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Alien Skin Releases Exposure X2
20 September 2016
Alien Skin has released Exposure X2 today with new creative and workflow features. New creative features include faded presets and the ability to blend a black-and-white or color preset with the underlying image. New workflow features include a healing brush, a histogram with clip warnings and direct editing of shadows and highlights, full screen previews, a history panel, plus full text search on any metadata.
Exposure X2. A familiar interface with a few new tools.
Thanks to customer feedback, Exposure X2 continues to evolve, offering significant new features that enable photographers of all skill levels to work efficiently and stay in their creative zone," said Alien Skin CEO Finley Lee. "It handles even the most demanding workflow, from start to finish. Including portrait retouching with spot healing tools."
HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights of the new release include:
- The Spot Heal tool enables detailed portrait retouching. Photographers no longer need to switch applications for their touch-up needs.
- Faded presets provide distinctive faded looks
- The Histogram panel helps photographers adjust exposure levels
- The History panel makes it easy to retrace editing steps
- Metadata search capability accepts search criteria such as camera model, shutter speed and ISO
- Improvements to exporting include file renaming and resizing options
A FEW NOTES
In a briefing with Lee, he told us that the healing brush applies some intelligence in selecting the area to copy from and is not just cloning (but that's an option, too). Edits made with the healing brush remain editable when selected with sliders that can fade the effect.
The History panel tracks changes made to the image but does not allow you to edit, delete or reorder those changes.
Capture time adjustments made to images are stored in the Alien Skin sidecar file not with the file. And export is required to apply them to the file itself.
Photoshop PSD compatibility has been improved, too, Lee said. Edits don't affect the PSD file (much like time adjustments) but there is an
Edit in Photoshopoption in the contextual menu.There's still no sharpening option for exports.
And there's a lens distortion correction feature that was, at the time we talked, applied automatically. There are 700 lenses in the database at the moment.
PRICE, AVAILABILITY
Exposure X2 is available now directly from Alien Skin for $149. Upgrades from previous versions of Exposure are $99. A free trial can also be downloaded.
The Exposure X2 Bundle is available for $199. Owners of one or more of the current apps in the Exposure X2 Bundle can purchase the bundle for $119.
For more information see the news release below.
Alien Skin Software Announces Exposure X2 Raw Photo Editing Software for Photographers
Features include Spot Heal tool for image touch-up without switching apps -- Organizer enables flexible metadata search -- Faded presets provide new looks
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Alien Skin Software today announced Exposure X2, the latest version of its flagship, award-winning photography editing software. Exposure X2 is a non-destructive Raw editor and organizer that meets the needs of today's digital photographers. It helps them quickly organize, edit and enhance their photos using a variety of creative tools. Exposure X2 adapts to any workflow: it can be used either as a complete solution or as a creative editing plug-in to Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.
Exposure X2 introduces the following features:
- The Spot Heal tool enables detailed portrait retouching. Photographers no longer need to switch applications for their touch-up needs.
- Faded presets provide distinctive faded looks
- The Histogram panel helps photographers adjust exposure levels
- The History panel makes it easy to retrace editing steps
- Metadata search capability accepts search criteria such as camera model, shutter speed and ISO
- Improvements to exporting include file renaming and resizing options
"Thanks to customer feedback, Exposure X2 continues to evolve, offering significant new features that enable photographers of all skill levels to work efficiently and stay in their creative zone," said Alien Skin CEO Finley Lee. "It handles even the most demanding workflow, from start to finish. Including portrait retouching with spot healing tools."
Creative Possibilities
Exposure X2 enables photographers to add a warm, human touch to their digital photos through a carefully researched library of over 500 tasteful presets, including 18 new faded looks. These looks encompass many changes that work together to convey a specific emotion and cover every interesting corner of photographic history. Photographers can explore these presets for creative inspiration, then customize and save them to develop their own signature style.
Intuitive editing panels make it easy to apply a range of creative edits: there are basic adjustments like exposure, vibrance and hue; through advanced ones like film grains, overlays and effects stacking. The integration of Alien Skin's award-winning Bokeh tool helps subtly draw attention to the subject.
Streamlined Workflows
Exposure X2 users spend their time making creative decisions, not learning complicated software. A catalog-free, import-free workflow streamlines the process. Users simply browse to an image folder and begin editing. An intuitive user interface makes it easy to find the right tool for the job. Exposure X2 provides a complete solution. There's no need to cobble together separate apps for culling, editing, special effects and portrait touch-up.
Flexible Features
Exposure X2 non-destructively processes Raw images from a range of popular dSLR and mirrorless cameras. It also enables photographers to work quickly. A variety organizing and culling tools make managing photos easy. Large Raw image files load quickly and Exposure's editing tools are fast and responsive.
The user interface is configurable: users can hide the editing panels they don't use, view full-size images on a secondary monitor and more.
Exposure X2 Bundle
Exposure X2 also forms the centerpiece of the Exposure X2 Bundle. This integrated collection bundles Exposure X2 with Alien Skin's other award-winning image apps. Snap Art 4 enables photographers to easily transform their photos into realistic natural media like oil paintings and watercolors. Blow Up 3 lets photographers enlarge their photos without a loss of image quality.
Host Requirements
The Exposure X2 Bundle may be used as a standalone program or as a set of plug-ins. When used as a set of plug-ins, it requires one of the following host applications:
- Adobe Photoshop CS6 or Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 or newer
- Adobe Lightroom 6 or Adobe Lightroom CC 2015 or newer
System Requirements
- Apple Mac: OS X 10.10 Yosemite or newer
- Microsoft Windows: Windows 8 64-bit or newer
- An Intel Core 2 processor or compatible
- A monitor with 1280x768 resolution or greater
Pricing and Availability
Exposure X2 is available now from http://www.alienskin.com for $149. Upgrade pricing is available to owners of previous versions of Exposure for $99.
The Exposure X2 Bundle is available for $199. Owners of one or more of the current apps in the Exposure X2 Bundle can purchase the bundle for $119.
Visit http://www.alienskin.com/exposure to learn more and download a free trial.