Serif PhotoPlus 11 - Makes Photo Editing Fun to Learn

What's Hot: 
Serif PhotoPlus 11 can be downloaded from the website. To get the advanced tutorials, you need to purchase the PhotoPlus Studio Extras DVD.

What's Not: 
I previously reviewed Serif PagePlus X2 and had problems installing it on my XP machine. With PhotoPlus 11, I had exactly the same problem when installing on my Vista machine. PhotoPlus 11 would not install and I got an error message stating that it "will not install due to an existing unfulfilled system reboot request."  I had to apply the same registry edit that I had to apply for with PagePlus X2. Then I couldn't get anything to print, not even the help section in the .pdf file would print. I deleted my extra printer, and then the program crashed. I restarted PhotoPlus 11 and now it printed. I reinstalled the deleted printer and the printing still worked so I'm not too sure what happened there. It was frustrating for a while, and almost spoiled what turned out to be a good experience with this product.

Serif PhotoPlus 11 has a multitude of features. It could be daunting to use if it weren’t for the tutorials. They lead you step by step through the various features, and explain what happens when you change various settings of a photo. They make it fun to learn how to use all the functions of this product.

The tutorials are divided into five categories and cover just about all the features of the product…

Getting Started

·         Getting images into PhotoPlus

·         Sharpening images

·         Changing image and canvas size

·         Making basic image corrections

·         Printing

[See Image 1]

Basics

·         Key Concepts

·         Selection tools

·         Brush tips and tricks

·         Color spaces

·         Image formats

[See Image 2]

Photography

·         Adding color to b+w images

·         Making contrast adjustments

·         Recoloring images

·         Repairing, restoring photos

·         Replacing backgrounds

·         Retouching photographs

·         Macros and batch processing

[See Image 3]

Creative Effects

·         Antiquing photographs

·         Depth maps and 3D effects

·         Dramatic lighting effects

·         Oil painting effects

·         Using paths

·         Creating modern art

·         Working with vector shapes

·         Creating infrared effects

[See Image 4]

Projects

·         Inkblot

·         Popart

·         Photoprints

·         Photos into art

·         Extracting subjects from photos

·         Panoramic photos

·         Glamorizing photos

·         Beach scene montage

·         Vintage photos

·         Grunge

·         Pencil sketch

[See Image 5]

There are other features not covered by tutorials. Animation is a really fun one to play with. The User Guide and on screen help, cover the method of turning a series of photos into animation.

What's Hot: 
There are different types of toolbars, and once you are familiar with the names of each toolbar and the options on each, then it is easy to find your way around. This is where the user guide is very useful. It points out each toolbar and names them all. This name is then referred to in the tutorials. The tutorial that covers basic concepts is a necessary tutorial because it explains how a photo is structured, and explains the different layers that can make up a finished photo. This helps you understand how to alter and edit the various parts of a photo.
[See Image 6]

What's Not: 
The different toolbars are a bit confusing to begin with. There are similar icons on different toolbars. You need to identify each toolbar to make it easier to follow the tutorials. At one point, in one of the tutorials, I got a bit lost since there was an icon that it was referring to which was very similar on a different toolbar. However, it did specify the toolbar to look on, and I soon realized my mistake.