News

The Plugin Site (www.thepluginsite.com) has released the MacOS X version of LightMachine, a plugin for performing all kinds of light adjustments in photos.

LightMachine is said to combine shadow/highlight, virtual lighting and color-based correction tools for performing sophisticated corrections without the need for time-consuming selections and layer stacks. It lets you selectively correct photos taken under bad light conditions or with inadequate camera settings and achieve results that rival photos taken under the best circumstances. Additionally LightMachine can achieve special effects like glows, sunsets, high key and selective b/w effects, replace one color with another and simulate polarizing filters. LightMachine works in several graphics applications including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, Painter, Canvas and Fireworks. LightMachine can be applied to 8bit and 16bit RGB images.

LightMachine corrects brightness, contrast and saturation in specific image areas independently from each other. It basically consists of four different filters, each split up into a simple mode suitable for beginners and a Pro mode with more features for more flexibility. The Brightness/Contrast modes adjust brightness and contrast throughout the image which is nice as a starting point. The Shadows/Highlights modes give you complete control over dark and bright image areas and let you correct them completely independently from each other with the help of sophisticated masking options. The Virtual Studio modes allow you to place an unlimited number of shadow and light spots as if you were placing studio lights in a real photo studio. The intensity, size, ovality, angle, hardness and reflection properties of each spot can be adjusted precisely. Finally, the Colors modes let you selectively correct image objects of a specific color by clicking on them.

Plenty of Tools
LightMachine uses a resizable dialog and its controls are logically organized in various tab sheets. Moving the mouse over each control instantly displays a detailed explanation in the Help box, so you don't need to read the manual before using LightMachine. Spilt Views let you display the original image side-by-side with the corrected version and the 17 different histograms can be useful as a guide. Complex corrections are made easy by LightMachine's Auto Mask feature, which lets even beginners quickly create suitable masks. Four different modes for displaying the used mask help even further. Removing color shifts in lifted shadows is a snap with LightMachine's one-click color picker. LightMachine's Logged Settings feature can remember the settings used for any image and automatically loads them whenever they are required again.

LightMachine is available for Windows and MacOS X. LightMachine sells at $69.95 (Regular License) or $39.95 (Academic/Educational License). It can be purchased at http://www.thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/. A demo version can be downloaded at the same URL.