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Author
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j sotelo
Feet under the table
Registered: November 2006
Location: San Diego, Ca. Where the Surf meets the Turf
Posts: 2020
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Review Date: Fri July 18, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £130.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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U point Technology
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Cons:
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Didn't find any yet
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It uses U Point technology
(WHAT"S UPoint Technology?
U Point is a technology that has been created and designed to allow photographers
to work directly on their images to achieve exactly what they envision in an easy,
fast and intuitive manner.
With U Point powered Control Points, there is no need to ever create complex selections,
masks, or layers. With simple click and drag functionality,
photographers can work directly on the image to control virtually any aspect of their photographic edits.)
Once you select your filter, you are given options to make adjustments to the filter. Then you can use the U Point Control Points to selectively control where each filter is applied to the images. This allows you to control the effect without having to use selections and/or masking. By placing Control Points on an image, you can control color, tone, and light on your image. These might be sky, skin, clothing etc.
with U points you can directly control and enhance selected areas without affecting other areas.
Color Efex Pro Complete Edition features over 250 distinctive effects and styles in over 50 easy-to-use filters,
plus the presets you make, so the possibilities are almost endless.
You can control the opacity in the effects wich makes it even better to use.
You can then preview the image either side by side or in a split view mode.
The new Selective tool automates the creation of layers and layer masks within Adobe Photoshop.
If your a Photoshop expert you still will need this Plug-in, if you're not
then it's a must.
it's like a easy and preset version of photoshop without having to use layers masks and without doing any selections,
but still getting the job done very professionally.
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Rob Barron
Loves the place
Registered: September 2006
Location: Poole, Dorset
Posts: 5612
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Review Date: Sun July 20, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £150.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Ease of use, selective application
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Cons:
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A bit pricey
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This is a Photoshop plug-in but acts as a standalone product. It can be argued (rightly) that there is absolutely nothing that a plug-in can do that you can't do in Photoshop without it. This is undoubtedly true BUT the plug-ins sure make life a lot easier and this partcular package really does do a superb job of doing complex things very quickly and easily.
Color Effex Pro does what it says on the box: it allows you to apply all manner of colour effects to your photos and the list is far too great to include here. From the simplest of tasks like adding a sepia tone to highly complex effects, this gives you licence to experiment, try things out, play, have fun! The best thing is, you can see straight away both before and after versions so you know even before you properly apply the effect, exactly what it is going to do to your picture.
Furthermore, when it does apply the effect, it does it using a layer mask onto a new layer so you can easily switch on or off the effect just as you can with any other layer, and you can paint the mask to selectively paint out areas that you don't want to apply the effects.
You can use a very clever tool call U-Point technology that lets you select a specific colour or colour range and then apply the transformation to all pixels within that range over a chosen area within the picture. This is brilliant and extremely easy to use. You can add points with different colour ranges and subtract areas too so you have a lot of control over where the effects are applied and how much. You can also apply the same effect but at varying degrees in different parts or colour ranges within the picture.
You have all the control you need but it is never complicated. You have the commonly used colour selectors and sliders and you adjust them as much as you want to. There are pre-selected effects you can apply but then you can adjust those to change the colours, ranges, blends and so on.
This is a great product and you can download a 15-day trial to see just what it can do. Beware though, if you do that, you will be seriously in danger of becoming hopelessly addicted!
The product can be set to run only when you choose to or it can start up automatically within Photoshop when you start that. I have mine set to start automatically because if I don't need it, it minimises out of the way and is readily available if I want it.
I thoroughly recommend this for anyone who likes applying filters, effects and so forth to their images. It is NOT just about doing funky artwork though: many of the effects are very subtle changes that you might well want to apply anyway, like boosting sats, warming or cooling a picture, adjusting the contrast quickly and easily, etc. In other words, this is not just weird and radical, it is also emminently sensible and practical.
If it was a car, it would be Jeremy Clarkson, Hammond the Hamster and James Mr Slow May all rolled into one 
Cheers,
Rob
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