Friday, November 2, 2012
DXO Optics Pro 8
(Image Processing and Sorting Software)
http://dxo.com/intl/photo
(please press on the above address to be redirected to their site)
The Company that Makes Optics Pro 8
Their Desktop Icon
(please press on the above address to be redirected to their site)
Most of the readers here take photos with their digital cameras. You then probably upload them to your computer, add a folder name,and then leave them on your computer. You'll do this for a year, and then 1 day, you'll need to go and look for a photo from a year ago. Naturally, you have trouble finding it. I know, because that's exactly what I do.
When I taught pro photography, I would purchase software through educational prices, and would try and keep up with new software. One type of software is able to take all of your photos and sort them. It does this just like the computer with titles and subtitles. However the big differences are that you can label and rank your photos as to popularity, and you can also process them. Examples of this class of software are Lightroom, and Aperture, and Optics Pro.
I have copies of Lightroom and Aperture, and they sit on my computer doing nothing! I'm too lazy to place all of my photos into either of these programs, and then name them for purposes of easy finding.So I keep adding new photos every day, and still don't do anything!
Coming back to the the subject of these programs, they are multi-tasking, or in other words, they can do several things.
1. They collect all of your photos in 1 place
2. You can add titles and ratings to them (best to worst)
3. You can improve the quality of the image in them like the basics of Photoshop
I was up early this morning, and decided to check my e-mail. I found a message from DXO informing me that there was a new version of Optics Pro 8, and that I could download a 31 day trial.
What's good about adding your name to mailing lists from companies is that you get informed about new updates and versions. I had written about Optics Pro on my other blog. Sadly, I'm not getting very many visitors, so I don't write many new posts there.
The reason that I'm writing a post about Optics Pro 8 here is that I wanted to show you what such a program is all about. It might even help you to organize all of your photos (Just like I might do 1 day!). I'm not going to bother comparing this program to other programs. It's up to you to decide what's best for you, in terms of ease of use, cost, speed, or any other criteria that you use to determine buying software. What I didi find right away is that the program is fast! Normally some of the other programs have a slight delay when you press any instruction. With this program it moves fast!
A Window Showing a Corrected Photo
The program allows you to do many corrections that you would normally do with your camera software or Photoshop or Corel.
The image on the left is the camera image, and that on the right is the "corrected" image.
In the workspace mode, you can do you "corrections". What any of these program do is to always create a new file, rather than replace or update he photo. In this way, you always have the "original"
This menu allows you to experiment with images like people used to when the B & W or colour darkroom was around. There are all kinds of menus that you can use to alter or improve your photos. By the way, DXO has many software programs to do all kinds of experimentation of your photos!
The Vibrancy command moved to -100.
This is one of the menus to go back "retro" to the pre-colour film era.
I have copies of Lightroom and Aperture, and they sit on my computer doing nothing! I'm too lazy to place all of my photos into either of these programs, and then name them for purposes of easy finding.So I keep adding new photos every day, and still don't do anything!
Coming back to the the subject of these programs, they are multi-tasking, or in other words, they can do several things.
1. They collect all of your photos in 1 place
2. You can add titles and ratings to them (best to worst)
3. You can improve the quality of the image in them like the basics of Photoshop
I was up early this morning, and decided to check my e-mail. I found a message from DXO informing me that there was a new version of Optics Pro 8, and that I could download a 31 day trial.
What's good about adding your name to mailing lists from companies is that you get informed about new updates and versions. I had written about Optics Pro on my other blog. Sadly, I'm not getting very many visitors, so I don't write many new posts there.
The reason that I'm writing a post about Optics Pro 8 here is that I wanted to show you what such a program is all about. It might even help you to organize all of your photos (Just like I might do 1 day!). I'm not going to bother comparing this program to other programs. It's up to you to decide what's best for you, in terms of ease of use, cost, speed, or any other criteria that you use to determine buying software. What I didi find right away is that the program is fast! Normally some of the other programs have a slight delay when you press any instruction. With this program it moves fast!
A Typical Window Capture in the Oeening Mode
The left side looks like your typical file system on your Mac or PC
The program allows you to do many corrections that you would normally do with your camera software or Photoshop or Corel.
A Window Showing a "before" and "After" correction of an Image
The image on the left is the camera image, and that on the right is the "corrected" image.
AWindow with an Arrow Pointing to the Workspace mode of this Program
In the workspace mode, you can do you "corrections". What any of these program do is to always create a new file, rather than replace or update he photo. In this way, you always have the "original"
The "Workspace" Window
The window capture certainly looks "daunting" or frightening when you first come upon it.
However, if you've worked in Photoshop or your specify camera software, it's not so menacing. Also, you can play around with each tool or function to figure out what it does. After, you can always through out the "new image" into the garbage can. Remember, that you always have the original!
A Specialized Menu
This menu allows you to experiment with images like people used to when the B & W or colour darkroom was around. There are all kinds of menus that you can use to alter or improve your photos. By the way, DXO has many software programs to do all kinds of experimentation of your photos!
The arrow is pointing to the magnification command.
The arrow is pointing to the colour accentuation menu
II never could understand what the differences were between vibrancy and saturation were.
I didn't want to bother with finding what the terms meant.
However, I played around in Optics Pro 8, and finally understood the differences. You can see the results below. I adjusted each specific function (vibrancy and saturation) to show you their effects.
The Vibrancy command moved to +100
The Saturation command moved to -100
The Saturation command moved to +100
Setting the B & W Menu
An example of a "sepia" image.
IIn the B & W (Black & White) lab, you'd place a B & W print in a special toner that would change the B ^& W image to a warm-toned image. You could also change the image to a cold-toned (Blue).
The Ranking Menu
This function allows you to assess the quality of your images from 0-5 stars. I probably wouldn't use this function, but I'm sure many people who take lots of people photos do. When you take lots of photos, or work on the computer a lot, you can "speed rate". "Speed Rate" is my term similar to "speed reading". You look at a whole bunch of photos and can immediately find the one that you're looking for or the best one in the batch.
I haven't found the menu which allows you to add names to the photos. With a name that is added to let's say 100 photos, you can then find the 100 photos immediately from the thousand that you mayhave. Also, just like in a library or on your computer, there is a hierarchal order to labelling or naming your files. I'll show you what I mean below.
Inanimate Objects (Not People) >>
Objects (Not Living) >>
Toys>>Trucks >>
Cast Iron >>
Arcade
Once you add these titles or labels, you can then do a search for "Arcade >>Cast Iron>>Trucks". Even though you may have taken Arcade toy photos over 10 years, you will be able to view every one of those Arcade Cast Iron Trucks. Of course, every time you add photos toy your computer, you
have to describe. label, or title them in order to be up to date.
I would highly recommend that you take advantage of downloading trial software. You aren't under any obligation to purchase it, but you'll have a lot of fun learning new software program. And it might just save you lots of time! Now if I could only take my own advise!
Thanks for dropping by, and I hope that those in the USA werenlt affected too severly by the storm.
Have a great part of the day wherever you may be.
Stacey
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