Macromedia Studio Fireworks 8 - Macromedia

If the Adobe deal goes through, Fireworks could be one of the applications we see disappear. It competes too closely with a subset of Photoshop's tools without offering any of the image editor's high-end options... read more at MacUserUK

EyeCandy 5: Impact - Alien Skin Software

The old EyeCandy filter suite for Photoshop has been broken into three sets, each one expanded and improved to provide more comprehensive filters. Impact is the last of the three to be released, and it's a stunning compilation... read more at MacUserUK

DXO Optics Pro 3 - DXO Labs

DxO Labs' Optics Pro is a unique, standalone image-processing program that offers specific camera and lens profiles with Raw file conversion and automatic correction for a number of optical defects. Clever algorithms provide compensation for vignetting (corner shading), barrel and pincushion distortion... read more at MacUserUK

Sharpener Pro 2.0 - Nik Multimedia

Even if you do know how much to sharpen an image, Adobe Photoshop’s built-in sharpening tools may not be intuitive or efficient enough for high-volume workflows. Nik Multimedia’s Sharpener Pro 2.0, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements, aims to simplify sharpening... read more at Macworld

iMaginator 1.1 - Stone Design

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) includes a free application called Core Image Fun House, but you'll have to install the Xcode Tools from your Tiger installation CD to find it (it's in the Developer/Applications/Graphics Tools folder). Core Image Fun House lets you experiment with Core Image Units... read more at Macworld

Cheetah3D - Cheetah3D

The bottom line. While this version of Cheetah3D lacks animation capabilities (a version with animation is in the works), that's not a big drawback. Given its power and effortless advanced modeling (not to mention its low price), we heartily recommend Cheetah3D to aspiring 3D artists and anyone who wants to make 3D with minimum effort and maximum fun... read more at MacAddict

Shade 7 Standard - Curious Labs

In the 3D-software realm, metaballs are virtual clumps of magnetic clay used to make organic shapes. Shade 7 takes the metaball concept even further with the addition of MetaCubes, MetaCylinders, and unique MetaPolygons. You can create incredibly intricate shapes with minimum effort... read more at MacAddict

Eye Candy 5: Nature - Alien Skin Software

Sometimes the subject matter of an image screams for a special effect, such as smoke, rust, water ripples, paint drips, or icicles. When you want to reinforce a marketing message in an image, these tricks can be very effective but also very difficult to produce... read more at Macworld

Kid Pix Deluxe 3X - Software MacKiev

Broderbund’s Kid Pix Deluxe 3X has been brought to Mac OS X by the folks at Software MacKiev, but this is no mere update to a previously released product—it’s a re-imagining of the once-popular kids’ creativity software, now integrated with Apple’s iLife applications... read more at Macworld

Digital Gem Pro 1.0.3 - Kodak

In the world of noise-reduction software, there are two approaches: you can buy or create a custom filter for your specific camera or scanner, or you can use an all-purpose tool for removing noise from different kinds of images. Kodak’s Digital Gem Professional 1.0.3 is an example of the latter... read more at Macworld

Machine Wash Image Filters and Machine Wash II Image Filters - Mister Retro

Making something look old isn't easy. Every year, most things endure a random onslaught of abrasions, bruises, collisions, cycles of freeze and thaw, oxidation, and even some intentional damage. Reproducing (not to mention surviving) this kind of abuse requires an extreme degree of cleverness... read more at Macworld

Chameleon 2.1 - Akvis

When you paste a new image of an object or person into a different image, it can be very difficult to blend its edges and even more difficult to match its color and lighting to the new background. This is particularly troublesome when assembling an artistic collage... read more at Macworld

Color Efex Pro 2.0 - nik multimedia

Fully equipped professional photographers carry a carefully chosen array of lens filters and light reflectors to make the most of the lighting conditions in any situation and to add artistic flair to images. This is a viable approach in digital photography, though software can often produce similar effects ... read more at Macworld

Enhancer 2.0 - Akvis

You can’t always be in the perfect position to shoot a photo, and sometimes you also don’t have enough time to choose the proper camera settings for the available light. Too often, the disappointing result is that either the important part of your photo is in a shadow or the whole picture looks hazy ... read more at Macworld

