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Rangefinder Magazine
February 2004

First Exposure: PhotoKit by Bob Rose

Every once in a while, some gadget comes along to make life a little easier. PhotoKitTM is just that kind of a gadget.

Imagine adding more than 100 traditional photographic effects to the already overwhelming tool selection of Adobe’s Photoshop.

Sure there are a lot of plug-ins that extend the features and capabilities of Photoshop. But most of them only serve a single purpose.

PhotoKit interface

PhotoKit actually consists of eight different sets of “computerized filters” that work through Photoshop’s Automate interface. More than just a plug-in, each effect is literally a series of custom-programmed functions that create the look you want in a Photoshop Layer.

The beauty of working with Layers in Photoshop is that you never touch the original. You can experiment all you want with the PhotoKit filters without causing any harm.

So just what can you do with PhotoKit? Since PhotoKit was designed by a talented group of computer geeks who are also photographers (Pixel Genius LLC), it’s easy to relate to the controls in photographic terms.

There are 26 filters that provide color balance and black-and-white contrast effects. You now have the ability to add warming and cooling control as well as basic color correction (i.e., LB and CC filters). In addition, you can apply the typical filters you’d use on black-and-white films and get “true” panchromatic results—not the incredibly poor excuse black-and-white that converting to grayscale provides.

For those of you who have spent long hours in the darkroom playing with dangerous and exotic paper toners, all I can say is: Take off the gas mask, and turn on the lights! Nine filters convert your color to black-and-white equivalents of everything from sepia to selenium to platinum (with a few others in between).

Need to accentuate by dodging and burning? There are 40 ways to do that. You want ovals, corners, tops, bottoms and sides? They’re all there.

And, if you didn’t have full control of your lighting there are 25 really thoughtful ways to affect the shadows, highlights and even punch up the blacks and the whites.

If you are counting, we’re only up to 100 filters. I feel like a late night infomercial ready to say, “But wait, if you act now, you’ll also get two more sets absolutely free.” And that’s actually true.
Up to this point, all the filters described work equally well regardless of the image resolution.
The last two groups of filters will have different results depending on the image and file size, just like certain lens focal lengths and apertures can influence the “look” of a photo.

An Image Enhancement set provides 13 ways to sharpen various elements of the image. It also gives you three options to reduce the noise level we’ve come to expect in digital images.

Last, but not least, the Photo Effects set gives you a chance to put the grain back, so you can remember what film really looks like! There are also the traditional photo filters like Fog, Diffusion and Center Clear Blur. Vignettes and a variety of Black Edge effects round out the selection.

OK, we’re up to 141 effects, and more are promised for future versions. Not bad for less than the price of one typical screw-in optical filter.

A safe way of dealing with digital image enhancement is to always work in Layers as previously noted.

Wigwam Village, normal.	Wigwam Village with burn on top third of image.

Wigwam Village with 12 pt soft white edge.	Wigwam Village in black and white w/ blue filter.

Wigwam Village in black and white w/ red filter.

Not only do you have the ability to leave the original intact, you also have an easy way to turn every effect (Layer) on and off.

By varying Layer opacity, you can blend an effect over the entire image (globally). And if you want to selectively (locally) alter an area of the image, you can paint on a Layer Mask. It’s also possible to duplicate Layers to amplify their intensity.

Because PhotoKit provides such a wide range of genuinely useful controls, you may be tempted to take advantage of a few of them quite frequently. That’s no problem as you can create a series of Actions in Photoshop to apply them automatically in any combination that works for you.

PhotoKit requires Photoshop 6 or higher and works equally well on both Mac and PC (although there are different versions for each). It only applies to 24-bit RGB images, however, Pixel Genius LLC is planning to release a 48-bit version for those of you who like to work with the maximum output from high-end digital SLRs. Also, a free downloadable upgrade lets you work on 16-bit images in Adobe Photoshop CS.

I personally won’t stop using filters, reflectors and light to control the quality of my original photographs. I’m just thankful that PhotoKit will be there to give me some more alternatives when I get home.

PhotoKit is available for download from www.pixelgenius.com as a fully operational demo that expires after seven days. It can be purchased directly from the PhotoKit Plug-in dialog. Retail price of PhotoKit is $49.95

Bob Rose joined the photo industry in 1978 after graduating from RIT. Less than 10 years later he started working with Digital Products. Rose has been a contributor to a number of publications, including the Focal Press Encyclopedia of Photography, and has taught at Parsons School of Design. In 1999 he formed his own company, VMI. He can be reached at: vmi-info@earthlink.net.