FX Photo Studio Pro is a fun application for Apple Mac OS X users who want to add creative effects to their digital photos. Produced by Macphun, this application is also available in mobile versions for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPads.
At the time of writing, you need to be running OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) in order to use FX Photo Studio Pro.
PX Photo Studio Pro Interface
One of the often trumpeted joys of Apple Mac ownership is a wealth of applications with stylish interfaces and FX Photo Studio Pro is certainly one such application. It doesn't use the familiar standard OS X interface elements, but the dark theme with smooth gradients and 'carbon fibre' weave backdrop sits easily within the slick OS X environment.
There's more to the user interface than just good looks however. It is very clear and intuitive in use and I'd expect even new users to be able to dive straight into using this application. This will partly be due to the application being quite focused and not an all-purpose image editor like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP with many more tools to present to its users. The top bar contains clearly labelled control buttons with an option to use the app in full screen mode. While many applications have the full screen option, it is especially obvious here and does encourage users to make the most of their available screen space.
The middle of the interface contains the image preview that shows the effects on your photos. This can be set up to show the original image side by side with the effect preview which can be quite handy if you're trying to fine tune your results. Below this is the Effects bar and you can set up FX Photo Studio Pro so that double clicking in the preview area will hide and show the Effects bar.
The Effects bar is as clear and intuitive as the rest of the user interface, allowing you to view all the effects simultaneously or just view certain types of effects. This can make it a little easier to find suitable effects, though if you find yourself using certain effects regularly, you can save them as favorites. This can also be taken a step further with the Presets option that allows you 'roll your own' effects by combining different effects.
Adjustment Tools
I've already mentioned that FX Photo Studio Pro isn't a full blown image editor, however it does have a small range of image adjustment tools that can allow basic photo editing to be carried out within the application.
These tools are found to the right hand side of the top bar and from the left are Crop, Rotate and Adjust.
The Crop tool is self-explanatory, allowing you to resize and change the relative dimensions of your images. It includes guide lines that break the crop area into thirds which can help users to achieve a pleasing composition by placing the main subject on one of these intersections.
The Rotate tool is limited by it only appearing to operate in fixed increments, rotating the image 90 degrees to the left or right at a time. This means you'll need to open another application if you want to correct a skewed horizon. There is also the option to flip a photo across the vertical and horizontal axes.
Finally are the Adjust tools and these give enough flexibility to allow experimental users to achieve creative effects within this part of the application, though they are perhaps more aimed at producing the best base image before adding effects.
The first tab offers common tools for correcting poor exposure and color capture, including a Temperature slider which can be handy if the white balance of your camera was off. The Levels tab offers another way to improve the appearance of your photos and if you're not familiar with this feature from other image editors, there is an auto button.
One slight note for complaint is the Sharpen/Denoise tab as this carries a note that you can only use one of the two tools at a time. If you adjust one and then use the other without first clicking the Apply button, your first adjustments are removed. In the event that having the option to adjust both these tools simultaneously just isn't possible, I would like an alert box to ask if I want to apply or cancel an adjustment, rather than automatically canceling the first adjustment.
Effects
According to the FX Photo Studio Pro website, there are over 150 different image effects which are broken down into sub groups. There is a good range, although a number of effects are repeated several times with just colors changed. It would offer more power if users could specify their own custom colors. A drop down box in the Effects bar makes it easy to view effects of a similar type or to display all of them so that you can scroll through looking for something suitable.
You can also build up your group of favorites by clicking the Star icon on a filter and if you regularly use the same filters this can be a real time saver. If that sounds like too structured an approach for you, then clicking the button with the Die icon will randomly apply an effect.
As you scroll, clicking on an effect thumbnail will apply it to your preview image and show you the options for adjusting the effect. These options are controlled by simple slider controls that make it very easy to experiment with different settings. If you are happy with an effect, clicking the Apply button will add the effect to your image. You can then continue to add other effects to build up brand new effects, safe in the knowledge that if you go too far, clicking the Undo button in the top bar will remove effects one by one.
While using FX Photo Studio Pro, I couldn't find anyway to zoom into my image while previewing an effect, which could be a little restrictive in some cases. Obviously it's very straight forward to press the Apply button and then zoom in, but this can interrupt the work flow if you're trying to achieve a very specific effect and have to undo and redo an effect because you can't see it clearly unless zoomed in.
Once you're happy with your results, you've the option to save to your Mac or to share with friends, either through the supported websites (Flickr, Tumbler, Facebook and Twitter) or via email.