Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

Price level: Approx. $80
Address: Microspot Ltd., Concorde House, 10-12 London Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 8QA,
United Kingdom
www.microspot.com
PhotoPerfect
Chapter 9 ■ Quick-Fix Software 115
Vendor: Arcadia Software
Purpose: One-click fixes and a wealth of other features for home users and enthusiasts
Description
PhotoPerfect is a photo editor with a split personality: it offers one-click fixes and other
time-saving features such as batch optimizing, while at the same time it provides sophisticated
editing functions in depth. Whatever you want to do, it is very likely that
PhotoPerfect can do it, from manipulating contrast gradients to cropping your images
automatically in standard sizes for uploading to photo-sharing sites online.
In the “one-click” department, PhotoPerfect gives you access to built-in Xe847
Automatic Image Optimizing Technology, a German development by Digital Arts
GmbH (www.xe847.com). This is a filter technology that makes images with a poor
contrast range look much bolder and more lifelike. It is, incidentally, also available
directly from its developer as a Photoshop plug-in. However, Xe847 is just one option
within PhotoPerfect. There are others, including various “payware” extensions such as
Perfectly Clear from Athentech Technologies (www.athentech.com) and i2E image
enhancement from Colour-Science AG of Switzerland (www.colour-science.com). In
an unusual interface design, all of them are made available in a single screen for direct,
“multi-automatic” comparison.
Among its advanced image enhancement functions, PhotoPerfect has a range of softening
and sharpening tools; Lab curves for editing images in Lab color space; a band
filter for removal of symmetrical distortion; 16-bit support for RAW and TIFF files;
colorcast removal; merging for High Dynamic Range (HDR) effects, or what the vendor
calls Dynamic Range Increase (DRI); comprehensive masking; color vibrancy; intelligent
retouching with repair and remove brushes; “replace masked area” function; color
management; and Exif and IPTC data handling.
PhotoPerfect is a true photo editor with plenty of functions for reshaping, manipulating,
and resizing the images. It has good tools for correcting lens distortions, including automatic
pincushion reduction, vignetting reduction, and correction of converging lines.
It lets you remove hot or stuck pixels with a few clicks, and has an integrated framing
tool, a mosaic generator, stereo image creation, GPS support, slide shows, and so on.
And for those who specialize in black and white, there is the MonochromiX extension
for a full range of filters and film simulation.