Exposure Screen Shot
Starting Exposure
Exposure installs as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and other compatible programs (see top of page). To start Exposure you select
[Filters]
then
[Alien Skin Software] and either
[B&W Film] or
[Color Film] from the Menu Bar. Exposure will open as a window over your current Photoshop screen.
Even though you initially open Exposure by selecting B&R or Color Film mode, Alien Skin has made it very easy to switch back and forth between modes without having to exit the software.
All changes made in Exposure are done on the left panel. This panel offers 5 tabs that group different sets of tools for enhancing your image:
 |
 |
Settings Tab
The settings tab displays presets for both color and b&w film types as well as other image presets. The bottom of this section is reserved
for User Settings where you can store and retrieve changes to settings, in essence, creating your own customized filters.
|
Color Tab
The Color tab allows you to adjust saturation, preserve luminosity, alter the density of color filters, as well as change the overall feel of the
image from cool to warm. Red, Green, and Blue levels can be changed together (Master Slider) or separately. In B&W Film mode, you can
select the two colors for a dutone or split tone within this tab.
|
 |
 |
Tone Tab
Selecting the TONE tab reveals the typical curve graph where you can quickly alter different segments
of the image by dragging and changing the shape of the curve. For those intimated by the curve tool, Alien Skin has provided
sliders that allow you to adjust Shadows, Midtones, and highlights, as well as the overall contrast of your image. I found the
sliders to be a great way to learn about image curves, since the curve above changes to match your selections.
|
Focus Tab
The focus tab gives you the tools to sharpen and blur your image. The sharpening tool in Exposure is very
simple to use, yet offers more power and better results than using the sharpening tools within Photoshop itself. I found that selecting "sharpen
brightness only" created a very sharp image without adding sharpening "noise" to the entire image. The blur tool offers control over both
opacity and pixel radius
|
Grain Tab
The Grain tab gives you the power to alter Exposure's film-grain technology. When you add grain to your image using
Exposure your images will take on the look of film, whereas doing the same inside Photoshop leaves you with an image that looks dotted.
The grain feature in Exposure has a smoother, realistic "film look." This feature is surely what makes the folks at Alien Skin very proud and probably contributes to the products rather steep price.
You can selectively add grain to shadows, midtones, or highlight areas of your image as well as to control the grain size and color variation.
|
More Examples Using Different Preset Filters
Before concluding this review with my final thoughts, I wanted to provide a few more examples. The next four photographs were originally shot
with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT (as were all the photographs in this review). Each photograph was opened in Adobe Photoshop and altered using
Exposures preset filters. No other alterations were made to these photographs other than resizing them for display within this review.
 |
 |
|
Subdued
|
CGAF 500 Film
|
 |
 |
|
Harsh Landscape
|
Cross Processes Provia 100F Film
|
One fix I'd like to see
One issue that I hope Alien Skin will work to correct is with the preview image. Anytime you open Exposure or even change from color film mode to B&W film mode, Exposure resets the default view
to 100% - forcing you to zoom out each time. Not difficult, but a pain nonetheless. I would prefer to have Exposure remember the last zoom setting and keep it there.
Tips and Tricks
You can use masking with Exposure the same way you would without. For example, if you want to apply a particular filter or make changes that will only affect a portion of your image (sky, water, face)
just select that portion of the image using the select tool within Photoshop. While the selection is live, open up Exposure. The preview image will now show the entire image (you may have to zoom out
- see above complaint) along with the selected portion of the image. Any changes you now make within Exposure will only affect the highlight (selected) area of the image.
In the comparison image above, the filter effect was added only to the face. Using the select tool in Photoshop I highlighted just the area of the photograph
(in this case, the face) that I wanted to apply the filter too. The left 100% crop was after added a film filter using Exposure, the right 100% crop is the original
image shot with a Canon EOS 10D Digital SLR.
The photo to the left shows the area that was masked using the Select tool in Photoshop.
Final Thoughts
It's not easy for me to recommend a plug-in that retails for $199, however I will go out on a limb and do just that. While Alien Skin's Exposure is very simple to use
it is not really a program that the average consumer will miss not owning. Exposure is for the professional photographer who might be shying away from digital due to the
reasons mentioned in this review. It affords them an easy way to achieve a film-like look, while shooting digitally. Like film, digital has its own set of advantages, such as live previews,
instant image review, white balance control, better low-light performance, instant prints, and more. Exposore helps to merge the best of both worlds.
Exposure is also for any photographer who would like to add some distinction to their digital photographs - by giving them the appearance of film. I would argue that the controls in Exposure
are much more user friendly and provide better results than similar controls in Photoshop itself.
As I mentioned in the review, the slider controls provided for curves helps toward justifing the price of admission, not to mention the power of the sharpening, blur, grain, filters, and
color controls.
Exposure can create the look of real film grain like no other program I have seen. This is not a "noise" feature where single pixels of stray colors are placed throughout the photo. Exposure
can render grain independently in the highlights, midtones, and/or shadows of an image - and the grain, just like in film, is not limited to a pixel. It has subtle color, size and shape
characteristics that Alien Skin gives you the ability to reproduce using Exposure.
In the end the decision is always yours. Alien Skin offers a
30-day trial so now you can try before you buy.
If you own any other Alien Skin software, you can purchase Exposure for only $99.
System Requirements
Macintosh:
- Adobe Photoshop CS or later
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 or later
- Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 or later
- 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor
- Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later
- 256 MB RAM
Windows:
- Adobe Photoshop CS or later
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 or later
- Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 or later
- Corel Paint Shop Pro 9.0 or later
- 2 GHz Pentium 4 processor
- Windows 2000 or XP
- 256 MB RAM
|
Pricing
Retail Price: $199
Upgrade Price: $99*
* Upgrade price valid for owners
of any other Alien Skin software.
Additional Links
|
