The Bottom Line
- Completely free - no nags, spyware, or limitations.
- Presets make it very easy to explore a variety of effects.
- Uses terminology familiar to traditional photographers.
- Small preview window can't be resized.
- Terminology may be unfamiliar to users without a photography background.
- Custom presets aren't as easy to load as the default presets.
- For Windows only at this time.
Description
- virtualPhotographer allows you to apply many one-click artistic and photographic effects.
- Works as a plug-in with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Photo-Paint, etc.
- Adjust film type, brightness/contrast, film speed (grain), photographic style, and effects.
- Photographic style allows you to set the film emulsion or simulate colored filters.
- Effects: blur, color shift, contrast, softness, negative, saturate, wash, colorize, tint, and more.
- Choose from a variety of presets or customize your own settings and save them as presets.
- Color Presets: Ambiance, bright shade, dreamy, faded, glamour, sunset, romance, fall colors, more.
- B&W Presets: Anvil, copper, paparazzi, moonlit, hollywood, sepia, spooky, sulphur, fashion, more.
- Many more presets can be downloaded from the virtualPhotographer web site.
- For Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP. Company says it's "looking to create a Macintosh version."
Guide Review - virtualPhotographer Plug-in from optikVerve Labs
Using terminology which is familiar to traditional photographers, virtualPhotographer lets you experiment with a wide variety of color and black & white photographic effects by manipulating color, film speed, film type, and effects. Even users without a photography background can experiment with ease, given the number of presets available. The program comes pre-loaded with 23 color presets, 26 black & white presets, and and over 60 additional presets are available for download from the optikVerve Labs web site. Users can also adjust the settings from scratch, or customize an existing preset, and save the settings to a new preset.
I enjoyed using this plug-in to enhance a variety of photos that just needed a little added drama or "pop." Follow the link below to see a screen shot of the user interface, as well as several before and after examples from my own photos. All of my examples used the plugin on the full image, but you can vary the effects even more by using selections and layers along with the plugin. The optikVerve Web site offers many more impressive examples.
