LightZone 3
comes in two versions (basic and full). the whole
point of this application is to bring advanced
photo editing techniques without too much extensive
training, for instance in this version they have
released out new styles or presets that you can
apply to an image , the styles sit on the left hand
side of the interface, and they are split into
varying categories such as (Black & White, High
Dynamic Range, Detail Enhancement, High Contrast,
Looks, Toning) at the click of a button you can
preview the rendering on the image and if you are
not happy with the result you will notice on the
left hand side next to the effect you clicked on a
tick or a cross, simply select the cross if you do
not want to apply the preset or select the tick if
you do, it doesn’t get any easier than that.
The ease of use is particularly demonstrated in the interface of this program. In the top right hand corner there are two buttons (Browse & Edit) the thumbnails are situated at the bottom of the application and above that there is a thumbnail slider to the right that enables you to enlarge them, once selecting an image you will see in the bottom right hand corner an edit button which will take you into that mode, this is where you will see those presets we have just mentioned, on the right hand side, we have the famous zone-mapper that helps you to achieve correct exposure, this feature helps to break down the complete image into 16 exposure zones, which will assist you to get the correct highlights, mid-tones and shadows adjusted correctly. Furthermore there are a list of icons just below the Zone-Finder display that enable you to correct other aspects of your image beside lighting levels, such as “ Colour Balance, Hue And Saturation, White Balance and Noise Reduction. Other interesting features listed in this same area is the “Clone” tool which copies another area so you can apply it elsewhere thus enabling the possibility of removing unwanted objects in a photograph. The “Spot” tool is there to remove scratches and blemishes away from a certain part of an image, and not forgetting the “Red Eye” removal tool which accurately gets rid of this common problem.
‘Regions” are a feature in LightZone that have enabled maximum flexibility in what you can do in precision image adjustment, especially perhaps when it comes to taking portraits and other shots involving people, by selecting a region around the specified part of an image you can edit only the area that needs attention, this is well demonstrated in one their video tutorials.
Editing is not the only purpose of this application, also it handles the management of your images, with image ranking, batch processing (only in the full version and not the basic) and editing meta data, along with all the other features you would expect in an image management program. LZ3 can also handle non destructive raw image processing which means there is no need to convert your raw image to a popular graphic format to edit and adjust this saves on disk space too.
Another interesting feature is the undo stack, which is underneath styles in the edit mode, it is listed as “History” and it nicely describes each stage you have applied throughout the process, you can revert back to any stage at a click of a mouse, and right at the very bottom you can select original which takes you directly to the very start of your entering the edit mode, also any adjustments you make and applied is saved in a separate image file thereby preserving the original image you started with.
One disappointment I found though was that there is a thumbnail slider to enlarge thumbnails, but no such provision for the main image, at the top of the image, there are zoom tools, but they jump at different stages, rather than zooming in with precision, also there is no magnifying glass as with programs such as Aperture from Apple to navigate around certain parts of an image. I believe this is something that LightCrafts need to give attention to - to refine their most impressive product.
There is no doubt that this application has improved immensely since version 2, with some fine new features. It is easy to use with a well set out graphic user interface, some time saving presets to apply enhancements. unique tools such as the Zone-Mapper complete with viewer, unlimited stacks and region selections. Without doubt this makes LightZone a serious contender against Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom. However correcting the problems mentioned will perhaps bring more interest to their product.
The ease of use is particularly demonstrated in the interface of this program. In the top right hand corner there are two buttons (Browse & Edit) the thumbnails are situated at the bottom of the application and above that there is a thumbnail slider to the right that enables you to enlarge them, once selecting an image you will see in the bottom right hand corner an edit button which will take you into that mode, this is where you will see those presets we have just mentioned, on the right hand side, we have the famous zone-mapper that helps you to achieve correct exposure, this feature helps to break down the complete image into 16 exposure zones, which will assist you to get the correct highlights, mid-tones and shadows adjusted correctly. Furthermore there are a list of icons just below the Zone-Finder display that enable you to correct other aspects of your image beside lighting levels, such as “ Colour Balance, Hue And Saturation, White Balance and Noise Reduction. Other interesting features listed in this same area is the “Clone” tool which copies another area so you can apply it elsewhere thus enabling the possibility of removing unwanted objects in a photograph. The “Spot” tool is there to remove scratches and blemishes away from a certain part of an image, and not forgetting the “Red Eye” removal tool which accurately gets rid of this common problem.
‘Regions” are a feature in LightZone that have enabled maximum flexibility in what you can do in precision image adjustment, especially perhaps when it comes to taking portraits and other shots involving people, by selecting a region around the specified part of an image you can edit only the area that needs attention, this is well demonstrated in one their video tutorials.
Editing is not the only purpose of this application, also it handles the management of your images, with image ranking, batch processing (only in the full version and not the basic) and editing meta data, along with all the other features you would expect in an image management program. LZ3 can also handle non destructive raw image processing which means there is no need to convert your raw image to a popular graphic format to edit and adjust this saves on disk space too.
Another interesting feature is the undo stack, which is underneath styles in the edit mode, it is listed as “History” and it nicely describes each stage you have applied throughout the process, you can revert back to any stage at a click of a mouse, and right at the very bottom you can select original which takes you directly to the very start of your entering the edit mode, also any adjustments you make and applied is saved in a separate image file thereby preserving the original image you started with.
One disappointment I found though was that there is a thumbnail slider to enlarge thumbnails, but no such provision for the main image, at the top of the image, there are zoom tools, but they jump at different stages, rather than zooming in with precision, also there is no magnifying glass as with programs such as Aperture from Apple to navigate around certain parts of an image. I believe this is something that LightCrafts need to give attention to - to refine their most impressive product.
There is no doubt that this application has improved immensely since version 2, with some fine new features. It is easy to use with a well set out graphic user interface, some time saving presets to apply enhancements. unique tools such as the Zone-Mapper complete with viewer, unlimited stacks and region selections. Without doubt this makes LightZone a serious contender against Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom. However correcting the problems mentioned will perhaps bring more interest to their product.
LightCrafts LightZone 3.0 Software Review