Product specifications

Reviewer’s Guide [ 2 ]
software. The ability to work with a wide range of RAW formats, include HD
video along with photos in slide shows, and HDR photo merge and tone
mapping make PaintShop Photo Pro X3 an incredible value and uniquely suited
to the broad needs of the photo enthusiast. New image-scaling and object-
extraction tools and support for industry-standard plug-in effects put PaintShop
Photo Pro X3 on par with pro-quality applications on just about every level —
except the price tag.
Project creation and sharing
With the new Project Creator, PaintShop Photo Pro X3 adds creative project
options. The Project Creator simplifies creating great-looking photo books,
collages, cards, and more. And when the project is finished, PaintShop Photo
Pro X3 makes it easy to show it off. From uploading to popular media-sharing
sites to ordering professional printing, users can give their work the audience it
deserves.
Customer profile
Photo enthusiasts: Today’s photo enthusiast is one of the growing number of
consumers who have embraced photography as a hobby, often working with a
DSLR. Thanks to the wide array of high-quality camera equipment available
today, photo enthusiasts can generate professional-looking results, even if
they’re just starting out. Typically, they have upwards of several thousand photos
on their PC. If they haven’t already, they may soon find themselves purchasing a
larger hard drive for storage and backup.
Photo enthusiasts have often spent a lot of money on their DSLR camera and
accessories. And if they’ve upgraded to a DSLR from a point-and-shoot camera,
they’ve realized a number of benefits:
• superior image quality, thanks to better optics
• a wider range of options for image capturing and storing
• increased shooting speed, making it possible to shoot 50 to 100 shots at 4
frames per second or greater
• more control over camera settings
Thanks to all of these capabilities, enthusiasts are shooting more photos. In the
past, they may have shot dozens of pictures at an event with their compact
digital camera, but now DSLR owners are often shooting a hundred photos at a
time. They may also want to take advantage of new DSLR capabilities, such as
shooting in a RAW format or capturing HD video, and use their camera’s
advanced features to create amazing HDR images or other photo projects.
To deal with all their photos, today’s enthusiast photographers inevitably
develops their own kind of “digital workflow” — from loading the pictures on
their PC, deleting the ones that didn’t turn out and flagging their favorites,
batch touchups of exposure and white balance, to ultimately spending time
editing a few to get them just right. Their output may be to a photo frame,
Flickr
®
or Facebook
®
, their Web site, or even a traditional print.