Software Reviews
Alien Skin Exposure 2.
Reviewed by d.a.w DESIGN
Exposure 2 is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and compatible host programs. Exposure 2 provides amateur and professional photographers, graphic designers, and photo retouches with one-click access to the broadest range of film stock and special effects settings available anywhere. Users can easily simulate current and discontinued print and slide film stocks.
Exposure 2: What’s New?
Here’s an overview of these.
User Interface (UI) Enhancements
Here are some of the additions that make Exposure 2 a breeze to use:
•The preview starts zoomed out to fit your image, just like in Photoshop.
• The last setting used is remembered and highlighted, and its name appears in the software’s title bar.
• When Exposure 2 creates a new layer, the layer is named after the setting used. So it’s easier to remember which setting created a certain look.
• Holding the spacebar temporarily displays the original image, allowing you to toggle between filtered and unfiltered versions of the image.
And some of the old Features that were popular in Exposure 1.
These features include:
• Color, dynamic range, softness and grain controls are collected in one place so users can correct a colorcast, soften a digital portrait and tweak contrast with one easy–to–use tool.
• Warming/cooling, curve editing, sharpening, and toning controls that improve on those in Photoshop.
• Online help.
• Unlimited undo and redo.
• Photoshop–style keyboard shortcuts.
• Settings that are collections of slider values and recalled with a single click.
• Users can create settings to define their signature look.
• A split–screen preview option, for showing the filtered image in one half and the original in the other.
• Mouseover help text.
• A very realistic grain effect. Exposure 2 simulates the size, shape, and color of real film grain and then applies the variations separately to shadows, mid–tones, and highlights. It also automatically adjusts grain size to image size for consistent results across cameras and resolutions.
• Exposure 2 offers more than 200 presets for you to use, tweak them for a specialized custom look.
• More effective effects. Exposure 2’s special effects give users even more control of photo adjustments that were in the past thought of as film lab and darkroom technique. Improved infrared simulation, sophisticated black and white conversion, color shifting and fading, and lots, lots more.
• Easier to use. Settings are now organized into groups, the preview is zoomed out to fit the image to your screen like Photoshop, and the last setting used is remembered and highlighted.
• Performance enhancements. Exposure 2 is multithreaded for a noticeable speed boost on multiprocessor or multi–core systems. It’s also a Universal Macintosh® application, so it runs native and fast on Intel processors.
• Technical goodies. When run for the first time, Exposure 2 automatically upgrades and copies all custom settings from Exposure 1. And because Exposure 2 is compatible with CS3 Smart Filters, effects can all be applied nondestructively.
Let’s take a look at the interface.
Title Bar (A): The title bar displays the currently selected filter, in addition to the currently selected setting (see Maintaining Settings, below).
Tabs (B): You can access the advanced controls for each filter by selecting one of the tabs above the settings area. Refer to the filter chapters for detailed control descriptions. You can click the Settings tab to return to the setting lists.
Show Original, Split, Move and Zoom (C): The Show Original, Move (hand), and Zoom (magnifying glass) buttons are found above the preview window.
• The Show Original button toggles the preview between filtered and unfiltered versions of your image. Click and hold the button to view the unaffected image. Release the button to preview the effect. The original image is also displayed while the spacebar key is depressed.
• Click the hand to enable the Move tool, then click and drag to move around the preview image.
• Click the magnifying glass to enable the Zoom tool. Click in the preview window to zoom into your image. Alt+Click or for Mac’s Option+Click to zoom. Double–clicking the magnifying glass at any time resets the preview window to 100% magnification.
• While in zoom mode, holding down the spacebar temporarily switches to the move cursor.
UpToDate Message Indicator (D): When you see this visual cue, you have a new message from Alien Skin Software. See the UpToDate Messages section for more details.
Split Screen Preview (E): Above the preview area is a menu of options for split screen previewing. When enabled, this feature shows the original image in half of the preview. The entries in the Split Screen menu specify the orientation of the split line or simply turn it off.
OK and Cancel Buttons (F): Clicking the OK button applies the filter with the current settings. Clicking Cancel closes the filter window without applying the effect.
