Link via Digital Journal
Article discussing new software and hardware tools to add some creativity to ho-hum photos. Photoshop Elements 8 and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 are discussed along with plugins from Alien Skin and Nik Software:
Concentrate instead on plugins — separate software packages that work within photo-editing software and perform astonishing feats.
The really good news is that the plugins work with both Corel’s Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate and Adobe’s Photoshop Elements.
These tools are so sophisticated they can cost more than the photo editing software itself. But they will move your work to a new level of excellence.
Plugins created recently by Alien Skin Software, called Exposure, Image Doctor, Bokeh and BlowUp, or by Nik Software, such as DFine, Colour Efex Pro or Viveza lead the way.
The article also discusses input devices like the Wacom tablets and photo organizers like Lightroom and ACDSee Pro.
Adobe, Alien Skin, Corel, Nik Software, and Wacom products are all available at an educational discount price from Creation Engine.
Link via MacWorld
Another unique feature of the Bokeh plugin is the ability to simulate tilt-shift photography on an existing image. Tilt-shift photography simulates the effect of turning your subject matter into a miniature model. You produce the effect through special camera lenses that adjust the image plane via camera movements when taking the photo.
Bokeh is available at an education discount price of $130.
Link via Creation Engine
Snap Art 2 is a Photoshop plug-in that turns your photography into beautiful works of art with a single click. Detailed simulation of individual brush strokes and canvas texture gives results that are indistinguishable from handmade art. The finished piece begs to be hung in a gallery, especially when printed on canvas.
Snap Art 2 examples
Snap Art 2 is available at an academic discount price of $130.
Whether you use the lens blur filter in Photoshop or a plug-in, creating or enhancing the depth of field through software helps focus the viewer on the subject of your photo.
The depth of field effect can be added in Photoshop with the lens blur filter according to this Photoshop Tutorial, but there are also Photoshop plug-ins with the specific purpose of adding depth of field to your photos.
Alien Skin’s Bokeh Photoshop plug-in manipulates focus just like fast expensive lenses. Bokeh can draw attention to your subject by manipulating focus and depth of field after the shot has been taken. From changing the depth of field to placing a radial sweet spot and adding a vignette, Bokeh provides many techniques for realistic blurring and altering the mood of a scene.
onOne’s FocalPoint Photoshop plug-in gives photographers a way to create realistic depth of field control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any image after it is photographed allowing for more control and precision. The focus bug control in FocalPoint has a tangible, hardware feel much like using a lens. It makes it fast for a photographer to define the “sweet spot” either in a round shape or a plane and then control how much and of what kind of blur they would like to add.
Photoshop CS4 Extended is available at an academic discount price of $299.
Bokeh is available at an academic discount price of $139.
FocalPoint is available at an academic discount price of $79.
Do Photoshop’s upsampling tools give you the jaggies? When you need to enlarge images, Blow Up may be the helping hand you’ve been looking for.
Alien Skin Blow Up review from creativepro.com