onOne Software’s Plug-in Suite 5 is chock full of some of the most useful photo enhancements and effects this side of the camera.
In Part 1 I’ll look at what these plug-ins do and how they perform. This will include FocalPoint 2, PhotoTools 2.5 and PhotoTune 3.
Part 2 I cover PhotoFrame 4.5, Genuine Fractals 6 and Mask Pro 4.
The suite features these six plug-ins:
- FocalPoint 2 – creates selective focus
- PhotoTools 2.5 – adds enhanced photographic effects
- PhotoTune 3 – assists with color correction
- Genuine Fractals 6 – enlarges images with minimal degradation
- PhotoFrame 4.5 – adds edge and framing effects
- Mask Pro 4 – removes backgrounds around the toughest pixels, including hair, smoke and water
It should be noted that I used the plug-in suite with Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 2. For those using Photoshop CS4 there’s a new onOne Panel that makes launching plug-ins faster and more convenient.
FocalPoint 2
FocalPoint’s purpose is to produce realistic looking bokeh or short depth of field in post processing. Sure there are plenty of ways to do this in Photoshop, but the plug-in gives you more control over blur and definitely makes it more realistic.
When launching FocalPoint from Lightroom from File >> Plug-in Extras >> FocalPoint 2, you’re presented with export options similar to those when choosing to open and edit an image in Photoshop, which shouldn’t be surprising considering that’s exactly what’s happening.
Here’s how it works: the image opens in Photoshop, and FocalPoint automatically launches. Make all the adjustments you’d like, click apply, effects are applied to a new layer in Photoshop, the image is saved, closed and, bam, you’re back in Lightroom.
If you want to stay in Photoshop to do more advanced editing, I suggest opening your image in Photoshop by using Cmd+E from Lightroom. Then select FocalPoint from the onOne menu at the top. Doing it this way ensures you’ll return to Photoshop after running the FocalPoint plug-in, not Lightroom.
The FocalPoint interface is very Lightroom-esque: your image is on the left, panels are on the right.
All photos © Ryan Klos
What makes this version of FocalPoint so powerful, aside from being able to insert multiple focus bugs and choose between round or planar shapes, are the new options within the Blur section. Now you can choose the type of lens you’d like to mimic. Several of the most popular Canon and Nikon lenses known for sweet bokeh are listed.
Once you choose the lens you want, you can tweak the bokeh by adjusting the Amount and Optic Quality. You can further tweak by changing the Aperture, Curvature and Rotation of the bokeh.
The Options section adds more possibilities for adjusting the background, including Highlight Bloom (great for adding sparkle to background lights), Brightness, Contrast and Film Grain. Each of these adds a little more reality to the bokeh.
While the focus bugs typically yield good results, sometimes they won’t work for exactly what you want. For instance, in this photo of the musical instrument repairman, I wanted him to be completely in focus while the background dropped out.
All photos © Ryan Klos
I tried using the brush option within the plug-in, but ended up making a cleaner selection with the pen tool in Photoshop first.
After making the selection, I launched FocalPoint and the selection came in with the image. Once in FocalPoint, I tweaked the edges, lightened the blur in specific areas and finished it off by adding a slight vignette (also from within FocalPoint).
All photos © Ryan Klos
Overall I was very impressed with FocalPoint. It’s a clean, powerful plug-in yielding very realistic results, but can also be used as a creative tool for some interesting images. Several Presets are included as well and offer creative starting points for your photo enhancements.
A huge bonus is the ability to use a Wacom tablet and to utilize pressure-sensitive brush size and opacity. Used in conjunction with the hide/show mask feature, it’s easy to ensure you’ve painted in all sections of your mask and to create bokeh exactly where you want. Lastly, while the whole Lightroom integration thing isn’t perfected by third party developers yet, onOne has gotten it to a manageable state with minimal annoyance.
PhotoTools 2.5
PhotoTools is one of my favorite plug-ins of the entire suite. With a few clicks and sliding adjustments, you can quickly add professional effects to your images. Think of PhotoTools as your hottest actions set on steroids. Very potent steroids that you can increase and decrease in different areas.
All photos © Ryan Klos
As with the rest of the plug-ins in the suite, you can access PhotoTools directly from Lightroom or from Photoshop. And, again, the advantage to opening in Photoshop first is returning to Photoshop afterward to continue making adjustments. For example, applying adjustment layers or changing the blending mode and opacity of the new PhotoTools layer.
