Free Lightroom 5 Photo Editing Software

Lightroom 5’s Radial Gradient feature can be used to create a vignette, where a picture darkens towards the edges.

Adobe Systems has begun giving away the newest version of its photo editing software, Lightroom 5. But there is a catch.

Lightroom 5 is a public beta test version of a sister product to Adobe’s Photoshop. Lightroom is easier to use than Photoshop, but just as powerful for making overall adjustments to things like color, shadows and contrast. However, it is not as good for extremely detailed editing and has fewer tools.

At the top of the list of Lightroom’s new features is an improved ability to erase and replace objects in photos. The older Lightroom was best at erasing small aberrations, like dust spots. The new Lightroom lets users pick a larger area in any shape to replace. It’s still not as powerful as the Photoshop tool called “Content Aware Fill,” but it’s close.

Adobe has also added a feature called Radial Gradient, which lets photographers draw a circular or oval area in which to apply effects. It can be used to create a vignette, where a picture darkens toward the edges, for instance. So you could circle someone’s face, and have the picture dim as it moves away from her, creating a spotlight to draw the eye.

A new feature called Upright examines the horizontal and vertical lines of a photo to correct for lens distortion. So if you shot a photo with a wide-angle lens, and things at the edges look warped, Upright would adjust it to look as though it had been photographed with a more neutral lens.

The Upright feature.

Slide shows can now include video clips, and you can make and save custom design pages for photo books. There are other enhancements as well.

So what is the catch? When the beta test is over, you won’t be able to use Lightroom 5 anymore unless you buy the new version. Upgrade pricing will be available to people who bought an earlier version of Lightroom.

Sunday Breakfast Menu, April 21

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

With one suspect dead and the other in custody in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, the Sunday shows will turn to discussions of what happens next in the story that transfixed the nation last week.

Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’s “Face the Nation” to offer insight into the national security implications of the bombings.

Also on CNN will be Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a member of the Armed Services Committee, who has called on the Obama administration to treat the surviving suspect as an enemy combatant. Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat and a member of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator William Cowan, Democrat of Massachusetts, will also discuss the bombings.

Tim Roemer, former Indiana congressman; Alberto R. Gonzales, former attorney general; and Candice DeLong, a former F.B.I. profiler, will also appear on CNN.

Joining Mr. McCaul on CBS will be Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee; Rudolph W. Giuliani, former New York City mayor; and Tom Ridge, former secretary of homeland security.

In the wake of the failure of several gun control measures on Wednesday, the program will also feature a conversation with relatives of the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, and Representative Peter T. King of New York, chairman of a homeland security subcommittee on counterterrorism, will join “Fox News Sunday.”

Mr. King will also appear on Bloomberg’s “Capitol Gains” at noon Eastern to talk about Boston and the ricin scare in Washington last week. In addition, Alan K. Simpson and Erskine B. Bowles, co-chairmen of President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission in 2010, will share the details of their new deficit reduction proposal.

More analysis of the aftermath of last week’s bombings and the implications for national security will be available on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” with guests including Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, chairman of the Intelligence Committee and a former F.B.I. agent; Michael E. Leiter, former head of the National Counterterrorism Center; Michael Chertoff, former secretary of homeland security; and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat.

Mr. Durbin also appeared on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” on Friday. Repeats of the program air throughout the weekend.

In addition to CNN, Mr. Schumer is on Univision’s “Al Punto” at 10 a.m. Eastern and Telemundo’s “Enfoque” at noon Eastern on Sunday. A member of the so-called Gang of Eight, he will discuss the group’s proposal to overhaul immigration. A fellow member of the group, Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, will join him on Telemundo, which will also offer coverage of the tragedy and subsequent manhunt in Boston.

Also on Univision is Representative Loretta Sanchez, Democrat of California and a member of the Homeland Security Committee, who will talk about Boston. And Michael B. Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, will weigh in on relations with Israel.

C-Span’s “Newsmakers” has Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois and a member of the bipartisan House group working on overhauling immigration. 

And the conversation turns to Boston, gun violence and education reform on TV One’s “Washington Watch” at 11 a.m. Eastern, with Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Democrat of Texas, and Michelle A. Rhee, former schools chancellor in Washington and founder of Students First.

The Weekend Word: Developments

Today’s Times

• Friday’s hearing on immigration legislation was nearly overshadowed by developments in the Boston bombing case, with one senior Republican saying that the approaching debate should take into account the revelation that the suspects had apparently emigrated to the United States, Ashley Parker and Michael D. Shear report.

• Even though the legislative debate in the Senate is over, victims’ advocates are regrouping and hoping to revive the gun bill, while pushing for new state laws and campaigning against politicians opposed to gun control, Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes.

• Over nearly four decades, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Judiciary Committee chairman, has complied an extensive resume of workmanlike accomplishments, but having the tasks of guiding the first major gun control legislation since 1994 and managing one of the broadest overhauls of American immigration law could define his legacy, Jonathan Weisman reports.

Weekly Address

• President Obama used this week’s address to speak on the bombing that happened in Boston on Monday, telling listeners that “Americans refuse to be terrorized.” He thanked the police officers, firefighters and E.M.T.’s who ran toward danger to help their fellow citizens, and the doctors and nurses who worked to save lives. “If anyone wants to know who we are; what America is; how we respond to evil and terror - that’s it,” he said. “Selflessly. Compassionately. And unafraid.”

 Happenings in Washington

• The Epilepsy Foundation will hold the National Walk for Epilepsy near the grounds of the Washington Monument on Saturday.

•  The National Archives will partner with the International Spy Museum for a book fair on Saturday at the National Archives Building with books related to spying and espionage.

The Weekend Word: Developments

Today’s Times

• Friday’s hearing on immigration legislation was nearly overshadowed by developments in the Boston bombing case, with one senior Republican saying that the approaching debate should take into account the revelation that the suspects had apparently emigrated to the United States, Ashley Parker and Michael D. Shear report.

• Even though the legislative debate in the Senate is over, victims’ advocates are regrouping and hoping to revive the gun bill, while pushing for new state laws and campaigning against politicians opposed to gun control, Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes.

• Over nearly four decades, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Judiciary Committee chairman, has complied an extensive resume of workmanlike accomplishments, but having the tasks of guiding the first major gun control legislation since 1994 and managing one of the broadest overhauls of American immigration law could define his legacy, Jonathan Weisman reports.

Weekly Address

• President Obama used this week’s address to speak on the bombing that happened in Boston on Monday, telling listeners that “Americans refuse to be terrorized.” He thanked the police officers, firefighters and E.M.T.’s who ran toward danger to help their fellow citizens, and the doctors and nurses who worked to save lives. “If anyone wants to know who we are; what America is; how we respond to evil and terror - that’s it,” he said. “Selflessly. Compassionately. And unafraid.”

 Happenings in Washington

• The Epilepsy Foundation will hold the National Walk for Epilepsy near the grounds of the Washington Monument on Saturday.

•  The National Archives will partner with the International Spy Museum for a book fair on Saturday at the National Archives Building with books related to spying and espionage.