Client Advisory: Adobe release CS5.5

Adobe have decided to change the way they release products. Historically they operated a system of 18 months between major releases of the Creative Suite products but have now decided to change this to 24 months with a minor 0.5 release every 12 months.

Its all part of a plan to extract more money of course and Adobe have also decided to offer the option of a software rental scheme at the same time that enables you to pay for products on a monthly basis (no pay – no work).
There is no change to Photoshop software compared to 5.0 so no real reason to upgrade at present though the default Photoshop included in Suites is now the extended rather than the standard version which will be useful when CS6 is released in 12 months time (Update : Applies to the subscription version of the premium only – dash!)
Adobe had better get their pricing right on this, they have a reputation for being expensive, if they push too hard then it will be worthwhile for another developer to challenge Adobes monopoly. I’m not keen on monopolies and Adobe have a real monopoly on image editing software.


Client Story: Sue Flood

Congratulations to Sue Flood on her exhibition at the Getty Gallery in central London.
“Cold Places” Pole to Pole is a collection of Sue’s work from the polar regions. Its sponsored by Canon and has attracted a lot of attention from the national media and I was particularly surprised to hear Sue talk about her work on “Woman’s hour” on radio 4 which kind of gives away my listening habits! The exhibition was launched in the middle of March and runs till the 9th of April. Sue took the opportunity to launch her book “Cold Places” to coincide with the exhibition.
Gallery details are here: http://www.gettyimagesgallery.com/
Her book is available online from the usual suspects but you can get yourself a copy directly from Sue from her website: http://www.sueflood.com/
Sue was away for a large part of the time involved in producing both the book and the exhibitions so I helped out with the production. Because I keep high res copies of Sue’s files I was able to prepare press ready CMYK sharpened files optimised for the print size of each image to pass onto the books designer Simon Bishop. I worked closely with Simon and the books printers to ensure that we got the best possible colour and tone on paper. I also prepared RGB print files to size and sharpened for print to Canon for them to make the exhibition prints. Mark Bennet at Canon converted the files to the printers colour space and the result was some very pleasing large format prints, nice to see Epson have some competition in the photographic quality printer stakes.
I also prepared and sent files for PR uses and serviced requests from the national newspapers.
The whole process involved a lot of intense work over a short period but I was pleased to help get Sue’s work in front of a larger audience and help raise her profile.
In the past I have helped Sue with equipment choices and training as well as editing and retouching , Sue is an example of a client who uses my services is a holistic way which would normally require full time staff and the associated costs and responsibilities. By offering my services as a freelance I enable clients to tackle work projects to a set quality and budget.
Stephen