Design Art and Photography

Alien Skin has released a new version of its professional software plug-in for applying film-like effects to digital images. Exposure 2 offers twice as many film-stock settings as the previous version, including presets that give images the look of Polaroid, color print film, and hard-to-find and discontinued film stocks. Other new effects include exposure pushing, cross-processing, color shifting and fading, and enhanced infrared simulation and color-to-monochrome conversion. All of the program’s 300 presets can be adjusted and customized.

Exposure 2 is designed to create realistic film looks by simulating the size, shape, and color of film grain and applying variations separately to shadows, mid-tones, and highlights. The plug-in supports Photoshop CS3 Smart Filters to apply effects nondestructively.

The software has a new interface that organizes settings into groups, automatically fits image previews to the screen size, and highlights the last setting used. It also supports the faster performance offered by multiprocessor and multi-core systems.

Exposure 2 is available for Windows and Mac for $249 or as a free trial. Exposure 1 owners can upgrade for $149, and Exposure 2 will automatically upgrade and copy their custom settings the first time it runs. For more information on software requirements and to purchase Exposure 2, go to Alien Skin’s Web site.