Photoshow by Roxio

Photo Show

PhotoShow offers quick and easy way to make musical photo slide shows and Video CDs. This software includes some fun extras like frames, animated clip art, and photo effects. In my opinion, the Deluxe version of PhotoShow is not worth the extra cost compared to the standard version which is simple and fun to use (as long as you don't require DVD burning). The Standard version is available for both Windows and Mac, but the Deluxe version is Windows only.

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Pros

• Simple and fun way to share photos; now with VCD burning and many photo gift options.
• One-click authoring makes slide show creation fast and easy.
• Thorough documentation within the program

Cons

• Can't make DVDs on home burner; DVD can only be ordered.
• Built-in burning only allows one show per CD. No option to erase a CD-RW before burning.
• Many photo gifts showed a 'not currently available' message when selected.

Description

• Create slide shows with your own photos and music. Share via CD or online.
• Shows can be shared online through photoshow.net photo community or published to your own Web site.
• Slide shows can be archived to CD, made into stand-alone executables, or saved as a screen saver.
• Makes autorun CDs that can include an archive of hi-resolution originals. Burning is built-in.
• Slide transitions: dissolve, blinds, cut, fade, pinwheel, rain drops, stars, zoom, wipe, film roll.
• Photo effects: black & white, old film, color tints, strobe, negative, blur, flicker.
• Includes over 100 MP3 songs licensed for distribution or you can add your own MP3 music.
• Touch up photos and add effects. Rotate, crop, fix red-eye, fix color, paint, clone, etc.
• Add fun extras including animated clipart, caption balloons, and decorative frames.
• Standard version for Windows & Macintosh. Deluxe version for Windows. 15-day trial available.

Guide Review - Simple Star PhotoShow Deluxe 3

PhotoShow will have you creating musical photo slide shows within minutes. It's fast and easy and includes some fun extras such as animated clip art and effects. You can set options for the entire show and produce them very quickly, or add captions, text, music, and effects on a per-photo basis for more elaborate shows. Shows can be published as a free upload to PhotoShow.net where they are stored for up to 30 days, or you can publish to HTML for uploading to a personal site, burn a CD-ROM or VCD, make a self-running executable, or a screen saver. Shows posted to PhotoShow.net can only include bundled sound clips for licensing reasons.

Since my original review of PhotoShow 2.0, Simple Star has released PhotoShow Deluxe 3.0. This version adds photo editing and photo management features to PhotoShow, as well as options for ordering prints and a variety of photo gifts online. I was disappointed to find that PhotoShow Deluxe 3 does not support DVD burning. You can burn VCDs (Video Cds), but if you want a DVD of your shows they must be ordered for an additional fee. The photo editing and management features are convenient for working within the program, but too simplified to replace a dedicated photo editor or photo organizer. In my opinion, the Deluxe version of PhotoShow is not worth the extra cost compared to the standard version, which is simple and fun to use (as long as you don't require DVD burning).

View some examples

Instagram and Hipstamatic

Instagram on iPhone has kind of taken over my photography.  It is (as the title suggests) instant- you shoot, compose, filter and publish for hundreds to see, in a matter of seconds and I am totally addicted. (My username is Socobloke also).  Which brings me on to 'Hipstamatic'.

This App (iPhone only I think) is based on a toy camera that allowed you to change lenses to produce different effects.  The App loads to show you a very retro looking camera which allows you to swap the type of lens used, each one giving you a different and sometimes random effect on your images. You can also select various film types which mimic films from yesteryear.







 

This is a great App which allows me to recreate techniques that you would traditionally spend hours in a smelly darkroom trying to reproduce (There is a bit of me that misses those days though). The App 'Swankolab' reproduces these happy times, apart from the smells!in an amusing but creative way.

I find using the 'Hipstamatic'  App fun but at the same time frustrating as it takes an age (a few seconds!) to 'process' an image and during this time you are unable to see the results.  The fact that this annoys me is an indication of how impatient I have become in this digital age!

Hipstamatic, unlike some other apps, only allows you to use images captured in the App rather than load previously captured or imported images. This does frustrate me, however it does focus your eye and slows you down enough to take more care over your composition etc.

