Photography News Issue 45

Photography News | Issue 45 | absolutephoto.com

First tests

Anthropics Smart Photo Editor from £39.90

Specs

Smart Photo Editor (SPE) is a photo- editing package from Anthropics, publishers of PortraitPro and the recent LandscapePro (reviewed in PN 36). Like those packages, it’s designed to make editing simpler than Photoshop, and the range of tools and effects is impressive. Like most packages, you can make tweaks to framing, adjust exposure, colour, or contrast either globally (affecting the whole image) or selectively. The latter uses a range of semi-automatic masking and layering tools. But that’s not all. SPE also introduces a community aspect, allowing you to use effects from other users; there’s everything from simple toning and lens flares, to sky transplants and creative textures. Available for Windows and OSX, I took a look at the package on a mid 2015 MacBook Pro (2.2Ghz i7, 16GB RAM, Intel Iris Pro 1536 graphics card). After downloading, SPE can be installed as a plug-in or standalone package, and after creating an account, you can choose how you wish to interactwithother SPEusers, either sharing content or not. These options can be changed at any time, so you can start off using the effects of others, then share your own later. Once installed, the program took just under 60MB of disk space. On top of that, a folder of resources is downloaded. This took another 70MB. It’s not much in the scheme of things, unless you’re running very low on space. That said, there didn’t seem to be a setting to govern the size of the folder downloaded, so it will presumably grow as effects are added by the community. The first screen to greet you offers tutorials on using the software and a ‘Load my image’ button. After loading, the display switches to the main editing interface. From here,

Prices From £39.90 (standalone

version), £69.90 (studio/plug in version), both currently half price (£19.95/34.95). Money back guarantee, free trial available. System requirements 1GHz processor or faster recommended, 2GB RAM minimum recommended, 1400x1050 minimum supported display size. Supported OS

Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP, or Mac OSX 10.7 or later. Supported file types

JPEG, TIFF, PNG, Raw (including Adobe [.dng], Canon [.crw .cr2], Fuji [.raf], Nikon [.nef], Olympus [.orf], Pentax [.ptx .pef], Sony [.arw .srf .sr2], Panasonic [.rw2]). Contact smartphotoeditor.com

on the right side of the screen under the Effects heading you can click on Effects Gallery. Therein, a grid of previews appears, showing the different styles on offer from other users. There are a lot, but they can be grouped into general styles or by subject; for example Dramatic, Artistic, or Landscape. When I used it, the effects grid didn’t load instantaneously, but the speedwasn’t bad, first loading low-res previews then quickly increasing the quality. Hover the cursor over one of these grids and a fly-out menu appears, showing how the look can be tweaked, with individual settings, or a Master Fade option, so you can dial down the overall intensity. For effects like vignettes or lens flares you can often drag where they sit. Again, these changes rendered quickly.

You can also click the preview for a full-screen view (and turn off the fly-out grid menus if required). The choice is huge, and there were 615 pages of them at the point I used the software. There are some good looks touse, although there are some rotten ones in there, too; that’s an inevitable part of sourcing effects from users, and the cream should rise to the top, especially as the effects are rated by the community. You can also add the effects you like to a shortlist, and start building your own range of treatments using the Effects Editor. Below the Effects Gallery is the Select Area button, which allows selective editing. Click this and you’ll be prompted for the type of area you want to select, choosing from The Sky, Ground, Skin, Background and so on. You choose the one that best fits the bill, and then run the Edge Finder over the area to fill it. The tool works intelligently using colour, contrast and shade to pick out what’s required, and you can help it out by telling it whether you’re looking for a hard or soft edge. Like most selection tools it did well on high-contrast edges, like a dark horizon against the sky. But it coped less well on complex subjects like trees, with portions of sky left showing behind. There’s also a Lasso tool option, which after mousing out a shape, turns into a path with selectable points; these can be dragged to create complex shapes, but it’s by no means as intuitive as something like the Polygonal Lasso tool in Photoshop. Once a selection is made, you can click on the ‘Confirm Selection and Browse Effects’ button to start changing the look of the selected area. This returns you to the grid view of effects, themed by the broad type of area you picked at the outset. For example, after selecting a sky, there are a range of replacement skies, or other themed looks. Again, some are more fitting than others, and the quality of the selection you’ve made is also important; I usually

SPE offers some great features and the sharing of effects is welcome, so long as you’re prepared to filter out the dross. Its tools make selection-based editing quite easy, and are fine for quick edits and more free formwork, but they’re not always accurate, so exacting work takes time and is ultimately easier in packages like Photoshop. A free trial is available. Pros Price, lots of effects, easy to use, montaging mode, Raw support Cons Selection tools struggle with some subjects The separate images sit in layers, and you can change the blending modes of them, as in Photoshop. I found the Edge Finder tools more forgiving in these montages where photorealism is less the order of the day. The only drawbacks I found were the lack of picking an actual paper size at the outset, rather than choosing the pixel size, and that I couldn’t find a way of reordering the layers after they’d been added. KS Verdict found some level of fine-tuning was required, so you can’t just expect it to be perfect first time around. SPEusesbroadlythesamemethod for other techniques like blurring backgrounds, or adding new ones; you click on the Composite button, make a selection using the same tools as before, refine it, then add the background. It’s good on some pics, but with detailed backgrounds, or a subject with flyaway hair I found it less successful. A good feature is Montaging. You pick New Montage from the menu, choose a Size in pixels and a base colour, then add a border and texture if desired. Next you add pictures (called Overlays), resizing or repositioning them, but what’s more interesting is the use of the Edge Finder tools to cut out and overlap the pictures.

Top and above right Smart Photo Editor (SPE) invites you to make selections using its semi-auto tools, then you can add effects from its extensive library. Right SPE uses the same tools to create montages from different photos. Like the other effects, there’s a wealth of backgrounds and frames to choose from. like to a shortlist, and start building your own range of treatments using the Effects Editor You can also add the effects you