Mouseover Help (G): Whenever you move your cursor over a user interface element, a short description appears in the bottom left corner of the window.
Preview Area (H): Preview the effect on your image here. Resize the filter window to make the preview area larger or smaller.
Navigation Thumbnail (I): Click and drag the movable red box to move the preview to any spot in the selected layer.
Progress Bar (J): The rectangle to the left of the magnification indicator displays the percentage of rendering completed.
Magnification Indicator (K): The current level of magnification is shown to the right of the render status bar at the lower right corner of the filter window.
Factory Settings (L): The settings that are included with the product are displayed in the factory settings list. Click on any of these settings to try them on your image.
User Settings (M): The user settings list contains settings that you create.
Figure 01 – The Interface.
Film Stock Settings
Exposure 2 is based on a detailed analysis of real film stocks and a painstaking series of test shoots with dozens of films and a Canon EOS–1Ds Mark II. By photographing a special chart, as well as scenes that included flesh tones and colorful natural objects. Amateur photographers and hobbyists can choose from among many presets for the film look they want to simulate. Professional film photographers can use the presets as a starting point that they can tweak to create a special look.
Popular Exposure 1 Film Stocks
Users loved the range of film stocks available in Exposure 1. They included the most popular slide films available from both Kodak and Fuji, including Kodak’s Ektachrome and Fuji’s Velvia, Provia, and Astria. Exposure 1 also included popular print films like Kodak TRI–X and T–MAX P3200. Here are a few examples of these great films and what you can do in Exposure 2 to achieve their looks:
Kodachrome
Kodachrome was introduced in 1935 and was, for many years, the standard film for professional color photography, especially when submitting images to major magazines such as National Geographic. Exposure keeps alive Kodachrome’s intense reds and natural color palette.
Figure 02 – Left side showing Films Slide-Kodak Kodachrome 25 (shape) Right side show the original image.
TRI–X
Black–and–white Kodak TRI–X® film was once one of the most popular films used by photojournalists. It offers a gritty, genuine and grainy look using Exposure’s push processing feature.
T–MAX P3200
T–MAX® P3200 black and white negative film is the grainiest film currently available. T–MAX P3200 delivers an intense, artsy look. This film particularly shows off the realistic grain attained with Exposure 2.
Figure 03 – Left side showing B&W Films–Low Contrast (grain off) Kodak TRI–X400 Right side original image
Figure 04 – Top half showing B&W Film (grain off) T–Max P3200 bottom half original image.
Commercially Available Film Stocks Added to Exposure 2
Most of the color film stocks in the original Exposure release were of slide films, which tend to offer high contrast and strong saturation. But portrait, fashion and wedding photographers generally use color print films for the low contrast and low saturation that result in natural skin tones. For that reason, Exposure 2 includes settings for a number of commercially available color print films that provide smooth gradation across the tonal range, creating a 3–D look and skin tones that are subtle and true. Other commercially available film stock settings in Exposure 2, particularly the Polaroid simulations, offer retro looks hard to reproduce in the digital world.
Among the modern film stocks simulated in Exposure 2 are:
Kodak Portra 160NC
Portra is especially notable for subdued, natural colors, fine grain, and low contrast. Portra is frequently used for portrait and wedding photography, where its excellent balance of moderate color saturation and lower contrast delivers beautiful skin tones.
Figure 05 – Top half showing Films–Print (grain off) Kodak Portra 160NC bottom half original image.
Exposure 2 also includes simulations of Kodak Ultra Color 100UC and Portra 160VC, as well as Fuji Pro 160S, 160C, and 400H. Fuji Superia Reala.
Reala is considered to deliver sharp prints with true–to–life colors, particularly on outdoor subjects like scenes with a large amount of greenery. Reala is in the same subtly realistic family of print films, such as Fuji Pro 160S, but is known to give slightly higher contrast and saturation.
Figure 06 – Top half showing Films–Print Fuji Reala bottom half original image.
Polaroid
Exposure 2 includes Polaroid settings – the retro ones that look old, faded or color shifted? With the range of Polaroid stocks now available in Exposure 2, users can produce photo with that retro old look.
Figure 07 – Left side showing Polariod–669 Creamy Blown Highlights Plus. Right side original image.
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