Photo Software for the Rest of Us
The task of digitally repairing old photographs or making new ones look their best was until recently left to skilled professionals using programs such as Adobe’s Photoshop or Corel’s Photo-Paint.
But a crop of new photo manipulation products has sprung up to help the general user get the most out of their digital photos and scanned images. Among them are Kai’s Photo Soap from MetaCreations, Microsoft’s PictureIt, LivePix Deluxe from LivePix Co. and Adobe’s PhotoDeluxe.
Each performs three basic functions and is priced around $50.
For starters, you can use them to fix flaws in your photography. Each includes a tool for removing notorious “red eye.” Do you have a precious old photo full of scratches? Any of these programs will fix that. If the color’s off--say, a little too green--they can take care of that too.
They also make it possible to add special effects to your photos. Want to add a drop shadow to an object? Click, click and you’re done. Program tools enable you to add backgrounds and borders, distort portions of an image, add creative text and perform myriad other tasks.
Finally, these programs give you the tools to transform your digitally improved photographs into greeting cards, postcards, calendars and collages.
With so much in common, it’s the user interface--the program’s look and feel--that sets it apart.
Adobe’s PhotoDeluxe (https://www.adobe.com) offers perhaps the best interface for the beginner. Each option is thoroughly explained on screen, and there is plenty of information to guide you. Once you get proficient with the program, you can click on the Advanced button to get direct access to PhotoDeluxe tools without the detailed explanations. The program provides full support for Photoshop plug-ins, which offer special capabilities.
The interface on Kai’s Photo Soap from MetaCreations (https://www.metatools.com) is excellent--very easy to navigate--but it’s not what most people are used to. There are no drop-down menus, no floating palettes--none of the stuff common in just about any other software program.
The LivePix (https://www.livepix.com) and PictureIt (https://www.microsoft.com) interfaces, on the other hand, have a look and feel similar to the average computer program. PictureIt does a little more hand-holding, while LivePix is more straightforward.
In PictureIt, you select an option, then other options--each with an explanation--and then finally you may use the desired tool. With LivePix, you simply select a tool from the tool palette and use it.
While these programs are excellent at what they do, they only do so much. If you want to get into serious photo manipulation, you need serious software.
For $99, Paint Shop Pro, from Jasc Software (https://www.jasc.com), offers most of the features you’ll find in the costlier professional image-manipulation applications, at a fraction of the cost. For the home or small-business user, this is a tough combination to beat.
Depending on what you hope to accomplish, the jump in functionality to a professional photo manipulation package may or may not be worth the big jump in price.
Take Corel’s (https://www.corel.com) Photo-Paint, price at $495. This package has ridden the coattails of Corel Draw to considerable popularity and indeed qualifies as a professional-level application. But one could easily argue that it’s not five times better than the $99 Paint Shop Pro. A better value, especially if you need both an image editing program and a drawing program, is the $695 Corel Draw, which includes Photo-Paint.
Then there’s the $995 Adobe Photoshop, the mother of all image editing packages. Many people weren’t thrilled with some of the changes in Photoshop 4, so Adobe wasted no time getting Photoshop 5 out the door. It’s receiving rave reviews.
Among the new features in Photoshop 5 are an enhanced Actions palette that can automate almost any program function, Magnetic Lasso and Magnetic Pen tools that enable you to automatically trace elements and a history palette for one-click multiple undo.
While Photoshop is the most expensive product in its class, it’s also the de facto industry standard--you need proficiency in it if you’re considering graphic arts as a profession or a serious hobby.
As is the case with most computer products, retail prices are significantly lower than the manufacturers’ list prices here.
If you have digital photos that you want to improve, alter or use in new ways, you can spend a little or a lot. But one thing’s certain: Photography will never be the same.
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Kim Komando is a TV host, syndicated talk radio host and author. You can visit her on the Internet at https://www.komando.com or e-mail her at komando@komando.com. Her national talk radio program can be heard Saturdays from 7 to 9 a.m. on 97.1 KLSX-FM.
