Adobe has just released the fourth version of Lightroom today, which brings a number of improvements but also a big price cut. Lightroom 4 can be bought for $149 new or $79 as an upgrade. That’s a far cry from the $299 (and $99 upgrade) demanded for previous versions. We’re sure that recent price cuts to Apple’s competing Aperture software played a large part in Adobe’s decision to lower the entry price to its own photo management and editing software.

We’ve been trying out Lightroom 4 since it was released as a beta in January and not much has changed in terms of features since then. The biggest change in Lightroom 4 is the new highlight and shadow recovery technology (replacing the previous fill light and recovery controls) that allows users to bring out even more detail from dark shadows and bright highlights.
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