Adobe has released the first commercial version of its Photoshop Lightroom photographic software. Creatives who purchase the software before April 30 will pay £125 plus VAT, which rises to £175 plus VAT after that date.

The software costs initially $199 in the US, rising to $299 after April 30. Adobe has said that Lightroom will not be included in the current or next versions of the Creative Suite.

border=0 /><BR></div> </p> <p> Photoshop Lightroom was available as a freely-downloadable beta since its announcement over a year ago. The current beta 4.1 will expire on February 28, after which users will have to purchase the full version to carry on using it. </p> <p> The 1.0 release adds a set of new features to those in the version 4.1 beta. The Library module gains advanced keywording tools to help photographers filter through large collections, and an improved import dialogue with more flexible file handling to allow more choice when determining file location. </p> <p> <div class=floatedimage><img src=

Photoshop Lightroom runs under Mac OS X 10.4 or Windows XP, though Adobe has not said whether Windows Vista is officially supported. The company says that the recommended system requirements for the software are a 1GHz Power PC or an Intel Pentium processor, 768MB RAM and a 1,024-x-768-resolution screen. The Mac version of Photoshop Lightroom is a Universal Binary application that runs natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.