Adobe is making professional photographers’ jobs much easier as they announce the release of Photoshop Lightroom 4.

Photoshop Lightroom 4 is lauching today for $149 and only $79 for the upgrade. The photo management software is getting a number of improvements that should increase workflow. Before you go jumping in to using Lightroom 4, it should be noted that support for Windows XP has been dropped.

“Feedback from our customers is invaluable in developing Lightroom and the real trick to a great release is to combine these insights with Adobe’s unrivalled image processing innovation,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Lightroom 4 is a stunning new release that will enhance photography workflows and help photographs stand out from the crowd.”

The new features hitting Lightroom 4 make it a “major release” according to Adobe. Let’s find out if that claim is valid. The first improvement comes to the adjustment controls that will help to maximize dynamic range from cameras. These include auto adjustments that set values for exposure and contrast, alongside other controls for noise reduction, moire and white balance.

Lightroom 4 allows users to create photo books using a robust set of templates. This includes a map module that will display images that are already assigned a location, provides location tagging and reverse geotagging, and it saves the most commonly used locations for easy assignment.

The biggest change is probably the support of native video support. This allows users to edit video shot on DSLRs, point-and-shoot cameras and smart phones. Many of the same image editing features found in Lightroom can be applied to video as well. Keeping in line with social media, these video clips can be uploaded directly to Facebook or Flickr.

The Develop module takes advantage of new processing technologies to get the most of the program. The team has also added in soft proofing which lets photographers to tune images in a destination color space.

Finally, to cut down on the time spent outside of Lightroom, users can now email their finished photos straight from the program.

What do you think? Has Adobe addressed the needs of the modern photographer with this release? Let us know in the comments.