Photoshop CS6 Beta

Adobe is planning to unleash another version of Photoshop in the form of Adobe Photoshop CS6 on us. It’s an industry-standard program, but at almost $900, that’s more than quite a few DSLRs and some great lenses. There’s no denying that it’s the best imaging editing program out there, but the price only really makes it viable for professionals and high-end enthusiasts who earn out of it, to take full advantage of the controls it offers. Every two year new versions comes out and we are tempted to upgrade. I wanted to search for an able alternative in free software world. Here are the few I chose from a vast list of software out there. This will not be an extensive review but a brief feature survey for you to assess which software is suitable for your need.

Here are my picks of the best free software applications for photographers like GIMP 2.6.12, Picasa 3.9.0, Photoscape 3.6.1, Raw Therapee 4.0.7.1, Serif PhotoPlus starter Edition 2.0.0.2. I also tested few purely online photo editors like Photoshop Express, Pixlr, Fotoflexer.

GIMP 2.6.12
GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. If you are looking for a free and equally impressive featured alternative to Photoshop then GIMP will satisfy you well. Even though it looks like pre-CS version of Photoshop it has a basic layout which will be familiar to all Photoshop users. From basic cropping and resizing to correcting barrel distortion, GIMP is an all-encompassing piece of software that will solve a number of issues for those unwilling to shell out on a more expensive application.

GIMP

For starters PSD files (layered files from Photoshop) can be opened and altered, making it incredibly useful as a converter. A Histogram, which can be divided in red, green and blue channels, is also present and can be utilized to alter exposure and color balance. The interface can be moved around, adapting to the available space on your monitor, making it perfect for the likes of net-books and desktop computers. A clone tool, healing tool and perspective clone tool are present for more in-depth photo fixes, as is the ability to create and manipulate Alpha Channels and multiple layers. Because GIMP is multi-platform there are no restrictions on using a Linux setup, nor Windows or Mac GIMP is an excellent solution for those not wanting to pay for Photoshop, as the functionality is extremely close.

Picasa 3.9.0
An organization and editing package, aimed at sharing your images through the various internet options that Google hosts. Picasa gathers your images for easy upload, and even offers some basic editing functionality. The editing is essentially a number of customizable filters, each with a few sliding controls to alter the severity of the effects. There are also a number of corrective settings to utilize, such as brightness, as well as the ability to re-size or save into other formats. An impressive number of formats can be imported, from JPEG to PSD and a whole host of Raw files.

Picasa

The links to Google are apparent from the get-go, with their Google+ social networking site prominent as an export option. This doesn’t mean other social networking sites are excluded though, as Twitter can be exported to directly and Facebook via a third-party plug-in. The interface is friendly, with large buttons and simple icons. Because Picasa isn’t particularly concerned with the likes of layers and Alpha Channels there isn’t a massive amount of clutter either, which is especially helpful for rapid alterations. Unlike GIMP, Picasa is perfect for absolute beginners, as the program needs far less time spent fiddling with settings. That being said there is a lack of frequently-used functions, such as a clone tool which I soaringly missed in Picasa. Picasa is available for both PC & Mac platforms, but no Linux version released yet.

Photoscape 3.6.1
More of a converter and organizer than a photo editor, this Windows-only program displays images in a friendly manner and offers some basic editing.

Photoscape

Editor allows very few correction as compared to other editors I have reviewed. There are tools for resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, back light correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming, paint brush, clone stamp, effect brush. The layout and manner in which the tools are selected (drop-down menus rather than icons) seems a touch archaic.

Raw Therapee 4.0.7.1
A Raw processing program with the ability to make the kind of on-the-fly adjustments that Lightroom is capable of, from simple level changes through to tinkering with the white balance and cropping. It is a multi-platform tool which works on PC, Mac as well as Linux. Looking much like a low-rent version of Lightroom the layout is very straightforward, with tools to the right, images placed centrally and the browser on the left. Moving the window to fill a larger space can cause the icons to merge into one another, showing the homemade nature of RawTherapee.

