Title - Ulead PhotoImpact 11

Author – Frank Mitch, GCPCUG Product Reviews Editor

Category - Software

Subject - Professional Image Editing Made Easy

Date - June 2006

 

This full featured professional image editing program is so loaded with features that only the main ones will be covered in this review. One new feature really grabbed me as an oil painting artist. Some art teachers say you should not use photographs for reference purposes because of the limited range of colors and values between the shadows and highlights. But now PhotoImpact and other high end editors offer High Dynamic Range (HDR) to make photos more appealing as references for artists and other users. The price of PhotoImpact is a huge bargain compared to other high end editors.

 

HDR is applied by using up to 6 photos of the same subject with bracketing of the exposures. I discovered the advice to use a tripod for the entire group is to be taken seriously. So planning ahead is important if using this feature. A simpler feature to enhance the dynamic range of a single photo is Smart Curves. I like this feature very much for enhancing detail in underexposed areas.

 

A good starting place for new owners is viewing the excellent Video Tutorial on the bonus CD. It covers from the basics to the advanced. A 323 page User Guide is available for free download from the Ulead Website www.ulead.com/pi/documents.htm

 

The extensive 8 page Table of Contents and the 11 page Index at the end are very helpful. Too bad there is not a search feature. Further help is available at the Ulead learning center www.ulead.com/learning/learning.htm

 

In addition F1 or the Help menu will take you to PhotoImpact Help when you have the program open.

 

PhotoImpact has lots of help in learning to use it. And the choice of settings is such that you can get started at a very low level and work your way up as you make progress. Here are the choices for “My Workspace” in PhotoImpact:

 

·         Basic Photo Mode has a simple workspace view with larger icons, displaying tools that handle the more common tasks. This mode helps new users easily learn the main tools of the program, and provides those users mainly interested in using basic program functions with a simple workspace.

·         Standard Photo Mode displays photo-related functions on the workspace.

·         Advance Mode displays the entire PhotoImpact toolset allowing you to perform a range of simple to complex tasks.

·         Graphics Mode displays graphic-related functions on the workspace.

·         Web Mode gives you tools to create images for the Web.

·         Customize allows the user to select preferred toolbars and functions.

 

Beginners should start with the Basic Photo Mode, which includes the Auto-Process feature where a variety of enhancements can be made with just one click.

 

In addition to the basic photo tools to transfer photos, organize into albums, rotate, crop and enhance photos, and optimize for the web and email, there is very much more. High end editing includes new RAW/DNG/16-bit file support, Smart Curves for exposure correction, and High Dynamic Range combining of multiple bracketed exposure shots. Creativity tools include those for advanced painting and drawing, 2D & 3D text and graphics, entire web pages, filters, and layer management.

 

Free additional software includes PhotoImpact Album 11, Photo Explorer 8.6 management software with RAW support, COOL 360 panorama creator, GIF Animator 5, Alien skin effects plug-in, and over 5600 royalty-free images and Web elements. Over 50 different file types are supported including Photoshop PSD files. Use of CMYK color management is also covered to some extent.

 

My exploration of this full featured image editing program has only touched the surface. I highly recommend it after this limited use. If you are considering one of the basic photo editing programs this professional one has much more to offer at an equal or slightly higher price. There is much to learn but a lot of assistance for learning.

 

System Requirements:

 

·         MS Windows 2000, XP

·         Pentium III processor compatible or above

·         CD-ROM Drive

·         256 MB of RAM or more

·         600 MB available hard drive space for program and content files

·         True Color or Hi-Color display adapter with 800x600 resolution or above

 

Digital Device Support:

 

·         Digital cameras, USB card readers, TWAIN/WIA compliant scanners

·         Pressure sensitive graphics tablets

 

File Format Support:

 

001, BAY, BMP, CLP, CRW, CRZ, CUR, DCR, DCS, DCX, DNG, EPS, FAX, FPX, GIF, ICO, IFF, IMG, JP2, JPC, JPG, MAC, MRW, MSP, NEF, ORF, PBM, PCD, PCT, PCX, PEF, PGM, PIC, PNG, PPM, PSD, PSP, PXR, RAF, RAS, RAW, SCI, SCT, SHG, SRF, SVG(output), TGA, TIF, UFO, WBMP, WMF, X3F

 

PhotoImpact 11 is available directly from Ulead for $89.99 by downloading or physical box. May be available at some retail stores for a lower price. Amazon currently does not offer version 11 but has version 10 for $94.10. Buy directly from Ulead at www.ulead.com