DxO PhotoLab 7 Released (new color calibration and editing tools)

PhotoLab 7
View Post

DxO released a new version of their award winning photo editing software, i.e. PhotoLab 7 (click here for more information). PhotoLab 7 does not require a subscription and can be installed on up to three computers.

Press release:

DxO PhotoLab 7 introduces unique color calibration and editing tools, revamped local adjustments, and a powerful B&W workflow.

Paris (France): DxO Labs, creator of pioneering photo-editing software for over 20 years, is proud to present PhotoLab 7, its complete RAW image-processing and correction software.

“Our goal has always been to give photographers the ultimate in image quality, and PhotoLab 7 takes this another step further. Combined with our ultra-wide gamut and soft proofing functionality, the introduction of the color calibration tool and support for LUTs creates a whole new level of control.” (Fabrizio Dei Tos Navalesi DxO Product Director)

New for PhotoLab 7

Commitment To Color

PhotoLab 7 enables photographers to apply true-to-life, scientifically accurate color profiles to their images. PhotoLab 7 unique tool, working in concert with one of six industry-standard color checker charts from Calibrite and Datacolor.

Cinematic-Style Grading

We are excited to introduce Look Up Tables (LUTs) into PhotoLab 7: now available with 17 DxO starter presets. LUTs builds on our previous advances made in color management where we re-engineered our color processing algorithms, introduced DxO Wide Gamut our extended working color space and improved Soft Proofing mode. Using LUTs will enable our exacting photographers to speed up their workflow and apply their favorite style adjustments to their images.

HSL Editing Can Now Be Adjusted Locally

PhotoLab first began to set the standard in color control through its innovative HSL Color Wheel. The spectrum of color control tools now available in version 7 is the result of years of concerted effort to deliver lifelike and expressive colors demanded by serious photographers. Photographers can now enjoy the powerful easy-to-use HSL ColorWheel as part of their local adjustments, enabling them to adjust the color of a subject’s clothing, or subtly warming the highlights of a landscape scene, all with the highest quality and total creative freedom.

A Natural Black-and-White Workflow

PhotoLab 7 has new tools that help photographers create their definitive monochrome workflow. The interface introduces a new tab to switch between color and monochrome and a range of new film renderings – plus PhotoLab 7 includes introduces a six-channel mixer for complete tonal control across black-and-white photography.

PressRelease-DxO-PhotoLab7-August2023-EN

Local Adjustments Revamped

The ability to make precise local adjustments is a vital part of creative photo editing. PhotoLab 7 makes this easy by organizing local adjustment tools into a new dedicated palette in the workspace. This evolution keeps the interface cleaner and makes photos more visible while they’re being worked on, allowing even greater precision from our popular U PointTM tool.

Price and Availability

New customers can download Windows and macOS versions exclusively from the DxO website (https:// shop.dxo.com/en) at the prices listed below, a 30-day free trial is also available.

● DxO PhotoLab 7: $ 229
Owners of PhotoLab 5 or 6 can take advantage of a special upgrade price:

● DxO PhotoLab 7 upgrade price: $109
To upgrade, customers should log into their customer account at https://shop.dxo.com/login_upgrade.php/

Excire Foto 2024 Released, More AI Tools (and discounted for limited time)

Excire 2024
View Post

A truly impressive software for photo management that I am actively using has been released in a new version with many improvements, Excire 2024 – click here to check it out (trail version available). Excire Foto 2024 is available for both Windows and macOS. The software’s MSRP is $189, but a limited-time launch discount reduces the price to $149. Additionally, existing Excire Foto 2022 users can upgrade to Excire Foto 2024 for $59.

There are many improvements in Excire 2024. Highlights include five separate AI engines and two groundbreaking new features:

  1. Prompt-search AI, so that photographers can instantly retrieve any image in their photo library simply by typing in a text description (e.g., “Grand Canyon sunset” or “person by the Eiffel Tower with a yellow umbrella”).
  1. X-tetics AI, which intelligently scores images based on their aesthetic qualities and has been trained on data from hundreds of thousands of photos and input from expert photographers.

To learn more about Excire Foto 2024’s groundbreaking new features, please visit www.excire.com/en.

Press release:

Step Into the Future: Excire Foto 2024 Is Redefining Image Management

PRC’s Revolutionary Photo-Organizing Software Offers Prompt Search, AI Image Evaluation, and More

Lübeck, Germany – September 27, 2023 – PRC, the AI company behind the award-winning Excire software, has today launched the latest iteration of its innovative photo-management program: Excire Foto 202

Powered by five state-of-the-art AI models, including a prompt-search AI that allows users to instantly retrieve images by inputting text descriptions and an X-tetics AI that intelligently rates each image based on its aesthetic qualities, Excire Foto 2024 propels photographers into a new era of image organization – one where keywording, image evaluation, culling, and retrieval are almost entirely automated, enabling photographers to spend less time behind the computer and more time on their craft.

