REVIEW: onOne Software PhotoTools 2.6

I’m a busy guy so it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to do a review on . The last version I reviewed was PhotoTools 2.0 Professional back in June 2009, so this is an update that is looonnng overdue.

If you read my last review I had a lot of rants and raves but more importantly the software had a lot of bugs so I ultimately stopped using it. That’s a shame because I know that onOne Software is a great company who listens to customer feedback and tries hard to make great products, but I think that 2.0 came out before it was ready.

I’m happy to report that this version, at least on my 64-bit Windows 7 based systems and my MacBook Pro seem to be very reliable and more importantly – very fast! I had some troubles when I used 1.0 and 2.0 so the improvement can be directly attributed to a lot of great work by the onOne Software team so I congratulate them for getting over the growing pains of building a new and complex product.

Installation

Overall the installation went fairly smoothly for me. However, I did hit one issue on one of my machines (not all) that caused this “Unknown error: -65” dialog to display when I ran any onOne Software product:

After a quick email to onOne Software I found out that this error was resolved by using the instructions at http://www.ononesoftware.com/support/1269/. It turns out that I didn’t have .net 4.0 installed and that was required. While I would have liked their setup program to have detected this issue and ran the update for me, it was a pretty painless process and I was up and running with no major headaches after that. In fact, you may already have this update and not even see this problem which is very easy to fix.

I should note that on my Lenovo W701ds Windows 7 system and my MacBook Pro I did not have any problems – they both just worked right out of the box. I am including this note in case you hit it too so you won’t have any delay in getting going again.

What’s New

Here’s some of the new feature’s you’ll find in this version:

• NEW! Portrait photographers get a new Blemish Removal brush.
• NEW! Includes new effects designed specifically to enhance HDR photos.
• NEW! Includes over a dozen new texture overlays.
• NEW! Over 12 new effects added including new black & white effects.

Example: Editing a Portrait

While you can use this product to edit landscapes, architecture, etc… I thought I’d start by editing a portrait that was in bad need of some help. In the table below you can see that the original has tons of problems, but I started by fixing the white balance in Lightroom by clicking on the grout in between the tiles to get rid of the orange cast (thank goodness I shot in Raw!).

This image was shot at ISO 1000 so I went ahead and ran Imagenomic Noiseware to get rid of the noise. I had tried the noise reduction in PhotoTools, but it appears to be the same as what you find in Photoshop which means it sucks. In my Noise Reduction Series I compared various noise reduction products and Photoshop wasn’t even in the game, and even with CS5 it has a long way to go to catch up to Noiseware.

I decided to try a few techniques to fix this photo. I’ll discuss them more in a moment, but you can see the final results here. When you hover over the text in the bottom row of the table below, the image will switch to the method that you are hovering over. I’ve listed them in the order in which I liked the results. You may click the image or the text to get a larger version to examine the differences (recommended).

Original @ ISO 1000 and White Balance accidentally set to 5100K
Magic Portrait Fixer	Auto Portrait Fixer	PhotoTune 3

NOTE: I did use Sharpener Pro on the first two images after I was done editing them

Magic Portrait Fixer

PhotoTools 2.6 on Mac OS X 10.6.5 and Photoshop CS5 64-bit

This is a filter featured when I typed “Portrait” into the search box to filter down the dizzying array of choices in PhotoTools. I ran this one and it actually adds several filters to the stack. You can see which ones when you click on the image above for a larger size, but it is worth nothing that I masked out the changes to the lips on the Turbo Boost layer and I masked out the hair on the Auto Skin Smoother layer that PhotoTools creates in its stack. I also played around with the fade on several of the layers until I was happy with the final results (not shown above).

Dynamic Light Filter

I thought this effect darkened up the face to much so I went ahead and applied the Dynamic Light Filter which uses the spider tool like you would find in FocalPoint to allow for a little more light on the face which is very much like the effect that Vincent Versace teaches in his book Welcome to Oz, but with a lot less hassle. I loved this feature and the spider tool was a great way to make this adjustment very fast!

With this enhancement and the changes I made to the layers, I was very happy with the results I achieved very quickly with the Magic Portrait Fixer filter.

I should note that I finished this image off with Display sharpening using Sharpener Pro as I found it to be the better tool for sharpening than what I found in PhotoTools. However, I’ll make the disclaimer that I’m still getting reacquainted with this product again so if I find something better that is built in I’ll be sure to report back.

