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› › GET THE SCOOP ON THE LATEST GEAR<br />
Exposure X by Alien Skin Software<br />
Film Emulation and Effects Plug-in<br />
Review by Daniel M. Eastr<br />
It’s always a huge plus when a developer strives to improve upon<br />
one of their flagship products, and it’s especially true when they’re<br />
listening to their end users along with their own research and<br />
development. As they always do, Alien Skin Software steps up<br />
their game with a major update to their popular Exposure plug-in/<br />
standalone software with version X.<br />
There’s a lot to love, but let’s focus on what’s new and<br />
improved. My personal favorite is seamless access to photo files:<br />
Exposure X lets you preview, view, select, and organize your<br />
images, saving a lot of time. You can work at will with a folder<br />
of images from within the launched software. While there’s no<br />
specific button to apply your effect(s), a simple export shortcut<br />
does the trick (for Mac users, it’s Command-E).<br />
Another great feature is that you can make edits in other software<br />
and immediately see those results in your previews—and the<br />
previews are really fast. The one stumbling block (and it’s not a big<br />
one) is that the preview window doesn’t seem to use the same<br />
color profile as the image once you’re back in Photoshop (or your<br />
preferred editing software); but it’s just a preview.<br />
The controls are more accurate, have more abilities, and effects<br />
can be stacked in a nondestructive layer, so blending effects with<br />
the original offers countless options for your final output’s look.<br />
Even after years of working with all of the previous versions, Exposure<br />
X is so much fun to use that I want to go back to some older<br />
images just to see what they might look like with these new filters,<br />
effects, and controls.<br />
Exposure X is all of the things that made every preceding version<br />
a photographer’s favorite, but it adds even more options,<br />
control, and speed, thus providing the potential for more timeless<br />
images in the creative photography market. ■<br />
Company: Alien Skin Software, LLC Price: $149 (Upgrade: $99)<br />
Web: www.alienskin.com<br />
Rating: ◆◆◆◆◆<br />
Hot: Faster; new features; file management<br />
Not:<br />
Picture Instruments Color Cone<br />
Color Correcting in the HCL Color Scheme<br />
Review by Erik Vlietinck<br />
Color Cone is a new app that enables you to correct colors and<br />
create color lookup tables (LUTs). The app is based on a terrific<br />
concept, but its design could be better.<br />
Color Cone consists of one window with four segments. The<br />
preview window shows your image and the adjustments made<br />
to it, while the other three segments deal with the adjustments<br />
themselves. Color Cone renders colors in the HCL scheme using<br />
eyedropper samples on the interface.<br />
The eye catcher is the dual cone in the center of the right<br />
panel; however, the cone cannot be rotated or otherwise<br />
manipulated. You can manipulate the samples, but that quickly<br />
becomes unwieldy when there are a lot of them.<br />
Although the app has a clumsy design, the workflow is simple:<br />
You use the eyedropper to select a color you want to adjust<br />
in your image, fine-tune the selection, and a mask shows your<br />
selection. Lastly, you adjust the color using the Target controls.<br />
When you’re done, you can either save the adjustments as a preset,<br />
or as a 3D LUT in any of half-a-dozen LUT file formats for use<br />
in other apps such as Photoshop.<br />
Unfortunately, the process is only straightforward if correcting<br />
images with easily discernible colors. For example: When<br />
colors bleed through to the background, you’ll need so many<br />
samples to get it right that it makes selecting them incredibly<br />
hard. It’s especially difficult when they’re close together, as you<br />
have to “scroll” through all of them to find the one you need.<br />
That’s inefficient because there are no layers or even a list to pick<br />
from directly.<br />
In addition, the app doesn’t support RAW images, which in<br />
my opinion doesn’t make sense. Color Cone is really a brilliant<br />
idea that in practice leaves much to be desired. ■<br />
Company: Picture Instruments, UG Price: $189<br />
Web: www.pictureinstruments.com<br />
Rating: ◆◆◆<br />
Hot: Concept; HCL scheme; 3D LUT export feature<br />
Not: Interface; no RAW support; no numeric feedback on sliders<br />
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