“Our vision was to combine cutting-edge AI with intuitive design to provide an unparalleled photo-management experience,” said Erhardt Barth, CEO of PRC and a machine learning expert at the University of Lübeck. “Photos cataloged with Excire Foto 2024 aren’t just stored. They’re always at your fingertips, ready to be revisited any time you wish.”
An Image Workflow Like Never Before
Fast, effective, and essential for any photographer seeking a time-saving approach to image organization, Excire Foto 2024 boasts an array of features designed to shortcut traditional file-management bottlenecks and eliminate tedious workflow tasks for both hobbyists and professionals. With Excire, photographers can:

Instantly retrieve any image with X-prompt AI, a revolutionary new tool that puts entire photo catalogs at users’ fingertips. Thanks to X-prompt AI, photographers can find files in their Excire databases by inputting a text description, such as “fast red motorcycle on a country road at sunset.” Using the prompt tool is highly intuitive – just type a sentence into the provided search field and instantly view the results. Excire’s powerful AI engine is capable of understanding complex sentences, context, and even abstract concepts such as “happiness” and “sorrow.” Gone are the days of searching endlessly for lost files; instead, if the user can describe it, they can find it.

Evaluate photos with X-tetics AI, a newly designed feature designed to accurately judge image aesthetics. Trained using hundreds of thousands of photos as well as extensive input from expert photographers, the X-tetics AI feature independently evaluates each image uploaded to a user’s catalog, then outputs a unique Aesthetics Score for each file. Aesthetics ratings can then be used to swiftly identify the most shareable – and most deletable – images from photoshoots, as well as to uncover hidden gems from deep within an image database.

Automatically categorize files with X-tags AI, the innovative tool that analyzes each photo upon import and applies relevant keywords to aid in search and categorization. Thanks to X-tags AI’s unique capabilities, users can skip the tedium of manual keywording and can instead let Excire do the heavy lifting, making it easier than ever to categorize and retrieve images based on their content. While X-tags AI has appeared in previous versions of Excire software, the latest version boasts a revamped engine with enhanced content-detection capabilities for outstanding accuracy.

Manage photos with X-face AI and X-alike AI, two more powerful features for finding, organizing, and culling images. X-face AI’s advanced facial-recognition technology allows photographers to categorize and retrieve files containing specific individuals as well as certain facial characteristics, such as age, sex, and the presence of a smile. And X-alike AI’s image analysis enables users to search for similar files – based on an initial image prompt – or even identify near-duplicate images for deletion. Like X-tags AI, these features first appeared in previous iterations of Excire Foto, but the latest version boasts upgraded AI technology for improved results.

Click here to open the rest of the article

Save Big On Topaz Photo AI 2 (new release)

Topaz Photo AI 2
View Post

Until September 22, 2023, you can save $40 on the new Topaz Photo AI 2.

👉👉👉 Get Topaz Photo AI at $159 (reg. $199). Offer expires 9/22/2023 👈👈👈

Press release:

Topaz Photo AI 2 introduces generative AI features designed for professional-grade photo editing

Topaz Photo AI 2 has launched with all-new AI powered features, including a single-slider lighting adjustment filter, a color balance filter, and other best-in-class image enhancement features powered by generative AI.

Dallas, TX – Topaz Labs today announced the availability of Topaz Photo AI 2, the second major version of its flagship desktop app for image quality enhancement. With this upgrade, Topaz Photo AI uses generative AI to deliver on its promise of best-in-the-world image quality for professional and prosumer photographers.

Topaz Photo AI 2

With the new advancements in v2, photo editors can now:

  • Adjust Lighting improves lighting and addresses over/underexposure in a visually pleasing way. It can deal simultaneously with extreme highlights or shadows in the same image.
  • Balance Color attempts to remove color casts, then allows editors to adjust relative temperature based on the neutral baseline.
  • Maximize image quality on raw files with a heavily improved AI-based Raw Remove Noise engine that greatly outperforms alternatives in blind quality tests.

The new release also features improved blur reduction AI models and the ability to access Gigapixel generative upscaling directly from the Automate menu in Photoshop.

With Photo AI 2, Topaz Labs continues to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and magical results for photographers serious about image quality.

“Topaz Photo AI v2 shows the huge potential of generative AI to make editing real photos better,” said Eric Yang, CEO of Topaz Labs. “Photographers can focus entirely on achieving their artistic vision and let technology worry about the technical details.”

Topaz Photo AI 2 is a desktop software for Mac and Windows with integrations available for major image editors. It’s available on the Topaz Labs website for the introductory price of $159 for new users and $79 for existing users without an active upgrade license.

