The Plugin Site has rolled out another version of its BWStyler software for Windows with 25 effect types and 680 presets as well as plenty of masking options for applying the effect to only selected areas of a photo. Hopefully they’ll get a Mac version going soon!
The Plugin Site has rolled out another version of its BWStyler software for Windows. . It features 25 effect types and 680 presets as well as plenty of masking options for applying the effect to only selected areas of a photo. BWStyler 2 for Windows is available as a Photoshop-compatible plugin as well as a standalone application and external editor for Lightroom.
New in Version 2
Version 2 of BWStyler offers seven new effects, e.g. tonal look, dynamic contrast, aging and colorkey. BWStyler 2 also features more than 60 new effect options and 470 new presets. The quality and accuracy of the simulation of traditional b&w effects was increased. Many old presets were improved and all presets can now be viewed as thumbnails or icons. Smart filtering and action recording became possible too. BWStyler 2 renders up to four times faster by fully supporting multiple cores and hyperthreading. The Standalone/Lightroom version is also available as a 64-bit application now. The UI was enhanced with many new features including 15 different skin types, which simulate the UI of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom and Paint Shop Pro. Preset files of BWStyler 1 are still supported.
Dynamic Contrast and Colorkey effect demonstration
BWStyler simulates the whole workflow of b&w photography from shooting a photo to processing it in the lab and framing the final result. It recreates the look of films, lens filters, lab effects, toners and photo papers that are popular in traditional black and white photography, but it even goes beyond that. Starting with a color photo BWStyler lets you produce stunning b&w images that are not possible with b&w film. BWStyler uses the whole contrast range of color photos to achieve dramatic b&w images and transforms dull color photos into astonishing b&w pictures.
BWStyler lets you apply the tonal look of photos taken by famous photographers like Ansel Adams, Lyonel Feininger and Man Ray. Its dynamic contrast effect (known from our ContrastMaster product) makes small details stand out and gives photos a more dynamic look. BWStyler is able to give photos an aged look by adding effects like dust, vapor, spots, stains and drops. With its colorkey effect it can add up to seven colors back to the image at the same time. Additionally you can enrich the b&w images by colorizing them, manipulating brightness and contrast, masking certain image areas, adding soft focus and glow effects, simulating film grain, adding vignettes and framing the image.
For Beginners as well as Experts
BWStyler contains modes for inexperienced, intermediate and advanced users that let you gradually add and tweak effects as well as improve your image one by one. Easy Mode displays thumbnails of all 680 presets and provides one or more sliders for further adjusting a selected preset. Photography Mode lets you quickly combine up to 12 different groups of presets, e.g. b&w film types, film grain simulations, lens filters, lab development strategies, dynamic and tonal effects, color toners, paper types, vignettes and frames. These effects can be further adjusted in the two advanced modes. Quick Edit Mode offers the most useful controls for quickly enhancing images whereas the Advanced and Advanced+ modes provide full control over all effects with dozens of features and dozens of controls.
The Photoshop Dark skin with Split View
Sophisticated Functionality – BWStyler also offers various features known from our other PhotoWiz plugins. There are three preview tab sheets for quickly comparing and adjusting three versions of the image at the same time. A Navigator tab sheet lets you quickly scroll the preview image. Fifteen types of histograms help you tweak your images without damaging them.
On the other hand BWStyler contains several innovative features. Preset thumbnails help you to choose appropriate effects by letting you see the preset effect without applying it. The new curve tool allows you to visually and precisely adjust brightness, contrast and color in the shadows, midtones and highlights. A masking brush tool gives you absolute control over which image areas BWStyler changes and which it keeps untouched.
Why BWStyler Is Different
BWStyler combines a whole range of photographic effects and tools in a single plugin and application, which saves you a lot of time and allows you to creatively enhance your photos according to your imagination. Unlike other tools, BWStyler also supplies many useful masking features, including a masking brush tool. It provides six different techniques for b&w conversion while most other tools offer only one. One of these b&w conversion methods (Split B&W) is not available with any other tool.
BWStyler features five different types of modes for beginners, advanced people and experts, so users can start working with a more advanced mode as their knowledge increases. Best of all, BWStyler is available at an affordable price and offers more features and possibilities than other tools in the same or higher price range.
BWStyler 2 is currently available as a Photoshop-compatible plugin for Windows as well as a standalone application. BWStyler 1 is available as a plugin version for MacOS X. Version 2 for Mac will follow soon. The plugin works in more than 80 image processing applications, including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, PhotoFiltre and IrfanView. The standalone can also be used as an external editor in Lightroom, ACDSee, Bibble and Corel AfterShot Pro. All versions support batch processing and process RGB images with 8-bit and 16-bit/channel. The standalone supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PSD, Camera Raw and DNG image formats among others. BWStyler costs USD 49.95 (Academic/educational license: USD 29.95).
thepluginsite.com
See a collection of screen shots BW Styler examples
A demo version can be downloaded
And, thanks for reading
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The Plugin Site is located in Nuremberg, Germany, and mainly develops image processing software. We also created the ElementsXXL, MetaRaw, FilterHub, ColorWasher, FocalBlade, LightMachine, ContrastMaster, NoiseControl, ColorStyler, PhotoFreebies, Harrys Filters, Plugin Galaxy, Plugin Commander and HyperTyle products. In the past we co-produced Alpha Magic with Pinnacle Systems and co-developed FilterMeister with AFH Systems.