Whether you want to shoot with a film that has been discontinued, mimic the days when you could experiment in the darkroom, or do some cool tricks to age a brand new photo instantly; Exposure 4 has you covered. The folks over at Alien Skin have been producing really great plugin software for Photoshop for years, but Exposure 4 is sure to be one product that will make them a hit in your post processing workflow.
The Background
Careful research was put into developing the enhancements that Exposure gives your images. Exposure was designed to mimic film and revive techniques and styles that haven’t existed in digital photography before. Alien Skin did their homework. They did test shots with many older formats and examined under a microscope the results. They combed through photo archives and got advice from expert photographers and film lab techs. The result was a software which didn’t just mimic the color or style of an old school film shoot… but even the very texture itself.
The Result
What resulted from this painstaking research was a product which makes a good looking digital picture into a great looking digital facsimile of some of your favorite old school film products and techniques.
The grain on your shots is realistic, unlike just applying a generic texture in Photoshop. The editing is non-destructive because you can always revert back to the original, so you have the freedom to experiment! And the effects range everywhere from something as generic as black & white, to some very specific looks such as Kodak T-MAX or Kodachrome (in multiple variations.)
The Process
Exposure 4 is a plugin. As such, it requires that you use it in conjunction with either Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. I used it in Photoshop, and it was very easy to do. First, launch Photoshop and open the image you plan to edit. Select “Filter” from the menu at the top, and go down to “Alien Skin”. You may have multiple products (I’m a huge fan of their “Eye Candy” plugin) so select “Exposure” and a new window opens up.
From here, you have two palettes, one on the right and one on the left (which may be hidden when you first open the software). Now, go nuts! You have ultimate post processing power at your fingertips! Everything is very easy to use.
The filters and presets are grouped so you can get just the right look without having to look hard to find it. If you have a favorite, just type it in the search box to get straight there. You can also save your own presets if you’re more into the manual tweaking of photos and you can adjust the level of various effects to suit your taste.
There is a thumbnail preview of effects so you can see what your picture will look like without applying the effect. Essentially, this has become a Lightroom style gallery for a huge collection of filters to allow you to post process with ease until you get the look you like.
Requirements:
Adobe Photoshop CS4 (or newer) or
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (or newer) or
- Adobe Lightroom 2 (or newer)
- Mac – OSX 10.6 (or newer) with Intel Core 2 processor
- Windows – Windows Vista (or newer) with Intel Core 2 processor (or compatible processor)
Examples
Here are some examples of what you can do using Exposure 4. Please don’t just take these examples, download the trial version and see how powerful this software really is!
The Final Say
Exposure 4 is a powerful plugin. If you’re the artistic or creative type, it’s well worth the investment. Plugin software helps you fully unleash the potential of software like Photoshop, think of it like a performance upgrade to your car. While you might be able to replicate these results yourself, you’ll spend more time doing it than would be worth the cost of this software.
I highly recommend you check out Exposure 4. Download it here, or check out the free trial if you want to see what it can really do!