Rawtherapee

Thankfully the program churns through the majority of tasks with relative ease, making opening a number of different Raw files extremely simple. The lack of presentational flair also seems to be to the benefit of the start-up and processing times, as both are impressively rapid. Any alterations are saved within a selectable history and viewed side- by-side with the original. There are a few gimmicky features but most of the controls are aimed towards correcting and tweaking – and with Raw files this is a good level of control. The ability to do batch conversions will be perfect for an aspiring pro photographer. There is considerable learning curve as a number of the tools are poorly labelled. It is an excellent and able alternative to Lightroom.

Serif PhotoPlus starter Edition 2.0.0.2
A scaled-down version of Serif PhotoPlus X4, which offers the same interface with a few tools locked out. As the program is now on the X5 version you get a decent impression of how the software will work while being able to import, edit and export images. As a result of the restricted version of the software, PhotoPlus Starter can import but only perform basic Raw file editing, misses out on HDR photo merge automation and no dedicated extension programs for fixing or cutting out images.

Serif Photoplus Starter Edition

The likes of the clone and select tools are still very much present within the software. What bugged me most was the registration process and the insertion of license key which is sent via e-mail for this restricted software. This is available in PC only version. The installer file tries to install ad-ware, and my antivirus software was going berserk when I was trying to download software from their website. 128MB download is not resume-able and I failed once to download fully, another time due to antivirus alert to the ad-ware. Finally after asking my antivirus to shut-up, I could download it. My advice is better stay away from this good but crippled software as there are many other able alternatives exist.

Photoshop Express
Photoshop Express can be accessed as online editing tool, can run on IOS hardware’s like iPhone & iPads after downloading via app market. There is an Android version too which can be downloaded via Google Play Store. It is an online version of very basic Photoshop, albeit a stripped-down variation with more concentration on organizing and sharing. The usability of this program depends heavily on your internet connection speed, but once uploaded is reasonably rapid. The first step in the process is to upload files which, once again, is affected by the available connection. For this reason it’s worth keeping the files you edit below 5MB, and not more than 10MB at once. Files larger than 5Mb are not editable. There’s a 2GB limit on the number of images stored, and only JPEGs can be uploaded, meaning that this isn’t for Raw shooters.

Photoshop Express

Once the files do make it online, Albums can be made, and basic editing performed. The likes of exposure can’t be tweaked in fine detail, with the adjustments in a handful of steps instead. What is there is fairly powerful, though, with each image accompanied by an adjusted preview thumbnail of your photo. Once the edit has been completed the program can print direct or download, with several sharing options on offer. Moving past the restrictions of using an internet connection, Photoshop Express is incredibly useful when you’re traveling without a laptop, or if you’re at a friend’s house wanting to access some images. It recently got an upgrade in IOS & Android environment to a paid app called Photoshop Touch with some more functionality.

Pixlr
As online photo editors go, Pixlr is pretty impressive. Not only is there no sign-up involved in order to start editing, but it has the same functionality as plenty of installed programs. The interface is extremely familiar and the options plentiful as well. Pixlr combines image design and paint tools with photo editing and adjustment features more convincingly than any other online image editing program.

Pixlr

Pixlr is equally capable of producing results on par with many of its software-based counterparts. It beats most of the installable post-processors hands down on feature capability. Yet, despite its deep feature-set, Pixlr remains facile, intuitive and, most importantly, user-friendly. There is a fully customizable user interface with movable and scalable windows. Navigation-free drop-down menus featuring all filters, adjustment and layering options. Design is intuitive and paint features with a dedicated history window for reference and quick undo/redo. I was very impressed with its functionality and it scores as the one of the best online editors available now since closure of other two contenders – Picnik.com & flauntR.com

Fotoflexer
Another web-based program, much like Photoshop Express, with the ability to import and edit from the likes of Facebook. Impressively featured, but a touch basic-looking, this site is useful for those wanting to access images from social media sites and edit them. It has Layering feature also contains lots of visuals effects. But it lacks novice-friendly hand holding for advanced features.

Fotoflexer

You can’t simply click an image and open it in FotoFlexer. Hi-res mode slows performance. No printing option. FotoFlexer has parts that would satisfy the casual and hardcore image editor, yet manages to alienate both by not giving the former enough hand-holding, nor the latter enough freedom to save files as they wish, or send to printer.

