A little Catcher in the Rye reference, but it relates to this new product from Adobe.
The just announced Carousel image management system essentially lets you put ALL of your jpeg images into a subscriber based cloud and lets you access this complete library via multiple means: iPhone, iPad, laptop or desktop.
Simple concept, right? Your entire photo library in your pocket.
And who better to develop that a company dedicated to visual imagery?


Main Carousel library on your computer, above

Now, in addition to accessing the images, you can do some fairly radical global adjustments to the images on your mobile device, ranging from predetermined effects, like Koi, Sepia, or Winter are able to be applied to an image.

(Adjustment controls on computer or iPad above; Same controls on iPhone below. Please note that when Carousel is released, the image adjustments choices will be seen using your photo, not the building, as in this example)

Once imported, any edits, deletions or additions to the library made on one device are automatically updated across all devices linked with the account. With Adobe Carousel, manual syncing and device storage limitations are a thing of the past.

(Adjustment controls on computer or iPad above; Same controls on iPhone below)

“Familiar multi-touch gestures provide a fun and interactive experience to explore tens of thousands of photos quickly and easily, and Adobe’s powerful photo-processing engine lets users adjust exposure, shadows, highlights, white balance, vibrance, clarity and contrast. There are also over a dozen “Looks” that allow customers to quickly experiment with the appearance of a photo. Adobe Carousel simplifies and enhances photo sharing by allowing subscribers to invite friends and family members to collaborate on a photo library free of charge – so anyone with a Carousel capable device can view existing photos and contribute new ones, apply adjustments and Looks to images, and easily grab and flag favorite photos. Users can also share photos by sending them directly to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr or via email.

The Adobe Carousel apps will be available through the iTunes App Store and for Mac later this month. Through Jan. 31, 2012, Adobe plans to offer Adobe Carousel for a special introductory price of US$59.99/year or US$5.99/month. Anyone subscribing at that price will be able to renew at that same price for an additional two years. At the conclusion of the introductory offer, Adobe Carousel will be US$99.99/year or US$9.99/month. By subscribing, customers automatically receive any enhancements and updates to Adobe Carousel at no additional charge. Customers receive a complimentary subscription for up to 30 days and can purchase a monthly or yearly subscription at any time from their iPad or iPhone.”

Customers can download and install the Adobe Carousel apps as many times and across as many devices as they want as a part of their subscription (no additional fees apply).

here’s what you need:

•iPhone 3GS and
•iPad 1 and 2
•iPod Touch 4G
•Mac (Lion required)

Yep, MAC first then Windows/Android in Jan. 2012

So essentially you can upload your photo library to a cloud, which is an outstanding back-up choice for storage, share it wherever you are, make visual changes and sync to all devices including the cloud. So you are saving space on your portable devices, while accessing many gigs beyond their hard drive capacity. Pretty cool.

At this point they assured us that a 70,000 image library was not an issue. Remember though: JPEG ONLY! No RAW. Yet.
So, the audience is decidedly consumer. They are calling it a family photo hub after all.
Unless you want to show sample outside of an official website. Or even location, set, props shots.

One question we are still waiting to have answered is the connection needed for best results and will the entire library load each time.
3G, 4G or Wi-Fi? Yes, it is only the low res file you see initially, but still, it’s potentially a lot of materials being stashed onto a cloud server somewhere.
Stay tuned for updates on this.

For a complimentary 30 days, we’ll get on that Carousel.
Will it get the Gold Ring?
We’ll let you know our humble opinion.

This is the behind the scenes video on the development of Carousel: