New photo features

If you have been using previous versions of PSP then it will only take you a few minutes to customise yourself with this release. Here are a few highlights.

The Smart Photo Fix automatically corrects colour, brightness, sharpness, and saturation whilst also giving you some control to fine-tune the settings.

Smart Photo Fix works well on most images and removes unwanted colour casts quickly

A makeover tool includes a Blemish Fixer (works a treat on pictures of teenagers), a Toothbrush (yes, a toothbrush for whiter than white teeth!) and a Suntan Brush – a cheaper option than going to St Tropez.

The red eye removal tool has been simplified to a single click, well, two clicks unless you’ve photographed Cyclops. This worked well, but PSP already has an excellent red eye removal facility which can be found in the menu – Adjust > Red Eye Removal

The original Red Eye Removal interface is still available

To simplify the removal of unwanted objects (or people) there is an Object Remover. Draw a selection over something you want to remove and then drag a source box over your selection (for size). Now move the selection box over an area you want to sample and press the Apply button. This tool was a bit hit and miss depending on the subject matter, but when it works, it works well.

Digital image problems, such as purple fringing, can be fixed with a few clicks. The One Step Purple Fringe Fix was simple enough to apply, but it didn’t fix the problem on the images I used for this review. There is also a Chromatic Aberration Removal filter, I have yet to be convinced this actually worked.

The two new filters which stood out for me were the Black and White and Infrared film effects. The b/w film effect simulates the effect of using a traditional glass filters – Red, Green, Yellow, Orange or Blue and it produced excellent results. This, of course, assumes that you have a knowledge of the effect filters have on b/w film (anyone remember that stuff?). The channel mixer is still available for those photographers who prefer more precise control. The infrared filter produced some of the most realistic looking effects I have seen, short of actually shooting with infrared film. Full user control is given to Flare, Amount, and Grain - in short, it’s a superb filter.

Superb b/w conversion filter	Infrared filter is as good as the real thing - well nearly