Software: July 2008 Archives

If you're dissatisfied with the dull gray-scale conversion tools found in many photo editing software programs, you may want to test drive a plug-in released this week by Nik Software, of San Diego. According to the company, its new product, Silver Efex Pro, uses a range of advanced imaging algorithms to eliminate unwanted artifacts when converting color photos to black-and-whites and includes a state-of-the-art grain engine that mimics the silver halide process used in developing film.

What's more, the new offering includes the company's U Point technology that provides easy to use tools for direct on-image control of tonality, contrast and structure. With the technology, specific areas of an image can be altered with just a few mouse clicks and without the need to create complicated selections and layer masks.

"For many photographers, black-and-white is their preferred outlet for creative expression," Nik President and CEO Michael J. Slater said in a statement. "Previously available tools often required acceptance of a one-size-fits-all solution or complex conversion techniques and endless fine-tuning."

"Silver Efex Pro is truly a comprehensive and easy to use software product that is specifically designed to address the challenges that photographers face when converting images to black-and-white," he added.

With the program designed to work with Adobe Photoshop and Apple Aperture, a photographer starts with a "neutral" conversion of a color image to black-and-white and then with a single click can apply more than 20 presets that emulate a variety of processing styles from ambrotype and tintype to classic artistic renderings, trendy high contrast effects and application of grains that imitate popular film stocks. Moreover, images can be further customized with a set of tools that include filters, variable toning controls, vignettes, as well as global brightness, contrast and structure controls.

The suggested retail price of Silver Efex Pro is $199.95. It is available immediately as a download from the company's Web site. A boxed version of the software will be available next month. You can take the plug-in for a free 15-Day ride by downloading a fully functional trial version of it.

If you've ever searched for economically-priced software that does more just get the job done, then chances are you've run into Serif. The UK-based applications shop has been selling its wares in Europe for years and although its products could be purchased in the States over the Internet it didn't have a retail presence here until this spring when it gained shelf space at Fry's and Micro Center stores and appeared on the virtual racks at Amazon.com, Buy.com, Dell.com, Newegg and PC Connection. Now its product lineup--which includes a solid digital imaging editing program called PhotoPlus X2--has grabbed even greater retail presence this month with its entrance into Office Depot.

A new Microsoft Vista version of PhotoPlus X2 ($71-$79) was released by Serif last fall. It included a number of interesting new features such as an automated makeover studio for removing imperfections in portraits, a QuickFix Studio for swiftly making improvements in photos and new artistic effects such as Comic Book and Vignette, as well as the ability to burn slideshows and photos to discs.

Other programs offered by Serif include

• PagePlus X3, a desktop publishing program aimed at small businesses and individuals looking to create in-house publications such as brochures, newsletters and catalogs.
• WebPlus X2, a WYSIWYG Web site design package.
• DrawPlus X2, a vector drawing program that includes Flash animation creation functionality.

Unfortunately, Serif doesn't offer time-limited free trial versions of its software. For those of us with long memories, that's sort of ironic, since the company used to give away old versions of its applications for free--a laudable practice if ever there was one.