Plug-in maker Alien Skin Software announced Exposure 6, a new version of its flagship photography effects software. Due in June, Exposure 6 enables digital photographers to achieve accurate analog film emulation and creative effects in a simple interface. It can be used as a plug-in to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple Aperture; or as a stand-alone program.
Exposure 6 brings creative tools from the traditional darkroom to the world of digital, such as the look of discontinued films, printing techniques, and borders and textures. Popular classic films like Kodachrome, Polaroid and TRI-X have been carefully analyzed in order to faithfully simulate their characteristic tonal ranges and grain structures. More than 450 preset effects can be applied with a single mouse click, helping photographers achieve their desired look quickly. Exposure 6 integrates both color and black-and-white processing so there is no need to switch between tools.
Continuing the theme of integration, all the functionality of Alien Skin’s creative focus and lens simulation program, Bokeh, has now been rolled into Exposure, eliminating the need to jump between programs. Exposure now provides tools for photographers to draw attention to their subjects by manipulating focus, vignette and depth of field. From fast lens simulation through to tilt/shift and motion blur looks, Exposure 6 offers an array of creative options.
Along with the inclusion of Bokeh, Exposure’s user interface has been refined and enhanced in order to provide better aesthetics and functionality without compromising user-friendliness. A new basic control panel contains sliders for global adjustments to areas such as exposure, contrast, clarity and vibrance for faster editing. The image processing engine has also been rewritten and now offers full-sized instant previews. This makes it easy to visualize subtle differences between presets and facilitates rapid experimentation to find the right look.
Based on user feedback, Exposure 6 offers limitless variety in the ability to add border and texture overlays. Out of the box, Exposure 6 includes many new lighting effects such as realistic sun flare, and authentic vintage borders developed by world-renowned photographer Parker J Pfister. Users are also now able to import their own custom borders and textures using the built-in importing tool. Likewise, sharing and syncing presets, textures and borders across multiple computers is also now easy to do in Exposure 6.
To help users get started and for advanced techniques, the Alien Skin website has a library of tutorial videos and example images.
Pricing and Availability
Exposure 6 will be available in June 2014 through www.alienskin.com for $149 USD. Owners of any version of Exposure may upgrade for $69 USD. Free upgrades will be automatically sent to everyone who purchased Exposure 5 directly from Alien Skin Software in March 2014 or later.
Host Requirements
Exposure 6 may be used as a stand-alone program or a plug-in. When it is used as a plug-in it requires one of the following host applications:
- Adobe Photoshop CS6 or newer
- Adobe Lightroom 5 or newer
- Apple Aperture 3 or later
System Requirements
- Apple Mac users need OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) or later
- Microsoft Windows users need Windows 7 or later
- An Intel Core 2 processor or compatible
- A monitor with 1280x768 resolution or greater