Corel Aftershot Pro
Bonus: In fact I also reviewed the new entrant into the field which is trying to give a stiff competition to Adobe Lightroom, Corel Aftershot Pro. New, first-generation app from Corel, After Shot Pro draws on technology from the company’s acquisition of Bibble Labs and from its own PaintShop Pro. This is not a free software like the others ($99.99) It has most of the features similar to Lightroom with fast display of large raw files, good auto-correction.

Corel Aftershot Pro

It accepts and includes industry-standard plug-ins. Unfortunately import feature is week, interface could be friendlier and there is no dual-monitor support. Very limited camera and lens profiles. No red-eye correction. No Web or e-mail sharing features. With Adobe cutting Lightroom’s cost to $149, Corel needs to step up its game if it wants a serious contender in the photo workflow space. Only positive feature I felt was that it is multi-platform software being produced for PC, Mac & Linux as against the Lightroom.

So after all these, which is my favorite software? I liked almost all of them. Rawtherapee & Pixlr both scored very well among these. I have missed quite a few softwares in this review like Photo.net,Irfanview and FastStone Image Viewer. Many online services like Picnik.com, flauntR.com are closing down. What I advice you is to try all these tools and keep what you like and discard what you don’t like. Have a Happy Ugadi and a great photo editing experience.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta

Adobe just unveiled the beta version of Photoshop CS6. Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta with redesigned User Interface and Sixty five new features. You can download it free from Adobe labs and try it yourself. The beta is fully functional and will work until the final release comes out. It also works alongside any version of Photoshop you have installed—it will not delete it. Fans of the dotted lines in Illustrator now get the same vector tools in Photoshop. Additionally, every slider for the Camera Raw 7.0 plug-in (exposure, contrast, etc.) has a freshly tweaked algorithm. And for anyone who’s ever looked on helplessly as Photoshop locked itself up during a long file save, projects can now save in the background while you work on other things.

Adobe’s also made some refinements to existing features. The liquify tool, for instance, now has a larger maximum brush size, and works in real time so you can see the effect in real time. Adobe’s also added two features to complement Content-Aware Fill, which was first introduced with CS5. These include one for moving objects to different part of the image, and one for patching up a spot with content taken from another part of the picture.

With change comes some potential readjusting, though. In addition to adding more functionality, Adobe’s overhauled the UI so that it has a dark background like Adobe Lightroom (this is customizable, to an extent) with a generally cleaner smattering of icons and menus.

Learning Resources & Reviews on Photoshop CS6:

• Photoshop CS6 beta overview: Russell Brown’s favorite 6 features in Photoshop CS6 beta
• Photoshop CS6 beta overview: Julianne Kost’s favorite 6 features in Photoshop CS6 beta
• Photoshop CS6 beta: New Content-Aware Technology – Bryan O’Neil Hughes
• Adobe Photoshop CS6 – My Top 6 Favorite Features – Terry White
• See tips and tutorials for getting started in the Photoshop CS6 Kelby Learning Center
• Sneak Peek #1: In this video taken straight from the laptop of our Senior Product Manager, Bryan O’Neil Hughes, get an early look at some of the things the Photoshop team is working on for Camera Raw.
• Sneak Peek #2: Get an early look at a popular Facebook fan request – background save and the most powerful liquify tool ever, from Photoshop Product Manager, Zorana Gee.
• Sneak Peek #3: Product Manager, Zorana Gee, gives a hint at what’s to come – creating dashed and dotted lines with just one click in Photoshop. A top requested feature brought to life!
• Sneak Peek #4: See more advanced features of Photoshop Content-Aware technology. Straight from Photoshop Senior Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes, this video shares how to seamlessly move or remove an object from an image.
• Sneak Peek #5: Get a peek of what sharing presets will be like in the future. We’ve also addressed dozens of requests from our Photoshop community, called “just do its” or JDIs.
• Sneak Peek #6: Here’s a peek from Photoshop Product Manager Stephen Nielsen of a tool that will add blur to any image without masks, layers or depth maps.
• Future Innovation: Video & Photoshop: Get a glimpse of what the Photoshop team has been working on, when it comes to video and Photoshop. You won’t believe what you can do when you unite the power of Photoshop with easy and approachable video editing tools!
• Sneak Peek #7: See the 3D capabilities to come in Photoshop CS6 Extended, including enhanced performance and the ability to change the position, color, material, shadow, and light source of a 3D image.
• Comprehensive list of JDI’s (Just Do It) features in Photoshop CS6
• Photoshop CS6 Learning CenterFree Photoshop CS6 preview course with Deke McClelland
• bjango.com – blog post – Photoshop CS6 improvements -  The Photoshop CS6 beta is now available. It includes a ton of big and small improvements over previous versions. Here are the ones that matter to me, as an interface designer: Covers Layer Search; Vector pixel snapping; Layer Styles on Groups; Group Clipping Masks; Paragraph Styles and Character Styles; Strokes on paths.
• Ice Flow Studios – YouTube video tutorials – See What’s New In Photoshop CS6
• DP Review – Product Review for Photographers – Photoshop CS6 Beta: New Features for Photographers
• CNET – Product Review – Adobe revs Photoshop’s engine (hands on)
• Macworld – Product Review – First Look: Photoshop CS6 Beta is dark, swift, and content aware
• Gizmodo – Producet Review – Photoshop CS6 Is the Best Version In Recent Memory—And It’s Free Now
• Time Techland – Product Review – Adobe’s Photoshop CS6 Beta: Even a Little More Magical
• Photoshop Cafe – Tutorials Videos – Photoshop CS6 BETA New Feature Videos
• Engaget – Product Review – Adobe unveils Photoshop CS6 beta with redesigned UI and 65 new features, download it for free today
• CNET – Stephen Shankland- Product Review -  With CS6, Photoshop takes a step toward VideoshopNew Features in Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta
  

