For those who did not read the announcement at DP Review, Adobe has now opened up the public beta for version 2.0 of Lightroom.

Lightroom is Adobe's non-destructive photo editing and organizational suite. This means that it edits all manner of options on an image, but stores the changes in a database or companion file, leaving the original image untouched. I've personally recommended this software to anyone, pro or amateur, who takes digital photos. It is at once an extremely efficient way to organize your photos as well as a powerful tool for editing them. Lightroom is even, in some ways, more powerful than Photoshop, as it makes certain tasks (notably, white balancing JPG files) much easier.

According to Adobe's website, new features include:

* Localized corrections — Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
* Improved organizational tools — Find the images you need quickly and easily.
* Multiple monitor support — Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
* Flexible print package functionality — Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
* 64-bit support — Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.

Apparently, the release is very much still in beta, and is still designed to install along side installations of Lightroom 1.3.1. Personally, I think I'll probably give it a whirl on our laptop before I do anything. That way, I run absolutely no risk that it will cause damage to our client files. Adobe does not recommend trying to do any actual editing on the new version, as they cannot guarantee that files will transfer correctly between 2.0 beta and the official release, let alone the beta and 1.3.1.

If you've got a copy of Lightroom, the trial is indefinite; otherwise, you've got 30 days to try it out before it stops working.

Sources

- DP Review announcement: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0804/08040202lightroom2.asp
- Adobe Labs announcement: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/
- Lightroom overview: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/