LightZone is Now Free!

LightZone, a non-destructive photo-editing program somewhat based on Ansel Adams's Zone System, debuted in 2005 and was created by Light Crafts, Inc. It offered a more visual-based approach to image and tone manipulation and was remarkably intuitive with a relatively easy learning curve, especially when compared to Photoshop. It remains unique in that you can remove, reverse or change any step of your processing at any time in any order even in different sessions. Try doing that in any other program! And it worked in 16-bit.

I tried out LightZone shortly after it came out in 2005 and I remember liking it a lot. It took a visual approach to image manipulation, rather than a numbers- or values-based interface. And I was able to get good looking results almost immediately that were surprisingly hard to match in Photoshop. Photoshop is easier to use in cut-and-paste operations, where you area changing the image a great deal, but for just optimizing an image to look its best, LightZone was really good and fast. It was particularly good for black-and-white. It was almost like photographers designed it for other photographers to use. Imagine that!

Well, Light Crafts, Inc. went out of business in 2011 and LightZone went away, except it didn't. Fans and former employees kept the interest going and in December 2012, Light Crafts released LightZone to open source. And now a group calling itself the LightZone Project has come out with a new and free downloadable version (V4.0) for Windows and Linux, with a Mac version on its way. Actually, if you want the Windows version, hold off a bit and keep checking back since the initial release has some bugs in it that they are in the process of fixing. When they fixed things with it, they expect it to include 64-bit compatibility.

LightZone was a great program that offered features and flexibility that no other program had and now that it's free, there's no reason not to give it a try. You can download it and learn more about it here.

Photo Topics From Around the Web

There are a few things being posted around the web that are of interest and here they are:

Instagram is one of those things that people seem to either love or hate, and I fall on the side of loving it, and PetaPixel has published a list of ten Instagram users that are worth following. The list includes a National Geographic photographer and even General Electric. You can see them here. By the way, PetaPixel is a great website and one that I regularly follow.

Lately, Adobe and Photoshop have been the subject of much gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes because of their decision to only offer future versions of Photoshop as downloads as part of their Creative Cloud. No CDs to buy from here on out. Since I signed up for Creative Cloud late last year, this wasn't all that big of a deal for me, but I can see how it might upset others. So, Digital Photography Review has put out an article called, "10 Photo Editing Programs (that aren't Photoshop)." They include programs like Lightroom 4 and Photoshop Elements 11, which is something of a cheat, since they are both Adobe products, but there you go. They also showcase programs like ACDSee Pro 6 and Photo Editor, Aperture 3, and DxO Optics Pro 8, and several programs that I'm not real familiar with. There are even some free programs like GIMP that are included in the article. For several years I've been using Lightroom for RAW image processing and Photoshop for image editing and printing, and don't feel a need to shake things up, at least for now. But you can read the article here.

And finally, if you run on Mac and use Canon DSLRs, Kuuvik Digital has a new program called Kuuvik Capture for tethered shooting. It has a lot of neat features and definitely looks more usable and flexible than Canon's own Utility program for tethered shooting. The price starts at $79.99 and that price is good through June 30, 2013. You can see and order Kuuvik Capture here.

New Stuff!

Fotodiox has announced the availability of an interesting alternative for photographers looking to create high resolution, 645 medium format, digital images without spending $30,000 and up. The RhinoCam is made for Sony NEX cameras and uses those cameras as a digital back that is moved into predetermined positions letting the photographer take several images that can be combined or stitched together into one 140+ MP photograph in a program like Photoshop . It uses medium format lenses from Hasselblad V, Pentax, and Mamiya, and has a sliding focusing screen for focusing and composing the image. The RhinoCam sells for $500. This could be a good option for some people. Landscape and architectural photography would work nicely with a system like this.

Also, Sigma has released the prices of a few of their new lenses. Both the new 19mm f/2.8 and 30mm f/2.8 for M4/3 and Sony E-mount will sell for $199 each, and the APS-C digital lens, the 30mm f/1.4 in Sigma, Canon, and Nikon mounts will sell for $499.

Top 10 Photoshop Disasters for 2012

Photoshop Disasters has published their top ten list of the worst, or best, disasters for 2012, depending on how you look at it. If you aren't familiar with this website, it's a fun one to check out. It's kind of mind-boggling that these kinds of mistakes make it into print, but as long as people are doing the work, mistakes will be made. It's human nature. See their picks here. Though why this particular image made it in this year is a bit of a mystery, since the image itself is dated 2008. Perhaps it is part of a series of photos showing Oprah's weight at various points in her life. That would make sense, I suppose.

GIMP Magazine Debuts!

Sometimes it seems as if Photoshop is the only game in town, when it comes to photo/image manipulation software, but that never has been true. GIMP is an alternative to Photoshop that has garnered quite a few loyal fans. However, there is one major difference. Whereas you have to spend several hundred dollars to pick up a copy of Photoshop, GIMP is free to download. You see, GIMP is open source software and in the true spirit of the open source mindset, it doesn't cost anything. And it offers much of the same functionality that Photoshop is known for. Mind you, Photoshop offers a lot more options for doing everything, but most folks who use GIMP are more than happy with it.

Now there is going to be a GIMP users magazine and like the software itself, it will be free to download in PDF form. The first issue will be available September 5th and you can find it here. Starting with the second issue, they plan to offer a print version as well.

If you are interested in trying out GIMP software, check it out here. This is also a good place to learn more about it.

Skin Smoothing Photoshop Tutorial

Photoshop Roadmap has published a video tutorial from photographer Lee Varis. You can watch the video here. It follows an unusual, but straightforward technique for smoothing skin tones. As these types of techniques go, this one is simpler than some, but maybe not as useful for handling extremely rough complexions. Varis recommends it for portraits that need only a subtle smoothing of the skin tones. It's worth checking out.