I have heard several photographers rubbish camera phones and the fact that they feel it creates a false feeling that anyone can take good pictures, this is contrary to what I have experienced.  The more I use my iPhone, and see the images of other photographers I realise that far from making it easier, it actually focuses your eye as you strive to produce nice images using the limited optics of camera phones and compacts.  If you check out some of the images on Instagram you can see this is the case, and it does allow those who appreciate good images to see them and interact with the photographer and learn from them.  One guy in particular who promotes and offers great advice to people discovering photography is Josh Johnson (user- joshjohnson)








 





 I find myself using my iPhone camera on a daily basis but obviously it is no match for a DSLR, however its fun, engaging, and instant.







 By Scott Johnston

HDR Efex pro

HDR Efex Pro is a brand new product from Nik Software. It is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging tool that gives you the full gamut of photographic possibilities, from artistic to realistic HDR images. The goal of HDR Efex Pro is to give you everything you need to create high quality high dynamic range images.

HDR photography is a process in which multiple exposures of the same scene are captured using various levels of exposure and then they are aligned and merged to generate a single image that enables a much wider range of colors and tonality. HDR techniques are typically used to enhance landscape, architectural, nighttime, and artistic photography.

HDR Efex Pro also provides precise selective photo editing through the use of U Point technology. By placing a control point on your image and adjusting the size of the coverage area, you can change the brightness, contrast, or color within your photo giving you much more control. You can check out the system requirements to find out what you need to run HDR Efex Pro

So what is do you get with HDR Efex Pro?

• Multiple Algorithms give you the ability to go from realistic to artistic and every style in between. HDR Efex Pro uses four different tone mapping algorithms to support just about any kind of look that you want for a particular image. This gives you the ability to create every kind of image from subtle to totally wild.

• Single image HDR techniques are great to use when you want to fix an image that just doesn't have the tonality to make it appealing. It is also useful for that perfect HDR style image, but it was taken 2 years ago while you were on vacation, or that image that you couldn't take using a tripod and multiple exposures.

• U Point Technology is a patented innovation in photo image processing and editing. It uses control points to isolate an entire image or an image area for enhancement very quickly. Instead of having to make a selection, mask it off, and then apply filters, levels, curve adjustments, or use color balance tools, you just drop a control point and it considers the relationship between color and light and makes the appropriate adjustments.

• Intuitive interface makes working with HDR Efex Pro both easy to learn and easy to use. It has a zoom navigator that makes it simple to view the details of your work and unlike many HDR products, the previews use the same rendering algorithms that are used for final rendering and so you know that the final output will look like what you previewed.

• Visual Presets give everyone from those who are just starting out with HDR to the seasoned pro the ability get close to a look with just a single click. They come in several categories including artistic, landscape, and architectural. Once selected, you can stop there if you like or you can tweak it to your heart's content.

• Ghost Reduction helps you remove items that move when shoot multiple bracketed images. Perhaps it is a wire, or perhaps the branch of a tree. HDR Efex Pro has two main methods for correcting this; adaptive which fixes subtle movements, and global that fixes larger movement like a person walking through the scene.

• All-in-one workflow gives you the ability to create and fine tune your images without ever leaving the application. Through the use of extensive controls such as exposure, contrast, saturation, levels, curves, channel adjustments, and the U Point technology, you have everything you need in one place.

• Advanced Education is provided through Nik Education. Through the use of both written and video based learning tools including live weekly training, HDR Efex Pro has a support built into their products.

• Smart Object Compatible means that you can preserve an image's original source content that enables you to perform non-destructive editing to an image layer. HDR Efex Pro is the only HDR software that works with the powerful Smart Objects feature in Adobe Photoshop, so you can go back and make any adjustment you like, even after applying them.

• 32-bit Color Workflow is designed to use a full 32-bit processing chain for every image enhancement. This ensures that all previews, adjustments, and advanced tools such as U Point powered Control Points, vignettes, and curves are able to access every tone and color found in an image. By combining several exposures into one 32-bit per channel image, your image then has a very large range of colors and details. Even though the screen resolution of modern LCDs and monitors can commonly only display a 16-bit image, all 32-bits per channel are being used by HDR Efex Pro when you are editing which in turn provides a much higher quality finished product.

• Multi-Theaded, 64-bit uses an advanced multi-threaded processing approach to provide the best user experience while working with resource-intensive HDR tone mapping operations. This offers the best solution for modern computer systems that have a threaded architecture.

HDR Efex Pro is very easy to use and provides really remarkable results. The interface is very logically laid out with the presets and previews on the left and the controls on the right. For those who are just getting started, choosing a preset is probably the best way and then from there experimenting with the controls to see how each one affects an image. If you like a look, you can save it as a custom preset for future use.

