Adobe has released an update for Photoshop CS4. The Photoshop 11.0.1 update addresses key issues reported by customers that may impact performance. The update also includes the following enhancements: the ability to correctly recognise 3D textures edited by plug-ins; improved quality of Auto-Blend Layers (Stack Images); and fixes for issues that can be caused by corrupt fonts or when pasting formatted text. The Photoshop 11.0.1 update is available as a free download for existing Photoshop CS4 customers, or through the Adobe updater via the application itself.

Website: Adobe Photoshop CS4 11.0.1 Update

Corel Painter 11 is the newest edition of the world’s leading painting and illustration software.  With more than 40 new and enhanced features, Painter 11 provides the most inventive drawing and painting tools available. “With the enhancements in brush technology and the expandable color palette introduced in Painter 11, I now have an even more powerful toolbox with which to express myself on the digital canvas!” said Jeremy Sutton, Portrait Artist. The English version of Corel Painter 11 is available now as an electronic download, priced at $399 for the full version and $199 for the upgrade.

Nik Software are running a free online webinar focusing on Capture NX 2. Taking place on February 12th, the 45 minute webinar is billed as the perfect introduction to this advanced yet intuitive image editing tool designed by photographers. Internationally renowned professional photographer Tony Corbell will demonstrate a true non-destructive editing workflow for TIFF, JPG and Nikon RAW files. In the meantime, checkout our in-depth Nikon Capture NX 2 review.

The Photoshop Action Station offers rapid browsing and powerful search functions to users of Photoshop actions. “Our Action Station is designed to offer an alternative solution to managing not just our actions but those of other vendors as well. From a single dialog users will be able to browse and run their actions without having to locate them in the palette.” says 1click’s David Gill. The Action Station is compatible with Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4 on both Mac and Windows platforms, and is available immediately for $47.95,

Digital Anarchy has released two software products, Knoll Light Factory and ToonIt! Photo, for Apple’s Aperture. Knoll Light Factory generates lighting effects that enhance the natural or man-made lighting in photographs. ToonIt! Photo creates cartoon-like images from photographs. Aperture gives photographers the ability to manage large groups of images and work with RAW files. By using ToonIt and Knoll Light Factory directly in this environment, it is easy to design with multiple images and compare the results side by side. Knoll Light Factory 3.0 for Aperture is priced at $129 USD. ToonIt! 2.0 for Aperture is priced at $129 USD. Both products will be on sale for $99 each from until February 28, 2009.

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate will be available for just £57 at this year’s Focus on Imaging show. “With the current economic environment putting additional pressure on finances, customers are looking for even better value for money than ever before. Visitors to the Corel stand at Focus on Imaging will be able to see for themselves that our products offer exceptional value,” said Chris Boba, product manager for Corel. Focus on Imaging takes place at the NEC, Birmingham, UK on February 22nd-25th.

Apple iLife ’09, which features major upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, is available now. iPhoto ’09 builds on the ability to automatically organise photos into Events by adding Faces and Places as innovative new ways to easily organise and manage your photos using face detection, face recognition and GPS geo-tagging technologies.  iLife ’09 is included with every new Mac and is available as a £69 upgrade for existing users

Release Candidate versions of Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and Photoshop Camera Raw 5.3 are now available. Both release candidates provide additional raw file support for the Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30 cameras. In addition,the Lightroom 2.3 Release Candidate provides a solution to a memory leak that affected some customers of the Lightroom 2.2 release. The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing.

DxO Optics Pro 5.3.2 adds support for the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon G10, along with 32 new DxO Optics correction modules. In addition, this new version includes various improvements, including installation of the plug-in version for Adobe Photoshop CS4. DxO Optics Pro v5.3.2 and upgrades are available immediately for Mac and Windows platforms.

VueScan 8.5.01 adds support for an additional 180 digital camera raw files. VueScan is the world’s most widely used 3rd party scanning software. VueScan is available in two editions, Standard Edition ($39.95 USD) and Professional Edition ($79.95).