DxO announces landmark moment for Nik Collection with version 6.3

Nik Collection
View Post

Download the new Nik Collection 6.3 here, trial version available.

Press release:

DxO announces landmark moment for Nik Collection with version 6.3

It is a big day for Nik Collection. Today’s release of the world’s favorite set of photo-editing plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom Classic marks the culmination of a six-year project to entirely rebuild the software inherited from Google in 2017. Available now, version 6.3 is faster and more reliable than ever before, and features comprehensive updates to Nik Sharpener and Nik HDR Efex.

Nik Collection Completely Redesigned by DxO Labs

In October 2017 DxO Labs acquired the Nik Collection from Google. Six years later, the huge task of re- authoring is complete, with every line of code rewritten for the latest technology. The release of Nik Collection 6.3, the suite is fully compatible with Windows, MacOS, and Apple Silicon, it works harmoniously within Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom Classic, DxO PhotoLab, and Affinity Photo, and is faster and more reliable than ever before.

“We are hugely proud of this achievement. With this work complete, we can now focus solely on adding exciting new features and technology. Our talented engineers are committed to making Nik Collection the indispensable creative companion to every passionate photographer’s workflow.” (Jérôme Ménière, CEO of DxO Labs)

The new editions of Nik Sharpener and Nik HDR Efex include a host of updates making them more powerful and easier to use. Both feature a new interface with a clearer, cleaner look that matches the other Nik Collection plugins. Also, you can now choose where sliders for local adjustments appear on-screen: controls can be either kept in a sidebar to tidy the image area, or overlaid in traditional style.

And as with Nik Collection 6.3’s other plugins, the U PointTM technology in Nik HDR Efex and Nik Sharpener now features: NEW Control Lines add flexibility when making broad adjustments, letting you harness the power of Control Points

  • NEW Control Lines add flexibility when making broad adjustments, letting you harness the power of Control Points when sharpening across linear gradients
  • NEW Control Point diffusion lets you regulate the strength and style of sharpening adjustments more easily
  • NEW Control Points and Control Lines can now be inverted, giving you huge flexibility when sharpening specific areas of an image
  • NEW Color Selectivity sliders allow Control Point and Control Line editing to be tied to specific colors and tones in an image
  • NEW Renamable Local Adjustments let you stay on top of complex edits, and local adjustments can now be saved as Presets, giving you quick access to frequently used sharpening recipes.
  • NEW Call on any of your last 15 Nik Collection edits and apply them with a single click
  • NEW Presets can now be searched for by name, so you can instantly find your favorite edits
  • NEW HiDPI & Multiscreen support lets you work with all screen configurations
  • NEW Affinity Photo is now automatically detected as part of installation.

DxO Announces Nik Collection 6 (standalone & plug-in)

Nik Collection 6
View Post

I am old fashioned, I know. I used Nik Collection since its incipit and never felt out of love for it. I believe everyone shoud give it a try.

DxO released a new version, Nik Collection 6 (trail version available). Nik Collection 6 can be used as a standalone application as well as plugin together with other programs.

If you want to learn more about this amazing suite of software, there is a video below that might answer all your questions. The first video imediately below this sentence is just a short introduction to Nik Collection 6.

Press release:

DxO announces Nik Collection 6, bringing upgrades to the premium suite of plugins that boosts the photo editing power of Lightroom Classic and Photoshop

Nik Collection, the world’s favorite set of photo editing plugins, has been revamped for a fresh generation of creative photographers. Version 6 sees comprehensive upgrades to Nik Collection’s innovative U Point™tool, including new Control Lines, Color Selectivity filters, inverted and diffused adjustments, and a cleaner look to the workspace. There’s also a new filter for Nik Color Efex, an updated interface for Nik Dfine, additional Smart Object functionality, and plenty more refinements to accelerate your photo editing workflow.

Together, Nik Collection 6 gives you all the tools you need to make better photos.

Paris (France): DxO Labs, the company which has pioneered innovative photo editing software for more than 25 years, is proud to present the new and improved Nik Collection. A cornerstone of photo editing for decades, Nik Collection has long been the go-to plugin suite for photographers who want to edit with freedom, creativity, and technical precision. Now, version 6 takes this to another level.

Updated and upgraded, Nik Collection 6’s eight individual apps can be used alone, or as plugins within the most popular photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. Including the full gamut of creative and technical tools needed to make images with impact, they cover everything from simple editing of color, tonality, and sharpness, to HDR effects, denoising, geometry, and more.

Delivering quick results when you’re in a rush, and offering endless depth when you need to go deeper, Nik Collection’s powerful, innovative tools and ease of use make it the essential plugin suite for every photographer.

