At this year’s Adobe MAX conference, Adobe has introduced some interesting new tech they’re developing. One of them is Adobe Scribbler – software that doesn’t only automatically colorize black and white images, but also adds shades and texture. While other similar programs still need to improve, Adobe Scribbler seems to give pretty amazing results, judging from the preview.
Macphun launches Aurora HDR 2018, finally coming to Windows
Today, Macphun announced the release of the latest version of their HDR creation software. Aurora HD 2018 will soon be available for preorders, and what’s more – for the first time, it will be available for PC, and not only for Mac.
The software was co-developed with photographer Trey Ratcliff, with the goal of simplifying the complex HDR editing. Since its launch in November 2015, it reached 1.7 million users. There have been more than 10 updates since then, and the latest one comes with improvements and new features.
DxO Labs gives free license for DxO OpticsPro 9
A gift for photographers comes from DxO Labs. In cooperation with Digital Camera UK, they are giving away a free license for DxO OpticsPro 9, for a limited time. All you need to do is submit your email address and do it by the 28th of February – and it’s all yours.
Macphun is taking on Lightroom with Luminar – an new all-in-one photo editing solution
All new image software that gets released wants to become your go-to software. Coming in against the world of Lightroom and Photoshop can be a tough prospect. So tough that even Apple bowed out, completely dropping Aperture from its product line. There have been one or two challengers, but nothing really has the market that Adobe do.
Macphun are hoping to change that, though, with their new “next generation” all-in-one image editing software. Announced today, Luminar is a photo editing tool “which grows with photographers’ capability and knowledge”. Luminar has a non-destructive editing workflow, much like Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. It supports all the usual file formats including JPG and TIF along with all of the popular raw formats.
Photo Editing for Free – Pixls Offers Tutorials for Open Source Software Like Gimp and Darktable
I am a huge proponent of the open source platform. Sure, there are two sides to the open source vs. proprietary argument, but it’s still too early in the week to be arguing something that heavy.
There are numerous reasons to use open source software for photo editing. Perhaps you prefer the Linux operating system, maybe you’re on a tight (or nonexistent) budget, or maybe you just wanna “stick it to The Man.” Whatever your reason, there are an increasing number of solutions available to you.
This is where Pixls.us comes in. Founder Pat David started the website as a resource for those looking to use open source editing software. There are treasure troves of information and quality tutorials for applications like Photoshop and Lightroom yet very little (in comparison) for programs like Gimp and Darktable. David aimed to change that.
Affinity Photo Out Of Beta – $50, no subscription
If you don’t like the Adobe licensing model, or if you are just craving for an alternative, Affinity Photo just went live today. Affinity photo is a complete photo editing software similar to photoshop in features but redesigned completely. If you recall, we took Affinity Photo for a test drive and while the overall impressions were pretty good, it still needed some polishing. Hopefully, now that it’s out of beta (still mac only), all the small issues have been ironed out.
As far as costs go, Affinity really sticks it to Adobe with a $49.99 price tag ($39.99 for the next two weeks) and one of the most prominent bullets on their launch video is No Subscription (but you still get free updates). Hit the jump for the full feature list and kick off video.
DaVinci Resolve 12 may be the answer for budget filmmakers
DaVinci Resolve has been renown for its color grading capabilities for while, and they made me one happy freeloader when they started offering a pared-down version of their software at no cost. But, one major thing DaVinci lacked was the total control of a non-lineal editor. Now, with the upcoming release of DaVinci Resolve 12, you get the best of both worlds.
How Good (And Bad) Retouching Impacts Your Objective Age
A few days ago it started – suddenly these portraits sprouted everywhere like mushrooms after the rain, with pictures of people and a postit note on their forehead which states their age.
Behind this fed is a new “service” called how-Old, which claims to give an accurate guesstimate of your age based on a single photo. As a retoucher I often encounter this problem; a model still has a few more years to “steal” or actually to “give” to the industry. I had to test how many years I can take of a model with retouching and while this is a lighthearted post, the results were quite interesting.
Phase One Releases Capture One 8.2; Available for Download
The RAW converter now enables you to separately tone shadows, highlights and midtones via the improved 3-Way Color Balance tool.
The software’s extensive adjustment tools will benefit from an updated processing engine and the entire workflow is said to be faster and more stable.
Other new features include Dynamic Locations, high-res previews for 4k and 5k monitors and improved graphics.
The 8.2 update is free if you have a Capture One Pro 8 license, and available for a 30-day trial if you don’t.
Apple Makes Changes to Photography With iOS 8 Playing Catch With Android
Apple products: love them or not, there’s no denying that they’ve made a tremendous impact on photography today. If you don’t own an iPhone, chances are you most likely own a Mac. If you own neither then you’re in more of a minority than you’d think. Considering how important the company’s become to the photography world in general, the news that came out of Apple’s WWDC keynote today is set to make another mark in how many of us deal with our work. As I’m writing this post, Craig Federighi of Apple is wrapping up the announcement of the new iOS 8. Both the mobile operating software, along with the new update to Mac OSX, were both just recently introduced at the keynote, and the changes they’re bringing to how we work with photos on our Apple devices are far overdue.
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