Stitcher Express - RealViz

If you shoot photos, at some point you'll wish you had a wider lens. Maybe in a small room or a big landscape, you'll want a print that shows much more of the setting. Stitcher Express 1.0 tries to satisfy that desire by combining multiple, overlapping, adjacent photos into one big print. Its other main features build QuickTime panoramic or spherical images ... read more at macHOME

Primatte Chromakey 2.0 - Digital Anarchy

Before you use Chromakey, you must set up your image layers with your subject in the foreground and your new background in a layer beneath that. Chromakey then creates a mask in your subject's image that removes the colored background and replaces it with a transparent area ... read more at MacAddict

Stitcher 4 - RealViz

QuickTime VR photographers use RealViz's Stitcher for transforming multiple still photos into multiple types of panoramic images, from prints to cubical or spherical QuickTime VR panoramas, which place you in the center of a scene and let you visually explore a full 360-degree view. Version 4 improves on the retouching capabilities of 3.5... read more at MacAddict

QuarkXPress 6.5 - Quark

You apply image adjustments and filters by simply selecting the image and then choosing a command from a menu. Most of the commands display dialog boxes with fields and sliders, and a Preview checkbox lets you preview changes. Depending on the image, resolution, and screen magnification, screen redraw can take from 5 to 30 seconds. The Picture Effects palette displays a list of the adjustments and filters you've applied and lets you show or hide the settings applied to each effect ... read more at MacAddict

ImageModeler 4 - Realviz

mageModeler is a 3D modeller that uses the photogrametry method to reconstruct objects from a series of photographs. The program, developed by RealVIZ, uses a sophisticated set of routines to extract 3D perspective information from 2D images that you load into it. Even though it's a very impressive system, it isn't the fully automatic solution you might expect it to be ... read more at MacUserUK

Adobe Photoshop CS2 - Adobe

The last couple of Photoshop upgrades were largely interface enhancements, with one or two real gems thrown in to keep the punters happy. Photoshop CS2 breaks that mould: this rock-solid upgrade delivers many of the major features we've been asking for, plus some truly outstanding gadgets we'd never have dreamed of ... read more at MacUserUK

Shade 7 Designer LE - Curious Labs

Most Mac users respect Steve Jobs for his role in making Apple a pop-culture icon and the definition of high-tech cool. But what about Jobs’ other company, the animation pioneer, Pixar? Last time we checked, they were doing pretty well, too. We don’t expect the massive popularity of 3D animation to taper off anytime soon, and neither do the makers of sophisticated 3D modeling software, several of whom are creating entry-level versions, such as Shade 7 Designer LE from Curious Labs ... read more at macHOME

iPhoto 5 - Apple Computer

Never mind the Mac mini, the biggest whoops and hollers among the audience at Apple CEO Steve Jobs' January keynote were reserved for a small feature in the new version of iPhoto: the ability to straighten photos ... read more at MacUserUK

PHOTO TO MOVIE - LQ Graphics

Photo to Movie is the deluxe ginsu knife set of digital slideshows, for when iPhoto and iMovie just won't cut it. With it, you can drag images from iPhoto or the Finder into a timeline, reorder them, set their duration, create a multitude of transitions and create complex "Ken Burns"- style zooming, panning and rotation. You create soundtracks using MP3, AAC or AIFF audio files and record your voiceover narration with an internal or external mic ... read more at macHOME

PhotoBooth 1.2 - Stunt Software

When you launch PhotoBooth, you’ll see all your iPhoto albums in a list on the left. Choose the photo you want to print by selecting the appropriate album (or your iPhoto library itself) and then the image—it will appear in the main viewer pane. (You can also choose images that aren’t in iPhoto.) Now it’s time to work your quick-print magic: Select a margin width, picture size, and orientation. You’ll see the appropriate crop outline in the main viewer pane ... read more at Macworld

Photo/Graphic Edges 6.0 - Auto FX Software

Photo/Graphic Edges 6.0's 10,000-plus edges (we lost count around 1,734) enable you to turn straight-edged pictures into designer art with organic, industrial, geometric, or just plain weird edges. The software covers every image edge you can dream up (or have nightmares about), but it disappoints when it comes to performance and stability... read more at MacAddict