Auto Portrait Fixer

PhotoTools 2.6 on Windows 7 and Photoshop CS4 64-bit

Here I tried the Auto Portrait Fixer which is a little less aggressive. Once again I masked out the eyebrows and hair on the Auto Skin Smoother layer using the Masking brush. If you hover over the image above you can see the mask it applied. I liked the results and think they are very good, but the Magic Portrait Fixer version has some extra enhancements like Selective Focus that help to control the viewers eye.

All in all, I’d say this is a good filter that I can see myself using, but for this exercise I favored the more heavy handed Magic Portrait Fixer filter.

I should note that the for the final image for this one I did use Sharpener Pro as I had done in the photo above.

PhotoTune 3

For kicks and giggles I thought I’d see what would happen if I just used the People wizard of PhotoTune. Overall the results were okay, but nothing like the other two. PhotoTune is easy and great for the beginner, but I like PhotoTools way better for enhancing my images. 

I did not use Sharpener Pro on this one as the final step is sharpening so I didn’t feel it made sense to sharpen again.

Add a Frame with PhotoFrame 2.6

I was having a lot of fun playing around with the software inside onOne Software’s Perfect Photo Suite that I ended up doing something I rarely do – I added a frame to my final shot.

To do this I just went to the File menu and chose Automate PhotoFrame 2.6 and it brought up the library window. From there I typed film and chose one of the film frames. Since this is a snapshot I thought it was the perfect frame for the shot. Here’s some of the choices I had available, but it was pages of really cool options in this window:

It is easy to preview tons of great choices
with this brilliant user interface!

After I chose my frame I moved my image around and scaled it a bit smaller so that it would fit nicely in the film strip without being so heavily cropped as was the case in the default scenario. Fortunately I can do this quite easily in the PhotoFrame UI and it takes care of modifying my image and canvas to accommodate everything in Photoshop. This user-interface is very powerful and SUPER fast and reliable in this release:

Resize your image here and PhotoFrame takes care of the rest
(NOTE: Image shown is not from the final image used below)

The cool thing is that PhotoFrame gives you lots of options about how your frame can be applied but my favorite is this mode where the frame is separate from the image. In addition I can edit the layer mask to paint in only parts of the frame effect which is really cool when you want ragged edge frames. Here’s what my image looked like:

This could have been done in the main
image PSD but I broke it out to make
it easy to read here.

In just a matter of a couple minutes I had a fun frame and a great time creating it.

Conclusion

The Final Result
(Mouse in and out to see before & after)

The slogan for Perfect Photo Suite is “software that gets you back to shooting”, and I think that is a very accurate claim. I spent about 5 minutes in each filter experimenting with it and then another 2 minutes making the frame, so with little effort on my part I got a huge improvement (hover over above to see the before image) in less than 30 minutes. I’m very happy with the results and the improved performance and reliability will get me back to trying the onOne suite of products more often. I’m jazzed and ready to go edit some more images!

Special Offer

Visit my Discount Coupon Code page to see my latest special offer details for onOne Software. As of the time I am writing this offer they are offering $100 off the Perfect Photo Suite until December 31st, 2010. There’s also upgrade options (including a free upgrade for some) if you are a previous owner. Click here to see the latest offerings by onOne Software including a NEW special offer on Perfect Photo Suite!

Disclosure

onOne Software has provided me with an evaluation copy of all of their products for my review. I may get a commission if you purchase using the links in this article, so I appreciate your show of support by using the links on this blog when ordering.

onOne Software Ships Perfect Photo Suite 5.5

onOne Software Announces Availability of Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture

New version of Perfect Resize and direct integration with Lightroom and Aperture provide photographers with essential tools to quickly achieve high quality results

Portland, OR– December 2, 2010 – onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of innovative, timesaving solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced availability of Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® and Apple Aperture. Tackling specific problems within a photographer's preferred workflow, the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 offers simple yet powerful solutions for color correction, image resizing, masking and professional photographic effects in one affordable package. With support for Photoshop CS5, CS4 and CS3, the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 includes FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.6, PhotoTools 2.6, MaskPro 4.1 and Perfect Resize 7 (the next generation of Genuine Fractals). The Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 will also include the recently announced Perfect Layers, which will be available in early 2011.

With this new version of the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5, photographers now have more options for where they use many of the onOne products. For the first time photographers will be able to use FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoFrame 4.6 and Perfect Resize 7 directly within Lightroom and Aperture without the need for a separate host application. In addition, owners of the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 will receive Perfect Layers when it becomes available next year. This completely new product provides photographers with the ability to create layered files directly from within Lightroom and Aperture that are fully compatible with Photoshop for later editing.

Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 continues to include full support for Photoshop CS5, CS4 and CS3. Mask Pro 4.1 which allows photographers to replace backgrounds and make selections and PhotoTools 2.6, which allows photographers to leverage the power of Photoshop to enhance and stylize their images, continue to function directly within Photoshop and do not run as stand-alone applications.

Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 includes full versions of the following onOne Software products:

Perfect Resize 7 – The next generation of Genuine Fractals – Based on the same proven and patented algorithms as Genuine Fractals, the newest version of the industry standard for image resizing introduces new Smoothness and Sharpening controls to achieve the highest quality results when enlarging images. In addition, Perfect Resize adds features that make printing easier and faster including the new Loupe Tool for an instant 1:1 magnified preview. The upgrade also adds the ability to save custom Presets, a new Gallery Wrap preview with Auto Corner Fill, and Image Tiling improvements. Perfect Resize 7 now enables those who prefer a Lightroom or Aperture only workflow to resize a single or batch of images directly within those applications.

PhotoTools 2.6 – PhotoTools 2.6 adds a dozen new effects to the highly acclaimed Photoshop plug-in that allows photographers of all skill levels to maximize the full power of Photoshop with its ability to preview and combine Photoshop Actions in a single, intuitive interface. Designed by photographers for photographers, PhotoTools 2.6 includes the MaskingBug control, based on the FocusBug control from the award-winning FocalPoint plug-in, to selectively apply effects to images. PhotoTools 2.6 now has a total library of close to 300 effects that photographers can easily browse, preview and combine to create images that truly stand out.

PhotoFrame 4.6 – With PhotoFrame 4.6, you can add the perfect finishing touch to your images and layouts with new backgrounds, borders, layouts and adornments. With over one thousand design elements like film edges, borders, textures, backgrounds and adornments, PhotoFrame 4.6 even has complete layouts where users can simply drop an image in and they are done. It is the easiest and fastest way to add an authentic darkroom touch with a film edge or to create beautiful albums or scrapbook pages. Photographers can now use PhotoFrame 4.6 directly within Lightroom and Aperture.

FocalPoint 2 – Like bringing the camera lens inside Photoshop, FocalPoint 2 gives photographers the best way to add realistic depth of field and selective focus control to any image. Photographers now have an incredible amount of flexibility and control over the look of the blur with the new blur algorithm, FocusBrush, Lens Presets and multiple FocusBug features. Photographers can now use FocalPoint 2 directly within Lightroom and Aperture or on its own.

PhotoTune 3 – PhotoTune 3 uses patented technology to optimize the dynamic range, color and sharpness of images so that they look more true-to-life. The Wizard offers fast color and tone correction in as little as two steps while giving pro users direct access to advanced and innovative controls. SkinTune, which represents two years of research and analysis of thousands of skin tones, offers one-click color correction of portraits and the option to correct just the skin in an image. Photographers can now use PhotoTune 3 directly within Lightroom and Aperture or on its own.

MaskPro 4.1 – When a subject needs to be quickly extracted from a photo, Mask Pro 4 provides a color-based method that helps photographers easily remove unwanted backgrounds. Mask Pro's unique Color Decontamination technology allows users to get realistic results by maintaining transparency in hard to mask objects like hair, smoke and glass in a fraction of the time using traditional tools.

Perfect Layers 1 (New!) – The newest product in the onOne Software line-up provides a fast and easy way to bring a layered workflow to Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture. For those using a Lightroom or Aperture workflow, but not yet using Photoshop, Perfect Layers introduces the ability to create and edit multi-layered Photoshop files. With Perfect Layers photographers can combine multiple images into a layered Photoshop compatible file, adjust layer size, position, blending mode and opacity and use the built-in masking tools to blend multiple layers together. Perfect Layers will be made available at no cost to current owners of Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 as a free upgrade when it becomes available in 2011.

Availability

The new Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 is available immediately to owners of Plug-In Suite 5 as a free upgrade by clicking here.

New users may purchase Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for $499.95 (see the Discount Coupon Code page for a coupon code to save more). Purchased separately the products would normally cost $1,460. Existing owners of Plug-In Suite version 1, 2, 3 or 4 can upgrade to the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 for $199.95. Customers who own one or more of the products in Perfect Photo Suite 5.5 can now upgrade as well by clicking here.  For more information on the Perfect Photo Suite 5.5, please visit onOne Software.

