Review: Exposure by Alien Skin Software

With the extinction of film cameras becoming more of reality with companies like Nikon that have halted production of film cameras, digital photography has become the only way of taking a photograph. Exposure brings the unique look of film back to photography.
To start using Exposure, you need to go to Filter > Alien Skin Exposure and choose black & white or color effects. A large panel pops up. I equate what Exposure does for photo adjustments to what the filter gallery does for filters.

Factory Settings
The first tab you are show are default factory presets. These are where you can find the effects to replicate film. It comes with numerous amounts of settings. Some denote specific film and some are named by how they modify the photo. I personally found the ones that had descriptions more helpful. It can’t get any simpler than just clicking on the name and seeing the change in the photo.
It’s an all-in one way of tweaking photos colors. The other tabs aren’t revolutionary in what they do by any means but they are good at what they do and all tide together in one dialogue box. You could use it to tweak a factory setting or to start from scratch. Either way is good.

Color
Allows for adjustments to saturation and color distributions.
The black and white film allow for applying simple color filters. This is where you would want to adjust sepia.
Tone
Gives a curves graph and sliders to adjust the contrast, shadow, midtone and highlight effects. It also provides eyedropper to select the lightest and darkest points.
Focus
Simple sliders for adjusting sharpness and blur.
Grain
This allows you to apply grain effects to highlight, midtones and shadows.

Usability: A+

What makes Exposure a pleasure to use is that you have the ability to go from tab to tab adjusting things like color and tone without having to commit to a certain setting to move on to another set of settings. The preview split is an effective tool for seeing before and after. Exposure allows you to save the settings you create and if you are click okay before saving, it allows you to apply the Last Used settings. It also creates a new layer for the effect rather than creating than applying changes on the photo layer.

Requirements:
Mac: 1 Ghz 512 MB, OS X 10.3
PC: 2Ghz 512MB 2000 or XP
Software:
Adobe Photoshop 7, Photoshop Elements, Corel Painter Pro 9, Fireworks 2004

Cost: $199 or $99 if you own another Alien Skin product

Pros:
Easy to learn and adjust
Preview Split
large Factory Settings library
All - In one
Mac and PC in one box
Supports a wide range of apps

Cons: Black & White and Color dialogue boxes are separated

Room to improve: You can never get enough factory settings

Bottom-line: Whether or not you’re a fan of film and the effects, Exposure is a simple and useful tool in a photographer's arsenal. There is a free demo so you can try it for yourself.