The ability to work with curves from within HDR Efex Pro is also a big plus. This gives you the ability to handle your curves and levels first and then add a control point to adjust certain portions of the image that were adversely affected by the curves.

I also like the ability to work with a single image. I have a lot of images that I have shot in the past that I may want to play with down the line for some special effects or even like the image below that was shot at night of a moving object and therefore no way to get multiple exposures. One thing to keep in mind, for single images, they must be converted into 32-bit images first for HDR Efex Pro to work with them.

If you want a fast easy way to create HDR images without having to learn a lot of manual techniques, but yet still have full control over the images that are created, then HDR Efex Pro is the product for you. HDR Efex Pro is priced at $159.95. If you want you can try out a 15-day demo as well. If you work with HDR or are wanting to get started in this process, then HDR Efex Pro is very highly recommended.

original Article appeared in http://blogcritics.org 

 

Article Author: T. Michael Testi

T. Michael Testi is software developer, a writer, and a photographer. He also blogs at The Enlightened Image and is building a blog about the development of a state-of-the-art Green Dream Home in Oklahoma.

Visit T. Michael Testi's author page — T. Michael Testi's Blog

A Free Alternative to Photoshop ?

About

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

Features

Simple, intuitive, and innovative user interface

Every feature and user interface element was designed to be immediately intuitive and quickly learnable without assistance. In order to handle multiple images easily, Paint.NET uses a tabbed document interface. The tabs display a live thumbnail of the image instead of a text description. This makes navigation very simple and fast.

The interface is also enhanced for Aero Glass if you are using Windows 7 or Vista.

Performance

Extensive work has gone into making Paint.NET the fastest image editor available. Whether you have a netbook with a power-conscious Atom CPU, or a Dual Intel Xeon workstation with 8 blazingly fast processing cores, you can expect Paint.NET to start up quickly and be responsive to every mouse click.

Layers

The feature, usually only found on expensive or complicated professional software, layers form the basis for a rich image composition experience. You may think of them as a stack of transparency slides that, when viewed together at the same time, form one image.

Active Online Community

Paint.NET has an online forum with a friendly, passionate, and ever-expanding community. Be sure to check out the constantly growing list of tutorials andplugins!

Automatically Updated

Updates are free, and contain new features, performance improvements, and bug fixes. Upgrading to the latest version is very simple, requiring only two clicks of the mouse.

Special EffectsMany special effects are included for enhancing and perfecting your images. Everything from blurring, sharpening, red-eye removal, distortion, noise, and embossing are included. Also included is our unique 3D Rotate/Zoom effect that makes it very easy to add perspective and tilting.

Adjustments are also included which help you tweak an image's brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, curves, and levels. You can also convert an image to black and white, or sepia-toned.

Powerful Tools

Paint.NET includes simple tools for drawing shapes, including an easy-to-use curve tool for drawing splines or Bezier curves. The Gradient tool, new for 3.0, has been cited as an innovative improvement over similar tools provided by other software. The facilities for creating and working with selections is powerful, yet still simple enough to be picked up quickly. Other powerful tools include the Magic Wand for selecting regions of similar color, and the Clone Stamp for copying or erasing portions of an image. There is also a simple text editor, a tool for zooming, and a Recolor tool.

Unlimited History
Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody changes their mind. To accommodate this, every action you perform on an image is recorded in the History window and may be undone. Once you've undone an action, you can also redo it. The length of the history is only limited by available disk space.

System Requirements

• Windows 7 (recommended), 
     or Windows XP SP3,
     or Windows Vista SP1 (SP2 and Platform Update recommended)
• 800MHz processor (dual-core recommended)
• 512MB of RAM
• 1024 x 768 screen resolution
• 200+ MB hard drive space
• Optional: 64-bit mode requires a 64-bit CPU and a 64-bit edition of Windows

Paint.NET also depends on Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, which is automatically installed if it isn't already on the system.

Please note that Paint.NET uses your hard drive to store temporary files related to undo/redo history. Because of this, actual disk space requirements will depend on the actions you perform on an image, and on the size of the image.

Download (installation version 3.5.5):http://www.ziddu.com/download/12429329/Paint.NET.3.5.5.Install.zip.html

Download (portable version 3.5.5):http://www.ziddu.com/download/12429335/Paint.NET_v3.5.5.zip.html

Screenshots (Click to Enlarge):

         

Languages

The utility is available in many languages including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, Frisian, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.

 

by Michael Pekker (AKA Nesher)  [ see his blog at http://http://freeware4review.blogspot.com ]