Effects Mix

[MJP Profile]

If I use the Search Type option the Effect Type has Borders as a category then when I look at Photo Contents there are borders (or frames) there also. Is it necessary to have these repeated? The effects are overwhelming as it is.

[admin]

I see what you are saying about the effects being overwhelming, but we never intended for people to see every single effect, the idea is like a search engine, to try and help you find something you like quickly. If you know what you want, then "Search By Effect Type" list at the top is the place to go, but if you're not sure what might improve your photo, then "Enhancements by photo contents" underneath gives you broader suggestions. Borders might be found in the suggestions for "Enhancements by photo contents", only if someone else before found that a particular border suited their photo of a beach (for example). Now, a lot of the suggestions you see might not make much sense at the moment, but that is because the software has only just begun learning what goes with what. The more use it gets through rating effects for particular searches, the better these suggestions will get. For example, say a particular effect made mountains look more craggy, if someone rates that effect highly when it works well on their photo of mountains, it will end up higher up the list of suggestions for mountain scenes. This will take time, which is why we intend to have a long beta period. Does that make sense?

[MJP Profile]

Does it make sense? Well, in a way but ... I am exploring b & w from colour images. So I get 10 pages of effects! Apart from the fact that the majority are nothing to do with b & w: "Desaturate all but red" is on twice and yet it doesn't do what it says, not to my image anyway; "B&W solarisation" & "Old black & white photo grain" are nestled in with the colour effects so you can't be sure your not missing something that might be of interest to you; duotones are up with the colour effects also and they probably deserve to be in the b & w (monotone) category, just. So, unless you are catering for people with changeable intentions i.e. "I will change this colour image to black and white so I'll have a look at the associated effects. Heavens, I like that coloured Lomo effect I think I'll use that instead", I think that SPE doesn't help with clarifying ones options.

I think, at the moment, this software is meant for people who want to play around with their images, regardless of where that may lead. There is nothing wrong with that, it is just not something I do a lot of.

Once again, I am taking the devil's advocate point of view! I do go on, don't I!

[maveez Profile]

Is it possible to create a checklist of the effects that have been applied to the photo and possibly being able to check off a box so that we can mix different combinations without having to delete and starting all over?

[admin]

There is a change we have been thinking about that might do what you want: we might add an on/off switch to all the effects in the history. So you could add a bunch of effects then some of them on or off. Would that be what you want?

[maveez Profile]

Yes, that sounds about right. I was just looking for something that would make it easier to try out the different combinations without having to delete an effect. This way if you "uncheck" an effect, it isn't deleted completely.