Color Efex Pro 2.0 - Nik Multimedia

For photographers who don't have the bucks to shell out for a gaggle of good lens filters, Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 is the ticket to a filtered photographic lifestyle. This plug-in package is loaded with 75 old-school filters and darkroom effects for Adobe Photoshop (or other compatible host app) that can transform your digital images—add warmth, boost contrast, tint images, remove color casts, mimic infrared photography, apply a vignette, neutralize colors, and more. .... read more at MacAddict

PhotoReviewer 1.4 - Stick Software

Although PhotoReviewer uses a standard slide-show mode for browsing photos, its real power is in letting you approve or veto images as you view them, and in making the process efficient. You approve or veto each image, one after another, as quickly as you can click on a button or press a key to pass judgment.... read more at Macworld

Photoshop Elements 3 - Adobe

After a wait of more than two years, Adobe has released a major upgrade to its entry-level image editing application. Aimed at digital imaging hobbyists and those who find the Photoshop learning curve too steep, Photoshop Elements 3 includes new advanced features, many of which have migrated from Photoshop CS, as well as additions and enhancements designed to make life simpler for novices.
A revamped image browser incorporates nearly all the functions of the Photoshop ... read more at MacUserUK

EyeCandy 5 - EyeCandy

Alien Skin's EyeCandy has long been the premier generator of real-world effects for Photoshop users. But as the filters have become more powerful through the releases, so EyeCandy has become a vast, expensive suite of plug-ins. Alien Skin has taken the decision to split the behemoth into three separate sets, correspondingly lowering the price of each to a third of the original cost. The first set to become available is Textures; Nature and Impact ... read more at MacUserUK

ArtMatic Voyager 1.1 - U and I Software

If a program that renders spectacular 3-D landscapes sounds suspiciously like Bryce (Corel's now-discontinued-on-the-Mac application), it should. Bryce's creator, Eric Wenger, is also the brains behind Voyager. In many ways, Voyager is Bryce Lite. It has the same landscape-creation capabilities as Bryce but lacks its tree-creation and geometric modeling tools, advanced painting and lighting controls, and more-complicated interface ... read more at Macworld

Studio Artist 3 - Synthetik Software

With extremely humble system requirements, Studio Artist allows you to transform existing images or QuickTime movies into oil paintings, stained glass windows, pencil sketches, or any other kind of visual style you can (or can't) imagine. Alternately, you can start with a blank canvas and paint freeform using some of the most extensive Wacom tablet support offered by a graphics program. ... read more at MacAddict

pxl SmartScale 1.02 - Extensis

Size and quality is usually an either-or proposition when you're talking about enlarging digital images. Even Adobe Photoshop, king of photo-editing software, can only upscale an image so far before degradation sets in—the pxl SmartScale plug-in picks up where Photoshop's scaling leaves off. ... read more at MacAddict

GraphicConverter 5 - Lemke Software

GraphicConverter has been around for years, providing Mac users with some of the most technically capable image format editing tools ever made. GraphicConverter 5.1 is the most recent major update, and it packs even more raw power into the package. It has to be said that using it hasn't been made any simpler; as always, it eschews sleekness for sheer functional power and scope. ... read more at MacUserUK

Studio Artist 3.0 -Synthetik Software

Studio Artist 3 is such a unique graphics and video program that it defies simple description. It's a natural-media painting application with dozens of tools; an artificial-intelligence artist that can automatically paint photos while you watch; a videorotoscoper, letting you make changes to each frame of a QuickTime movie; and a photo-manipulator for warping and filtering pictures. ... read more at macHOME

Page Curl 2 - AV Bros

Mention the Page Curl filter to any seasoned Photoshop user and they'll think of the old one-shot Kai's Power Tool effect that imposed its signature on so many illustrations in the mid-1990s. This new take couldn't be more different. With its slick, clean user interface and wealth of features, Page Curl performs a specific task to perfection. ... read more at MacUserUK

iPhoto 4 - Apple Computer

While iPhoto 4 has had plenty of updates, its headline feature - increased speed - threatens to cast a shadow over all the rest. This is no doubt down to clever cacheing, which explains why it insists on upgrading your existing photo library the first time it's run, with a warning that you can't revert. It will now happily handle 25,000 photos, which is a quantum leap from the previous limit of just a few thousand. ... read more at MacUserUK

