› ›
125Color Correcting in the HCL Color Scheme
Review by Erik Vlietinck
Film Emulation and Effects Plug-in
Review by Daniel M. Eastr
Exposure X by Alien Skin Software
Color Cone is a new app that enables you to correct colors and
create color lookup tables (LUTs). The app is based on a terrific
concept, but its design could be better.
Color Cone consists of one window with four segments. The
preview window shows your image and the adjustments made
to it, while the other three segments deal with the adjustments
themselves. Color Cone renders colors in the HCL scheme using
eyedropper samples on the interface.
The eye catcher is the dual cone in the center of the right
panel; however, the cone cannot be rotated or otherwise
manipulated. You can manipulate the samples, but that quickly
becomes unwieldy when there are a lot of them.
Although the app has a clumsy design, the workflow is sim-
ple: You use the eyedropper to select a color you want to adjust
in your image, fine-tune the selection, and a mask shows your
selection. Lastly, you adjust the color using the Target controls.
When you’re done, you can either save the adjustments as a pre-
set, or as a 3D LUT in any of half-a-dozen LUT file formats for use
in other apps such as Photoshop.
Unfortunately, the process is only straightforward if correct-
ing images with easily discernible colors. For example: When
It’s always a huge plus when a developer strives to improve upon
one of their flagship products, and it’s especially true when they’re
listening to their end users along with their own research and
development. As they always do, Alien Skin Software steps up
their game with a major update to their popular Exposure plug-in/
standalone software with version X.
There’s a lot to love, but let’s focus on what’s new and
improved. My personal favorite is seamless access to photo files:
Exposure X lets you preview, view, select, and organize your
images, saving a lot of time. You can work at will with a folder
of images from within the launched software. While there’s no
specific button to apply your effect(s), a simple export shortcut
does the trick (for Mac users, it’s Command-E).
Another great feature is that you can make edits in other soft-
ware and immediately see those results in your previews—and the
previews are really fast. The one stumbling block (and it’s not a big
one) is that the preview window doesn’t seem to use the same
color profile as the image once you’re back in Photoshop (or your
preferred editing software); but it’s just a preview.
The controls are more accurate, have more abilities, and effects
can be stacked in a nondestructive layer, so blending effects with
colors bleed through to the background, you’ll need so many
samples to get it right that it makes selecting them incredibly
hard. It’s especially difficult when they’re close together, as you
have to “scroll” through all of them to find the one you need.
That’s inefficient because there are no layers or even a list to pick
from directly.
In addition, the app doesn’t support RAW images, which in
my opinion doesn’t make sense. Color Cone is really a brilliant
idea that in practice leaves much to be desired. ■Picture Instruments Color Cone
the original offers countless options for your final output’s look.
Even after years of working with all of the previous versions, Expo-
sure X is so much fun to use that I want to go back to some older
images just to see what they might look like with these new filters,
effects, and controls.
Exposure X is all of the things that made every preceding ver-
sion a photographer’s favorite, but it adds even more options,
control, and speed, thus providing the potential for more timeless
images in the creative photography market. ■› ›^ GET THE SCOOP^ ON THE LATEST GEARCompany: Alien Skin Software, LLC Price: $149 (Upgrade: $99)
Web: http://www.alienskin.com Rating: ◆◆◆◆◆
Hot: Faster; new features; file management
Not:Company: Picture Instruments, UG Price: $189
Web: http://www.pictureinstruments.com Rating: ◆◆◆
Hot: Concept; HCL scheme; 3D LUT export feature
Not: Interface; no RAW support; no numeric feedback on sliders