Corel Presents Paint Shop Pro X2

Published by: Codrut Nistor, in News

September5th2007

The early 1990s had seen a photo editing software scene dominated by Adobe’s Photoshop and Corel’s Photopaint, but all that started to change when shareware programs emerged to the delight of users who couldn’t afford to pay much for decent quality tools. One of the first shareware photo editing programs, Paint Shop Pro, was developed by Jasc, a small company which aimed at transforming traditional image editing features into much more affordable and user friendly ones. A few years ago, Corel, set on an acquiring mission, realized that Jasc’s program has great potential and bought it in order to fine tune the photo editor to their standards. Adobe immediately understood this strategy and began to offer simplified versions of its well-known Photoshop.

In the latest version of Paint Shop Pro we find the Express Lab, a batch processing tool that can apply certain tasks across multiple images, including cropping, rotating and color adjustments. In addition, Corel thought it would be a good idea to implement some advanced features that professionals find very useful in Photoshop: layer styles, an auto-preserve feature for originals and HDR photo merge. This last feature combines multiple images with different exposures into one image and it is currently considered to be one of the most significant trends in digital photography. As related to the HDR effects, Corel mentions that the X2 version has a "Clarify" feature to automatically “dodge and burn,” bringing out the contrast in HDR images.

Interesting enough, Corel also included some exotic functions such as the "thinify" tool that can make people in pictures look thinner than they really are. Features like this are actually part of a range of "makeover" tools, which also includes a new "Eye Drop" tool for eliminating the red out of bloodshot eyes, as well as an enhanced "Suntan brush" and a "Blemish Fixer”.

The new X2 version of Paint Shop Pro is the third one under the Corel brand. The Canadians have decided once again to keep the $100 price, adding a series of features that will most likely be appealing to casual photographers.