Art Explosion Greeting Card Factory - Nova Development

Art Explosion Greeting Card Factory for Macintosh is designed for the crafty Mac user with limited time but ample imagination. From the same publisher as Print Explosion, Art Explosion Greeting Card Factory is a versatile, yet simple, design program--you'll be hard-pressed to get bored with its many options. ... read more at macHOME

Photo Edit 1.3 - macXware

If you use iPhoto to organize your digital snapshots, you've probably reached the limits of that program's simple image-enhancing controls. The $30 PhotoEdit 1.3, from macXware, offers to extend your capabilities, but the program has some deficiencies that prevent us from recommending it as even an adjunct to iPhoto, let alone a stand-alone image editor. ... read more at Macworld

Adobe Photoshop CS - Adobe

Photoshop CS (version 8) is a broad and deep upgrade to the company's anchor image editor. Despite its low-key presentation -- its interface is almost the same as version 7's -- it has amazing new tools for Photoshop's traditional users . ... read more at Macworld

Flash MX 2004 Professional - Macromedia

GOOD NEWS: Behaviors panel for codeless programming. Action panel for pure-code programming. Finally imports Illustrator files. BAD NEWS: Uncooperative version control and FTP. Can't directly import Photoshop layers ... read more at MacAddict

Sharpen+Soften - Asiva

As this plug-in's name suggests, Asiva's Sharpen+Soften for Adobe Photoshop adds sharpening and blurring facilities to Adobe's existing Sharpen and Blur filters. But while Photoshop's filters operate on an entire image uniformly, Asiva's plug-in lets you apply varying amounts of sharpening or softening to particular colors in the image . ... read more at Macworld

Correct+Apply Color - Asiva

Adobe Photoshop includes a number of color-correction and-replacement tools, but invariably there comes a day when you just can't get any of them to do exactly what you want. Asiva's Correct+Apply Color plug-in gives you an alternative . ... read more at Macworld

Fireworks MX 2004 - Macromedia

Macromedia's Fireworks is the established standard application for creating and optimizing graphics for the Web. The company has given it an overhaul as part of the Studio MX 2004 release, but we were curious as to how much Macromedia would improve the new version with added features and enhancements. The answer? Very little in terms of the core application's key functions and performance -- that is, creating graphics for Web sites. ... read more at Macworld

KPT Collection - Corel

A mixed bag of interesting toys that suffer from the shortcomings of the technology, making them hard to use and not terribly relevant. However, there's also some good stuff here ... read more at MacUserUK

Photo-Objects - Hemera

Like money in the bank, you can never have enough royalty-free stock images. Variety, quality, and cost are the only issues—and volumes I, II, and III of Hemera Photo-Objects each deliver a mighty 50,000-image bang for the buck ... read more at MacAddict

Mystical Tint Tone and Color - Auto FX Software

Though image-filtering technology has made digital image processing a kick, it's also killed many users' ability to think before applying. Mystical Tint Tone and Color (MTTC) aims to break that cycle with both practical and innovative filters you can use alone or as Photoshop plug-ins ... read more at MacAddict

Dfine 1.0 - nik multimedia

The latest in nik multimedia's series of Photoshop-compatible plug-ins, Dfine 1.0 is primarily aimed at reducing image noise. That's the short version—like a Ginsu knife, Dfine does much more than you might expect ... read more at MacAddict

EasyShare 3.0 - Kodak

EasyShare 3.0, from Kodak, is an alternative to Apple's iPhoto. The program is quite good and provides many of the same features as Apple's photo-library application, but EasyShare won't convince you to give up iPhoto ... read more at Macworld

