For PhotoFinishing, mobile apps like Instagram, FxReviews, and PicSay have re-invigorated a revolution started by such web photofinishing tools as Picnik [see here the new Picniks since Google closed shop ]. The idea was to add visual fun to images which was inspired originally by Photoshop plugins like Impressionist or Virtual Painter or Flaming Pear. […]
FotoSketcher PhotoFinishing Fun Read More »
My father used to say “know when you have been beaten to the punch”- and DPReview with Amadou Diallo’s update on Adobe’s Lightroom 4 has certainly done that. Note this is an update review so users are expected to be familiar with Lightroom 2 or 3 and the program’s role as a single image, non-destructive
Superb Adobe Lightroom 4 Review Read More »
Photoscape keeps moving up the rankings as a photo editor the more often it gets used. Now let this reviewer admit, Photoscape initially took a big dive in estimation when no masking and no layering capabilities were to be found. In contrast Art Weaver, another free photo editor, provides both layering and selections/masks plus a
Photoscape Image Compositions Read More »
Back in 2008 this blog identified Picnik as one of the best online image editing sites in the business. Two years later in 2010 we were no less enthusiastic about Picnik after Google bought the software and added it to Picasa. And ye Editor is not alone as other recent reviews put Picnik well above
Why Did Google Close Picnik? Read More »
Most photo editors have good brush capabilities. Adobe Photoshop takes it to a new level and allows users to customize their brushes much like Photoshop Styles – to a surprising extent. But the best painting tool on the market has been Corel Painter with its huge set of brushes, their amazing set of properties, their
Autodesk Sketchbook vs Corel Painter 12 Read More »
Back on April Fools Day 2009, the headline was RIP: Corel PaintShop Pro. I had just tried the latest version, PaintShop Pro X2, and found it to be awful – slow, bloated and failing like its fellow software boondoggle of the day, Microsoft Vista. Having already seen the downward trend with PaintShop Pro X1 –
Corel PaintShop Pro X4: Its Back! Read More »
Given the wave of great automatic digital cameras, it would appear easy to produce great Web images. But actually getting from here – good images in the digital camera; to there, great images on your Web pages can present some non-trivial and vexing problems. Here are 3 general problems: 1)On the web, image size still
Creating Great Web Images Read More »
Sharing pictures online is becoming ever more popular. Photography websites like Flickr and Fotki or social media sites like Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr are locales where photographers congregate. It has become so important in social media sites that Google+ has boosted its photo album service into the top ranks – see here And smartphone camaeras are certainly expanding even more
Making Notecards With Your Own Images Read More »
The .8bf open Adobe Photoshop plugin standard is endangered. So to honor the creativity and fun of so many .8bf based filter and plugins, thePhotofinishes has started a series looking at some of the fun, creative and often free .8bf plugins. And there is no better place to start than the Mehdi Plugins which are
.8bf Fun: the Mehdi Plugins Read More »
One of the best features of Photoshop in its early days has been two programmable capabilities: Actions for Photoshop users and plugins for software developers. Plugins over the years have anticipated many image processing features that eventually became incorporated with the Adobe design flair into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements commands. Look at some of the
Adobe Plugins Change Read More »