Software News

The folks who brought you PortraitPro, the software that turns average looking men and women into superstars (or as John Oliver might say, “Turns ones into tens faster than a South American counterfeiter”) now brings you LandscapePro, a similar application you should think of as “cosmetic surgery for Mother Nature.” But is this a case of “liking what you get,” or “getting exactly what you like?” That, my friends, is the $59 question

This morning DxO released OpticsPro 11—a major update of their highly touted Raw image processing software. This new version includes faster operation and a host of powerful enhancements with an optimized workflow.

Panoramas are easy to wish for, but, until recently, were not easy to get. To shoot high-quality panos often required special cameras that could rotate their lens while simultaneously advancing an aperture slit across a curved film plane.

Athentech has an offer you can’t refuse: A free download of their popular Perfect Exposure plug-in for Photoshop and Lightroom. With this easy-to-use, fully functional plug-in you’ll be able to correct exposure mistakes and add depth, contrast and soft light to your images.

Corel is clearly taking a shot at Adobe with the AfterShot Pro 3 photo editor/management suite, which offers a host of new features and claims to be four-times faster than the latest version of Lightroom. This powerful new version of AfterShot Pro comes at wallet-friendly price of $79.99.

Macphun has announced an offer you can’t refuse: A free download of their new Filters For Photos app that lets Mac users create striking effects without the complexity of other image-editing programs. The new app can be used as a standalone program or as an extension for the popular Apple Photos application.

HDR, as most photographers know, stands for High Dynamic Range, allowing you to capture a wider range of highlight and shadow detail than you could in a single frame. You create an HDR image by shooting several identically framed shots of the same scene at different exposures, often with three brackets such as -2, 0, and +2 EV. The newest kid on the HDR block is Aurora HDR Pro from Macphun, currently for Mac only, but with a Windows version in the works.