More creativity, more controlNik Collection was the birthplace of U Point™technology, the most intuitive tool for local adjustments in photo editing. Available across the suite, U Point has been upgraded to add new functionality to make selective edits more intuitive in the following ways:

●NEWControl Lines add flexibility when making broad adjustments, bringing the power of Control Points to linear gradients

●NEWControl Point diffusion features mean you can regulate the strength and style of adjustments more easily

●NEWControl Points and Control Lines can now be inverted, giving you huge flexibility when editing

●NEWColor Selectivity sliders allow Control Point and Control Line editing to be tied to specific colors and tones in an image

●NEWRenamable Local Adjustments let you stay on top of complex edits, so you’ll never lose sight of your work

●NEWLocal Adjustments can now be saved as Presets, giving you quick access to your most frequently used edits

A cleaner look for those who want it

We all like to do things our own way, and that’s just as true in terms of editing as it is in picture taking. New to Nik Collection 6 is the ability to choose where sliders for local adjustments appear on screen. Controls can be kept in a sidebar to keep the image area clean or overlaid on top of the image in the traditional Nik Collection style

Always easy to use

Despite all of its new and improved features, Nik Collection 6 is easier to use than ever before. Available to hundreds of millions of users, it plugs straight into DxO PhotoLab, Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom Classic, and Affinity Photo, providing unprecedented creative featureswithout affecting your preferred workflow. Several new workflow features make editing even better:

●NEWTurn your edits into a Smart Object at any stage from within the plugin, giving you fully non-destructive editing in Photoshop

●NEWCall on any of your last 15 Nik Collection edits and apply them with a single click

●NEWPresets can now be searched for by name so you can instantly find your favorite edits

●NEWHiDPI & Multiscreen support lets you work with all screen configurations

●NEWAffinity Photo is now automatically detected as part of installation

Individual app upgrades

Five of the eight plugins that make up Nik Collection 6 see significant individual upgrades bringing new features and smoother functionality:

●Nik Color Efexgains a brand-new Hue/Saturation/Luminance tool, for deeper and more accurate control of color and tone

●Nik Dfinereceives a complete visual overhaul bringing it into line with the other plugins, creating a more refined experience as well as improved options for saving denoising recipes and returning to them in just a few clicks

●Nik Perspective adds the powerful new ReShape Tool which allows photographers to warp and shape local areas for complete precision

●Nik Sharpeneris also receiving a rebuild and interface overhaul, destined for Nik 6.2, and available as a free update

●Nik HDR Efex, the premier tool for exposure blending, also gets a fresh new interface as part of version 6.3 (arriving in August), providing a clearer, faster workflow.

What’s in Nik Collection 6?

Nik Collection 6 includes eight powerful plugins that also function as standalone apps, covering everything you need as a photographer to improve your images, both creatively and technically:

●Nik Color EfexCountless striking filters for color, tone, contrast, and more

●Nik Silver EfexDarkroom-inspired controls for the ultimate in black-and-white photo editing●Nik Analog EfexDive into history and discover endless analog effects to give photos a vintage feel

●Nik VivezaShape color, manipulate tones, be bold, and inject passion

●Nik DfineRemove digital noise exactly where required, without destroying detail

●Nik PerspectiveFix perspective and distortion for geometric perfection or creative effects

●Nik HDR EfexHarmonize highlights and shadows for photos with a gorgeous dynamic range

●Nik SharpenerEnhance images with perfect sharpness, exactly where you need it.

DxO PhotoLab Gets TIPA’s “Best Imaging Software” For The Fourth Year In A Row

Photolab
View Post

I use it, I like it, it’s pretty powerful yet doesn’t require a master in engineering to be used. It’s a very good piece of software. We are talking about DxO’s PhotoLab image editing software. It got the TIPA “Best Imaging Software” award. For the fourth year.

DxO PhotoLab 6 allows photographers to get the utmost quality from their RAW files. Its wide range of tools includes unique processing features such as the AI-powered DeepPRIME XD which removes unprecedented levels of noise, enhances detail, and delivers more accurate colors — all in just a few clicks. The software’s optical correction tools can make even entry-level lenses look professional. The new DxO Wide Gamut working color space ensures end-to-end accuracy, complemented by a soft proofing mode, and an innovative ColorWheel tool that gives users absolute control over hue, luminance, and saturation. Other creative and corrective tools include Smart Lighting (automated highlight and shadow balancing), ClearView (haze reduction), and an ingenious new ReTouch tool that offers sophisticated cloning and healing. In addition, DxO recently introduced DxO PureRAW, an application that sits alongside existing photo-editing software to eliminate noise and enhance detail in RAW files at the beginning of your workflow.

A free trail version is available too.