QuickImage CM - Pixture Studio

We all receive pictures via e-mail or download them from the Web, and we end up with mysterious images sitting on our hard drives. But what's the easiest way to quickly view them? QuickImage CM provides a useful addition to the Finder's contextual menus -- control-click on an image or group of images and select View, and your images appear in a convenient window that floats over other applications ... read more at Macworld

iView Media - iView Multimedia

If you find that iPhoto is too sluggish when it's dealing with a large catalog of images, or if you want an inexpensive media-cataloging application that handles a wide variety of formats (including JPEG, MP3 audio files, and all media files compatible with QuickTime), look no further than iView Media ... read more at Macworld

pxl SmartScale - Extensis

"The rather inelegant adage "garbage in, garbage out" is not always true. LizardTech's Genuine Fractals PrintPro 3.0 and Extensis's new pxl SmartScale -- plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop -- rework this old equation. Both let you take images previously considered too small for anything other than the Web and enlarge them with enough clarity and image integrity for print output " ... read more at Macworld

Genuine Fractals printpro 3.0 - LizardTech

"The rather inelegant adage "garbage in, garbage out" is not always true. LizardTech's Genuine Fractals PrintPro 3.0 and Extensis's new pxl SmartScale -- plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop -- rework this old equation. Both let you take images previously considered too small for anything other than the Web and enlarge them with enough clarity and image integrity for print output " ... read more at Macworld

ImageModeler 3.5 - Realvix

"Three-dimensional modeling lets design professionals bring their creations to life. But what if your creation already exists in real space? Then you can use Realviz's ImageModeler 3.5 -- a photo-realistic 3-D modeling program now available on the Mac for the first time -- to generate a 3-D model from photos" ... read more at Macworld

PhotoKit - Pixel Genius

"If you're a digital photographer, chances are you spend a lot of time in Adobe Photoshop -- I know I do. I freely admit that I use only about 60 percent of Photoshop's power and rarely take the time to deal with masking, layers, and other lengthy methods for color-correcting, toning, or sharpening my images. My pictures are looking a bit better these days, thanks to PhotoKit " ... read more at Macworld

Photoshop Camera Raw - Adobe Systems

"Plug-in Adds Support for Raw Digital-Camera Image Data to Adobe Photoshop 7.0 - The plug-in's advantage over other formats is its ability to reinterpret white balance and default tone curves, and to override the in-camera settings for sharpening, smoothing, and artifact removal " ... read more at Macworld

Mask Pro 3 - Extensis

"If you've ever tried to use Adobe Photoshop to select or mask a complex subject -- a person with frizzy hair, say, or a leafy plant -- you know that doing so can be very tricky. Mask Pro 3 is the latest upgrade to Extensis's excellent masking plug-in for Photoshop, and with a number of new selection tools and masking utilities, as well as OS X support, it is essential for the avid Photoshop user " ... read more at Macworld

Xenofex 2.0 - Alien Skin Software

"Xenofex 2 is a major reworking of Alien Skin's suite of Photoshop plug-ins which updates the series to run under OS X and adds new filters to the package" ... read more at MacUser UK

PhotoRetouch Pro 2.5 - Binuscan

"While PhotoRetouch Pro is powerful and turns out great results, the absence of some familiar concepts like masks and layers is keenly felt. If you're not put off by what PhotoRetouch Pro doesn't do, you'll be impressed by what it does." ... read more at MacUser UK

IconBuilder Pro 4.0 - IconFactory

"It's basically a Photoshop plug-in for creating OS X icons, but its advanced feature set takes all of the drudgery out of the process" ... read more at MacUser UK

Mystical Lighting - Auto FX

"Mystical Lighting is an image-enhancement tool that seems to have been inspired by Victorian fantasy paintings. Its purpose is to bring a bit of magic to photographic images by adding light, shade, mist, rainbows, dust and twinkles" ... read more at MacUser UK

Nik Color Efex Pro - Nik Multimedia

"Color Efex Pro's filters, which are Photoshop 7- and Mac OS X-compatible, imitate the ones that photographers use most often on their lenses" ... read more at Macworld

Image Doctor - Alien Skin Software

"Image Doctor is a collection of four photo-retouching filters that work in Adobe Photoshop, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, and Macromedia Fireworks" ... read more at macHOME

GraphicConverter 4.5 - LemkeSoft

"GraphicConverter is a must-have tool, and still represents unsurpassed value for money" ... read more at MacUser UK