Software News

For years, anyone serious about photography has viewed Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP) as the low cost alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Originally developed by a tiny company in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Paint Shop has grown up into a full-featured photo workflow tool with a built-in photo organizer that includes tagging options and fast previewing, an advanced image editor, and handy integration with Flickr and Facebook.

For $70, PaintShop Photo Pro X3 Ultimate is a smart addition to a virtual photo toolbox. A few performance problems and some slightly questionable editing capabilities puts PSP in the uncomfortable position of still being in the tall shadow of Adobe. That said, if you want to skip the $700 purchase price, PSP is on the right track.

Corel introduced the new brush-based ParticleShop plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom today. ParticleShop's digital brushes are designed to spring, flow, gravitate and glow while adding eye-catching effects to your images.

For portrait, wedding, landscape, and fine art photographers, Corel’s new Painter 11 excels when you want to emulate traditional art media from your images, including oil paint on canvas, pastels on textured art paper, woodcut, silkscreen, watercolor, and more.

Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2
Nik Software has begun shipping Silver Efex Pro 2, a major upgrade to its Silver Efex Pro software. Silver Efex Pro 2 offers a unique darkroom-inspired workflow and the ability to fine-tune images with precise selective adjustments powered by U Point technology. The software’s new features include the History Browser for endless experimentation, revolutionary algorithms such as Dynamic Brightness, Amplify Blacks and Whites, Soft Contrast, and Fine Structure, plus finishing touches like Image Borders and selective colorization.

There’s no question that do-it-yourself photo books have captured the imagination of photographers, from pros to those who simply want to create a remembrance of a journey or to gather family photos. While just about every imaging software and online picture service, from iPhoto to Shutterfly, offers quick and easy bookmaking, there are some companies dedicated to serving the higher-end market, generally pros but also including every photographer who wants a stylish, custom-designed book. Software to help design the book is a key ingredient, as are options for book materials and binding. And in the end, the quality of the images reproduced, and the facility of ordering and making images ready, is what makes the bookmaking process a creative, fun project that will result in a book that will be cherished for many years.

Datacolor has just unveiled Spyder5 Capture Pro, a comprehensive color-management bundle for photographers who are serious about precise color calibration from capture to post production. The package incudes four sophisticated tools for streamlining your workflow while obtaining perfect results.

Here’s an opportunity you can’t refuse; a copy of Athentech’s popular Perfect Eyes software, as well as their Perfect Portraits eBook. And both are perfectly free until January 5.