FilmPack 7 has a number of new features, including luminosity masking for more control over image adjustments, 25 new analog film renderings, new ‘digital’ renderings replicating modern digital camera picture styles, and an ‘enriched’ Time Machine mode where you can browse historical photos and recreate their look with your own images.
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Affinity Photo 2 videos on YouTube
If anyone is interested, I’ve recently produced a series of videos on Affinity Photo 2 for Amateur Photographer, covering everything from new features in version 2 through focus stacking, HDR merge, object removal, non-destructive editing and panorama stitching. Here’s a list, with links.
Am I impressed by Photoshop’s AI Generative Fill and Generative Expand?
Everyone’s raving about Photoshop’s new Generative Fill and Generative Expand features. So far these are confined to the Photoshop 2024 beta, but is this the future of photography, a world ruled by the imagination not reality.
Reviews
Silver Efex Pro 3 review (Nik Collection 6)
Verdict: 5 stars Silver Efex Pro 3 is still the best black and white plug-in there is. It creates rich, dense black and white images that echo classic analog films and darkroom techniques in the digital age.
DxO PureRAW 3 review
Rating: 4.5 stars PureRAW 3 only does one job, but it does it extremely well. It takes your RAW files and applies DxO’s own lens corrections and, optionally, its DeepPRIME noise reduction process to produce images which are sharper, smoother and straighter. It can make average cameras and lenses look twice as good and extends your camera’s usable ISO range by up to 2.5 stops. These aren’t empty claims – this is what it does.
How to articles
Lightroom AI Denoise vs DxO DeepPRIME XD: there’s a clear winner
Lightroom’s new AI Denoise feature was the biggest news in Adobe’s April 2023 Lightroom update. Like so many other tools now appearing, it uses AI based denoising techniques directly on RAW image data to produce an enhanced RAW DNG file far superior to an image processed in the regular way. But is it as good as DxO’s DeepPRIME XD?
Now you can use Curve adjustments with Lightroom masks
This is a new feature introduced to Lightroom and Lightroom Classic in April 2023. It arrived in the same update as the new Lightroom AI Denoise feature, so it would be easy to overlook it, given all the fuss over the AI denoising.
Lightroom Versions and how they work… and you do need to know!
The Versions feature in Lightroom is interesting, but it is NOT the same as Virtual Copies, and the way it works could mean lost edits and lots of frustration if you don’t understand what it’s doing.
Have you tried AI preset suggestions from Lightroom Discover? You should!
LIghtroom has many limitations and restrictions. I’m talking about the web-based Lightroom here, not Lightroom Classic. But at the same time, Lightroom has some clever features that use Adobe’s Sensei AI technologies. One of these its AI-powered preset suggestions.
Nik Collection 6 Control Lines: what they are, how they work
These Control Lines can already be found in DxO PhotoLab 6, but they are new to the Nik Collection 6. Control Lines are a special kind of selective masking tool. They work like a linear gradient tool, but with an eyedropper which can be moved around to select the tones or areas you want the mask to be applied to.