  Brushes

  • HUD brush resize and hardness can now change opacity
  • Increase brush size to 5000px
  • Change color dynamics to per stroke instead of per tip (user option for old behavior)
  • Brightness/contrast slider for textures when painting
  • Brush projection for static tips
  • Brush cursor reflects brush dynamics for round and captured tips

  Eyedropper

  • Show the sample size popup for the various eyedropper tools (black point, white point,
  • etc.)
  • Add ignore adjustment layers options bar item for the eyedropper
  • New mode for eyedropper to select layers current and below
  • File formats
  • Read common stereo image pair formats (JPS, PNS) Allow for more bit depths in TIFF files
  • Read BIGTIFF format
  • Give the user choices regarding how they want transparency treated in OpenEXR on file open

  Grammar

  • Policed throughout app
  • Use consistent grammar style in the title of dialog windows (no commands such as “Choose a color:”)

  Layers

  • Add a contextual menu item that deletes a layer effect not just disables it
  • Add dither options to Layer Styles for Gradient Overlay and Gradient Stroke
  • Allow 00 or Shift 00 to work when setting layer/fill opacity (previously no way to get 0%)
  • Add bicubic sharper & bicubic smoother options when free transforming layers
  • Allow changing of blend modes for multiple layers at once
  • Allow locking of multiple layers
  • CMD+J to duplicate layers and layer group
  • Allow changing color labels to multiple layers at once
  • Layer tooltips to include layer name (if defined)
  • Opt+click on toggle arrows (groups and effects) in layer panel should close all targets
  • Show blend if/Blending Effects badge on layer
  • Show correct opacity and blend mode values for hidden layers
  • Tab goes to next layer on inline layer rename, SHIFT + TAB goes to previous
  • New command to raster layer effect into layer, merging the selected layers into themselves
  • Reorder effects in the layers palette to match the Z-­­order style/blend mode (bottom most effects in termsof blending order, drop shadow is below the other effects

  Liquify

  • Resize Liquify brush with shortcuts
  • Increase maximum Liquify brush size Add option to load last mesh

  Presets

  • Add new document presets for common devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad, etc.)
  • Add new Gradient Map presets for toning and split-­­toning
  • Sticky reorganization of tool presets (changes persist after re-launch) Add Contact Sheet II as an Automation option

  SDK

  • Add the ability to return an array of guides in a document from the scripting SDK
  • Add ability to access tool name associated with the tool preset name via scripting

  Selections

  • Make the marquee, lasso, and mask panel feather values support decimal places like the feather dialog
  • Remember feather radius when showing dialog for selection from a path

