agile way to manage and edit their photos," said Greg Wood, Senior Director of Photo Products at Corel. "AfterShot Pro 3 is a faster and more affordable solution for photographers looking for high-quality results. It doesn’t lock you into catalogues or a subscription and is focused on photographers' common need: great images in less time.” AfterShot Pro 3 is available now for Windows, Mac OS and Linux for £69.99/€89.99 and existing registered users can purchase for the upgrade price of £49.99/€69.99.

X-Rite Coloratti Kevin Mullins will host a free webinar guiding you through how you can create an Adobe Lightroom workflow which works for professionals. "If Lightroom is your chosen imaging application, having a robust workflow should be important, whoever you are," Kevin says. "This webinar will give you a thorough understanding of the application from importing, through to using smart collections to help editing, colour correction and monochrome work." Taking place on Thursday, 19th May from 5:30pm, the one-hour webinar is free to attend but advance registration is required.

Iridient Digital has released version 3.1 of Iridient Developer, a raw file conversion and photo processing application for Mac OS X. This update brings two new demosaicing algorithms for Bayer sensor cameras featuring improved fine detail rendering, lower noise and faster performance. It also includes a critical workaround for an issue introduced in the recent Mac OS X 10.11.4 update which affects the Shadows and Highlights (Neighborhood Adaptive) adjustments. A bug with loading raw files from some 2007 and earlier Canon DSLR models has also been fixed. Additionally, version 3.1 adds support for raw image files generated by the Canon EOS 80D, 1D X Mark II, 1300D and PowerShot G7 X Mark II, the Nikon D500 and D5, the SonyA6300. A68 and RX10 III, the Fujifilm X-Pro2, the Panasonic DMC-GX80 and DMC-GX85, the Leica M-D, the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K, URSA Mini 4K, URSA 4.6K and URSA, the DJI FC550 (Xenmuse X5), FC350 (Inspire 1 and Phantom 4), FC300X (Phantom 3 Pro) and FC300S (Phantom 3 Advanced), the Samsung Galaxy S7, plus the HTC One A9 and One M9. The update is free for all users who have purchased a new or upgraded license after September 2014.

Adobe Camera Raw 9.5.1 is now available through the update mechanism in Photoshop CC and the Creative Cloud application. This upgrade adds support for the Pentax K-1 and the Sony RX10 III (pictured), and fixes the following bugs:

• EXIF lens name not visible for some camera models.
• Camera Raw would not launch under Mac OSX 10.7 and 10.8.
• Errors when using Camera Raw to tone HDR images from Photoshop. This occurred when converting 32-bit files to 16 or 8-bit files.

Additionally, DNG Converter also gets an update for MacOS and Windows.

Adobe have released Version 6.5.1 of Lightroom and Version 2015.5.1 of Lightroom CC. These updates add support for raw files generated by the Pentax K-1 (pictured) and the Sony DSC-RX10 Mark III, and fix a variety of issues. Click through / scroll down for a detailed of list of bug fixes.

Adobe have released Lightroom Mobile for iOS 2.3. "We heard from a number of users that editing and sharing a single photo was really important, so we made it possible to start editing immediately with a single photo," says Josh Haftel, Senior Product Manager at Adobe. "Importing multiple photos was also made easier by being able to swipe across a series of photos directly. By making it possible to start editing directly, you no longer have to find a photo, import it, find it again, and then start editing, so common workflows should be improved considerably." Lightroom for Mobile 2.3 is available now for iPads and iPhones.

Nevercenter today released CameraBag Cinema, a new tool for 4K+ video filtering, colour correction, and film emulation for Mac. Key features include advanced curve-based colour and light adjustments, more than 200 fully adjustable presets, dozens of motion and still film stock emulations, tile-based adjustments, batch processing capabilities, and much more. CameraBag Cinema is priced at $99, with a significant launch sale of 40% off, so early adopters can get it for just $59.

Macphun have just released a new free app, Filters for Photos. The new software works as a Photos for Mac extension as well as standalone software; it gives users the ability to add sketch, analogue vintage, and many other filters to their photos in a single click. Available exclusively from the MacPhun Store, Filters for Photos introduces 30 creative filters from sketch to oil painting, vintage to rainbow palette. Users can adjust and tweak every filter, plus apply the filters to a certain part of the photo, quickly export their creations to other photo editors, or share via social media and e-mail.

ON1 has announced the development of a new raw imageconverter and non-destructive photo editor called ON1 Photo RAW. To be released this autumn, Photo RAW promises to be the world’s fastest, most flexible, and easiest-to-use raw converter and photo editor on the market. Several years in the making, Photo RAW, with its modern raw data processing engine, is tuned for today's sensors and graphics chips. According to ON1, the controls found throughout Photo RAW will respond in real time by leveraging modern video cards, using the latest versions of OpenGL and OpenCL. ON1 Photo RAW will include built-in layers, brushes, and advanced masking tools, and the program will also work seamlessly as a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Corel PhotoPaint; a standalone host app for Google Nik Collection and other photo editors; or as an extension to Apple Photos.

Pinnacle has released a loyalty update to Pinnacle Studio 19, giving registered customers free access to all-new Stop Motion Animation capabilities along with a variety of performance and speed enhancements. Building on the strengths of its Multi-Cam editing and enhanced 64-bit playback and performance; Pinnacle Studio 19.5 allows users to create big screen-style animations and full-HD stop motion videos using anything from a webcam to a smartphone or supported VDSLR. The new Pinnacle Studio 19.5 update is now available free to registered Pinnacle Studio 19 users.