The PhotoTools interface is easy to navigate and allows you to view enhancements by search, category, keywords or presets. I prefer working from the categories view because I’m typically looking for specific enhancements within a category like Portrait Enhance. From the categories list you’re presented with a list of effects falling into the chosen category, then an explanation, and finally a small image preview.
Just double-click on the effect you want and it’s applied to your stack (think layers).
Depending on the enhancements you choose, the entire image may be affected, which is usually the case, or you can paint in different areas with the enhancement. For example, you can paint away facial shine or paint in smooth skin on portraits in isolated areas (via mask). Still other enhancements may have a gradient option that limits its effects to the top half or third of the image.
The range of effects in the pro edition is staggering, especially when you consider the possibilities of stacking multiple effects and adjusting their strength. The possibilities are truly limitless. But just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should when it comes to enhancing images. Subtlety is key. And while the effects work similarly to Photoshop adjustment layers, once you apply them, you’re stuck with them. You can’t go back and readjust. You must reprocess the image entirely (although you can apply Last Used effects from the recently used dropdown).
Speaking of reprocessing, if you create a specific stack of enhancements that you know you’ll use on future images, you can easily save it as a custom preset. You can also visit onOne’s exchange site to download other users’ custom presets, or share the love and upload your own.
The available effects in this plug-in range from basic color tweaks to advanced overlays, vignettes and glows from acclaimed photographers Jack Davis and Kevin Kubota. There are some great film grain and black and white effects, but not every effect is a diamond. I find few useful effects in the One-Click Art and Overlay Effects categories for my taste.
PhotoTune 3
PhotoTune reminds me a lot of the Variations function in Photoshop’ Image >> Adjustments >> Variations menu. It’s a great plug-in for those not comfortable using the color balance and adjustment tools in Lightroom or Photoshop because it’s fairly automated and features side-by-side before-and-afters. When PhotoTune launches, you have three options to choose from: Images With People; Images Without People; and Pro Mode. The first two are auto modes with limited custom adjustment options, while Pro Mode is full manual adjustment and fine tuning.
When choosing Images With People, you see two versions of your image with varying degrees of auto adjustments already made. Almost each step has a slider which allows you to see less or more of the adjustments made. When you’re happy with what’s on screen, click on the one you like best to move to the next step. This goes on for as many steps as necessary constantly dialing in proper dynamic range, color, brightness, cast removal, skin tone and sharpness.
All photos © Ryan Klos
The Images Without People mode works the same as previous, only the algorithms and adjustments are set to work with non-skin tones and casts most often found in landscapes and similar images. Again, you’re tweaking for dynamic range, color, brightness, cast removal and sharpness.
Pro Mode is more advanced and allows tighter control over Tone, Color, Skin Tone and Detail. Your image is still viewed side-by-side to compare your original to your working version, but there are more sliders to acutely adjust specific colors, tones and details.
All photos © Ryan Klos
If you’re going to use this plug-in, I suggest duplicating your photo layer (or copying all layers merged) in Photoshop and then running the plug-in because all adjustments are made to the layer you’re on when launching the plug-in. They don’t automatically save on a new layer.
While photo adjustment tools like this are useful, I prefer the Tone Curve and HSL/Color sliders in Lightroom for fine tuning my images. It’s all about how comfortable you are with color balance and maintaining proper levels. Of course, the best way to start this endeavor is to shoot for custom white balance before your shoot and make sure you’re working on a calibrated monitor after the shoot.
In Part 2, we’ll discuss remaining 3 plug-ins: PhotoFrame 4.5, Genuine Fractals 6 and Mask Pro 4
Ryan Klos – Ryanklos.com
Check out some related posts!
- What’s your setup? – Ryan Klos
- Software Review – TTG Highslide Gallery Pro 2.0 for Lightroom
- Ryan Klos Reviews – “… some of the best and most useful presets I’ve used to date.”
- Software Review – onOne Plug-in Suite 5 – Part 2 of 2
- We don’t need no stinking Photoshop – Retouching 101
- Photo Profile – Joshua Carroll
- Bokeh – The Art of Blur
- 10% Photoshop
- Soft Focus – Hocus Pocus
- He’s a faker! – Depth of field that is …
Leave a Reply