  Transform

  • Improve dragging of vector curves
  • Don’t hide smart object icon when transforming a layer
  • Rotate 90 with even x odd pixel dimension to be smooth (bjango.com)
  • Undo or disable auto -­­rotate on open

  UI

  • Remove the app bar and reduce the drag/app bar over 30%
  • [Windows] New/open document to context click on a document tab (has always been on Mac, now Windows too)
  • Add “Don’t show again” checkbox to Purge warnings

  Miscellaneous

  • Enable Split Channels for documents with layers
  • Select Hex field by default and allow clipboard pastes with # in contents (i.e. #fffffff)
  • Increased GPU stability by prequalifying GPUs on the fly before use
  • Auto-­­select the best resample method based on the type of resize
  • Enable Invert and Threshold adjustments for masks in 32 -­­bit
  • Hold SHIFT during startup to disable 3rd party plugins
  • Add warning message that 16 -­­bit images cannot display their file size in the Save as JPEG dialog
  • Add command to insert “lorem ipsum” for type

As promised in my last blog I am showing you how I converted the image sequence into the video. When I took the photos of that Oriental magpie Robin I was not planning to do the image sequence. Ideally a tripod mounted stationary camera would have been excellent for such an image sequence. If you plan to do time lapse series then tripod mounting is a must. The following method works well with time lapse sequences too.

Since I had the photos handheld I needed to align the main branch where it was sitting in perfect alignment. So after processing all Raw photos in Adobe Lightroom I chose the right click menu Edit in -> Open as layers in Photoshop.

Open as layers in Photoshop

This will export the photos to Adobe Photoshop and arranges all the 15 photos as layers of a single file. To align images this is ideal method.

Photoshop with photos exported as layers

I chose all the layers in Adobe Photoshop and from the Edit menu -> Auto Align Layers.

Auto Align Layers

Under the Auto Align Layers options dialog box I chose both vignette removal as well as geometric distortion under the lens correction option. This may not be necessary if you have kept the aperture constant.

Auto Align Layers options

Now Adobe Photoshop will churn away depending on the speed of your machine aligning your images.

Aligning Layers

Aligning Layers

After a short wait you will be presented with perfectly aligned images. As you can see the edges of all the images will not be aligned.

Perfectly aligned layers

Next you need to crop all the images so that they will be of the same size and will not have transparent borders. This is accomplished using crop tool in Adobe Photoshop.

Cropping the edges

Now we will explore a hidden gem in Adobe Photoshop. If you plan to export all the layers as separate files you need to go to File -> Scripts -> Export Layers to Files option.

Scripts to export layers to files

Now you will get 15 jpeg files out those 15 layers which were aligned perfectly using auto-align option. You can re-size these jpeg files to the final size of the video you want. I also added the matte frame and copyright info I usually add to all my photos. I use ImageMagick to accomplish this task as a batch file from command line.

Layers exported as JPEG files

Now since you have 15 perfectly aligned images you can started porting them to video. If you already had the aligned images by using the tripod while shooting you will start from this point onwards. Even though many would like to use Apple Quicktime Pro for creating video, my preferred software is ImageJ. ImageJ is a powerful image analysis program that was created at the National Institutes of Health. ImageJ is open-source program written in Java, which allows it to run on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes. You may download this program from the source (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/). After installing ImageJ choose File -> Import -> Image Sequence from its menu.

ImageJ to import files as Image sequence

Once you point it out to the fist file in the image sequence ImmageJ will import all the 15 files and starts processing them.

Opening the Image sequence

Following is the dialog about sequence options. You can leave it default like as I did or you can change them as you wish.

Sequence options

Next you will see the image sequences presented as video for you to watch in a inbuilt ImageJ player.

Imported images as video

To save them as video file you need to choose File -> Save as -> AVI.

Export as AVI

Next dialog will give you frame rate setting option. As I wanted file to have 1 frame per second option I chose such a slow frame rate. For time lapse sequences you need to choose faster frame rates.

AVI frame rate setting

Once you choose the name for the AVI files all your image sequences will be saved as a single AVI file.

Save as AVI

I exported this AVI file to You Tube server so that it hosted for all to enjoy. Hope this tutorial will be useful for all the image sequence & time lapse enthusiasts who wants to make it into a video.