Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

4
Utility Software
Various utilities that do not fit easily into other categories appear here. They include
two “plug-in managers” to help you gain a measure of control over all those plug-ins
you installed. When your computer has to load plug-ins that you never use, the host
editor (Photoshop or another program) will load more slowly and occupy more RAM.
JPEG handling tools abound, because the JPEG format was around long before digital
cameras became popular. With broadband transmission and low-cost storage there is not
so much concern today over image compression, but these JPEG utilities are available
when you need them. JPEG Wizard has terrific batch-handling facilities, whereas
Advanced JPEG Compressor can compress selected parts of the image more than others.
If you want to capture an image of your whole computer screen, with whatever is showing
at the time, FastStone Capture is a convenient tool for the job. From the same vendor
comes FastStone Photo Resizer, a wonderfully versatile image conversion and resizing
utility.
Finally, at either end of the workflow, there are NEFView, which makes Nikon RAW
files show up as thumbnails in Windows, and Test Strip Proofer, which emulates darkroom
test strips so that customers will know if printed output is likely to meet their
expectations.