Ok, im not sure what has happened this week. Its like the photo app guys thought it was the week before June 9 and decided that they needed to get their updates out before WWDC. Note to you guys: We have another THREE WHOLE WEEKS, so relax. And thank you, though im not 100% sure what the hell to do with all of these links. Oh right, im going to put them in my new Wed spot here on the picturestoryblog.com because I was fired from Fridays. Turns out that people would rather look at pretty imagery on the last work day of the week rather than back up their photo database. Good luck with that.
Here are the links as they came to me and I honestly have never used a single one of them but they all look usable. The more pro (proer?) of you may turn your noses up at some of them because either 1) Every image you shoot is perfect in every way for every use or 2) You are like that guy in the Matrix who sees the ones and zeroes, except you do that with Photoshop. But the rest of us looking for shortcuts and technology fixes to our bad to average photos are lucky as hell.
Hydra: We have discussed Aperture before (anyone?... anyone?...) and Hydra is a plugin that extends its usefulness. It allows you to combine up to four photos of the same thing, at different exposures and combine them to create a perfectly balanced photo. Its called HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging and it compensates for that lousy CCD that you must deal with here in the 21st century. Cool, right? Oh, and its also a standalone program, so if you dont use the aforementioned Aperture, no problem. Leopard only but does RAW. Word.
Here is a cool article on trackpad gestures in Photoshop, for those of you who havent yet upgraded to the latest and greatest laptops. Oh how I pity you. It speaks for itself and is pretty cool. Yes I am aware that this isnt a new product, but it IS extending the usefulness of Photoshop.
Anyone ever use Acorn? Anyone ever heard of it? Its a simple, inexpensive ($50) image editor for those of you who have been using bootlegged or cracked versions of Photoshop and cant sleep at night anymore because you are sure you will be arrested by the BSA. Give it a shot, its powerful and simple. Plus, its made by a company that has the balls to call itself "Flying Meat".
Picturesque. Is. Kick Ass. Seriously, im not joking, its really cool because, well, it makes your images better. There, I said it: You need help with some of those images and unless you are some sort of photojournalist all hung up on truth and image fidelity, this baby can really make you look good. You artists out there hear me. Make something good into something new, whether its good or not. Have fun.
Batting last is Photon. Photon ($70) should have gotten a mention here, but I was too myopic in my analysis and none of you had the guts to point it out in the comments of that post. Thanks. No really, Thanks. Photon enters the DAM pantheon with a slick interface and boasts of rocket-like speed. Full resolution RAW processing and did I mention speed? Import/Organize was never this fast or sexy.
Whew. Remember to check them out and report back to me in the comments. I havent done anything but discover the golden monkey head; you must retrieve it and exploit the spoils.
Geof Bowie
www.thinkfixed.com
