Paint Shop Pro X

A brand-new makeover for an old-faithful photo editing package

What is this?

Price: £99

Manufacturer: Corel

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Verdict

Good Points
New learning palette; automatic 'fixes'; handy tools

Bad Points
Expensive compared with its rivals

Much improved ease of use makes this a very attractive upgrade, but it's still more
expensive than many of its rivals

Cliff Joseph, Computeract!ve 31 Jan 2006

Paint Shop Pro has always had two main problems: it's always been more expensive than rivals such as Adobe's Photoshop Elements and Ulead's PhotoImpact; and it has never been quite as easy to use.

However, the program was taken over by Corel a few months ago which has clearly attempted to address at least one of these problems. There are a number of new tools in this upgrade that will allow even complete novices to perform complex photo editing tasks quickly and easily.

The Smart Photo Fix option allows you to correct a number of settings simultaneously, including brightness, colour saturation and focus.

It can make the adjustments for you automatically, displaying 'before' and 'after' versions of a photo for you to judge whether the change is worth keeping. Alternatively, more experienced users can adjust individual settings themselves.

There are also some clever 'makeover' tools that allow you to improve portrait photography. The Blemish Fixer can remove skin imperfections such as wrinkles and moles, and there's a 'toothbrush' tool that can even whiten teeth.

Finally, if someone is overdoing the 'pale but interesting' look, you can zap them with the 'suntan' brush to give them a healthier skin tone.

These tools work well, but our favourite improvement is the redesigned Learning Centre. This is a panel that provides help with all the program's main tools.

However, rather than just providing simple hints and tips, the Learning Centre will actually select tools for you and display them on screen to get you started. This is a major step in the ease-of-use direction, which Corel will hope attracts a new audience.

Chuck in some fun new special effects, and a copy of the Photo Album program to keep your photo library organised, and Paint Shop Pro X makes for a pretty good upgrade.

Unfortunately it's still priced at £99, almost twice that of rival packages Photoshop Elements or Ulead PhotoImpact.

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