Special Offer

Don’t forget to visit the Discount Coupon Code page for the latest codes to save big money on onOne Software products.

onOne Software offering $150 off Plug-In Suite 5

In an offer that won’t be found on onOne Software’s site, they are offering readers of this blog $150 off Plug-In Suite 5. I’ll be talking about the goodness of Genuine Fractals (included in this package) in my current printing series, and I have already recommended PhotoTools and PhotoFrame in past articles, so now is a good time to stock up and save. Keep in mind that this suite also has full 64-bit support and is compatible with Photoshop CS5, so those wishing to bid adieu to 32-bit Photoshop should at least install the trial version of this suite.  Click here for more details, videos and more.

NOTE: For early users of Plug-In Suite 5, if you have hit the nasty bug where you get a solid black display – that issue has been resolved! Simply download the latest update and everything works smoothly now.

REVIEW: onOne Software PhotoTune 3 (Updated 4-29-10)

onOne Software is known for making a large selection of great products, so their faithful followers were excited about the new release of Plug-in Suite 5 which included many new updates. One of those updates was a product that I’ve had  on my “todo” list to review for a long-time, and it’s called PhotoTune 3. It is a product that can be purchased separately or with the suite for the best value, and it’s basically a step by step wizard for enhancing your photos. It allows the most basic of beginners using Photoshop Elements 7 or greater or Photoshop CS2 or greater (32 or 64-bit) users to use their eyes and click which of two pictures looks best, slide some sliders (optional) to improve the choices on some steps, and voila – a drastically improved image is the result. This is the kind of plug-in my Mom can use, so I’m excited to finally get a chance to show you how it works.

Everyday tasks, like Sierra’s basketball pictures

If you are a parent, you inevitably will end up in a school gym taking photos for basketball, the school play, volleyball, etc… If you’ve done this then you know it is a dungeon so you are going to have to do some post processing. For those who aren’t skilled in Photoshop or Lightroom, PhotoTune 3 might be the answer to your editing prayers. Consider the image below (or mouse in and out of the one above) that is the final step of the PhotoTune 3 wizard where it shows what we started with and the final result. A big difference, huh?

The after image is simply the result of running PhotoTune 3.0’s wizard on the before image. I’ve done no additional post-processing after running the wizard. Now, I would probably do some things a little differently if I processed the photo entirely from scratch, but I thought this was a pretty darn good result that the average soccer Mom (or basketball dad in this case) could accomplish! To see how I did it, follow each step in the photo gallery here (and be sure to read the captions). You can click on any of the images here or in the gallery for a larger version.

Is it any good for images without people?

I won’t go through all the steps, but the short answer is yes – I think it did a decent job for a beginner. You can hover over the image above to see a before and after or take a look at both side by side in the user-interface below:

You’ll notice that there’s only 5 steps for the summary in the gallery here which shows each step. I think more could be done, especially for shots where the sky is a little bleached out and the foreground is dark. It works, and depending on your choices it will be an improvement – but I can definitely do much better with my Ninja Photoshop skills. :-)

Pro Mode

I’ll be frank and say, I don’t see the point in Pro Mode. I’d rather use Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom to make the types of tweaks offered in Pro Mode as it is more effective and less frustrating. This product isn’t geared towards pro’s, so I found this feature to be less than useful. You can see some detailed screen shots here, but my advice is that if you aren’t getting anything out of the wizards then the Pro Mode isn’t going to make you any happier.

The Color module also drove me insane, so while I commend the out of the box thinking – this solution isn’t it very useful to me.

Video Demo

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth even more. Here’s a simple video I made to demonstrate how this product works. Let me know if you enjoy these as I will try to do more if the feedback is positive.

Conclusion

This is an application that I think is clearly geared towards beginners, but that’s okay. There are a hell of a lot more beginners than pro Photoshop users (including Photoshop Elements) out there, and this is a product that will help them be productive fast. It’s especially useful for those who just haven’t figured out what all the fuss is about with Lightroom, and feel that just making there pictures look a bit better is enough (i.e., they aren’t interested in investing huge amounts of time to make their photos look magazine worthy). This represents a lot of people I know, so I think it is a good choice for many beginners. I’ve used the previous versions and always was a little disappointed, but the the third time seems to be a charm. This version gets the job done quickly and easily, but don’t forget that it requires Photoshop CS2 or greater or Photoshop Elements 6 or greater to run. Visit the web site for more details.

Great Videos

See some great videos here to see how this product works, but don’t forget to return to this blog for your discount when purchasing!

Special Offer

Click here to order at 20% off the retail price (or click here for 20% off the upgrade) using the code RMART20.

Disclosure

onOne Software is a paid sponsor and I earn a commission if you take advantage of the special offer. Please support this blog by support onOne Software and using my special offers.