Website: VueScan 8.5.01

Mirage Premium Edition is a new software plug-in for Epson large-format printers. Mirage Premium Edition allows users to work faster and more efficiently by providing all the features, tools and settings required in one layout. Martin Johns, Senior Product Manager at Epson UK stated, “For professional applications Mirage Premium Edition simplifies the printing process. By bundling the software with the Epson range of large format printers we are delivering quality and ease of use to our customers”. Recommended for retail sale at £399, this Adobe plug-in is free when users register their Epson large format printer.

Panorado from Simple Software is an image viewer and browser featuring innovative mouse interaction. Version 4.0 of Panorado supports panoramic image viewing, image metadata, geocoding (GPS), and managing large amounts of images. It also adds HDR image viewing (High Dynamic Range), RAW camera file formats, and an improved and extended Organizer tool. Panorado 4.0 costs £19.99, and a free 30-day trial is available. Customers who bought a Panorado 3.3 license after 01/01/2008 can upgrade to version 4.0 for free before 03/31/2009.

Website: Panorado 4.0

NKRemote 1.0 is a new remote capture software program for Nikon DSLR cameras. Released by Breeze Systems, NKRemote currently supports the Nikon D3, D700, D300, D90 and D200. It allows you to control Nikon DSLR cameras from a PC, display live images on a PC screen, autofocus and manually control focus from a PC, plus comprehensive time lapse control. NKRemote 1.0 runs on Windows XP or Windows Vista and is available now priced at $95. A 15 day free trial version is available.

The free XDepth Raw Converter converts RAW files to the new jpeg-compatible XDepth Raw file format. XDepth Raw is a new file format that functions as both a JPEG and a RAW image. XDepth Raw Converter is a professional-grade raw development software featuring a fully High Dynamic Range 96bit/pixel floating point rendering engine. The XDepth Raw Converter also works with 48bit/pixel images by loading and saving Tiff, PNG and XDepth 48 file formats. XDepth Raw Converter is available completely free of charge for both personal and professional use.

Photos on TV 3 creates a personalised slideshow of your photographs to share on a TV screen. X-OOM Photos on TV 3 offers over 1,000 music tracks, speech effects, animations and text effects to edit images. Google Earth sequences can be included, using the screenshots and zoom-in videos to create a bird’s eye view of a holiday or travel destination. X-OOM Photos on TV 3 is available now for £19.99.

Adobe has added RAW file support for 7 digital cameras to Lightroom 2.2, including the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Panasonic DMC-LX3. The Lightroom 2.2 update also includes several refinements such as enhanced performance of the local adjustment tools. In addition, Adobe’s Camera Profiles are now available natively within Lightroom 2.2 and are provided automatically as part of this release.

Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009 is a new feature-rich photography software suite. Combining AlbumPlus X3, PanoramaPlus 3 and the QuickFix Studio, Digital Photo Suite 2009 offers photographers of any level of experience an affordable, fast and easy way to organize, fix, enhance and share their photos. Serif Digital Photo Suite 2009 retails for $49.99 and is available now.

D90 Remote and D300 Remote allow you to control the Nikon D90 or Nikon D300 cameras from a PC. Developed by Breeze Systems, the D90 Remote and D300 Remote software applications also display live images on a PC screen, take a series of photos and print them out, and shoot time lapse sequences. D90 Remote and D300 Remote are available now priced at $95 each.

Capture One 4.6 is a new release with improved performance and additional camera support. Processing, Browsing, Folder viewing and Color Editor have all been improved, and the new Camera Controls tool allows users to remotely control key camera settings. New supported cameras include the Phase One P 65+, Canon G10, Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30. Capture One 4.6 is a free service release to existing Capture One 4.x owners.

To celebrate it’s 10 birthday, everyone who has ever purchased VueScan can now upgrade to VueScan 8.5 for free. VueScan is, the world’s most widely used 3rd party scanning software. VueScan 0.1 was first released in 1998 with support for a single scanner on Windows only. It now supports more than 1200 scanners on 3 operating systems and in 35 languages, has been downloaded more than 5 million times and has been purchased by more than 170,000 people worldwide. VueScan is available in two editions, Standard Edition ($39.95 USD) and Professional Edition ($79.95).