AfterShot

Digital cameras are accessible to anyone nowadays, as stand-alone gadgets or integrated into other devices. As a result, hard drives are being filled with countless pictures and managing them is becoming quite difficult. Fortunately, modern applications give us the possibility of facing huge amounts of photos and they also allow us to fix wrong exposure settings, poorly balanced colors and other mistakes. A good example is the Corel Corporation's AfterShot. It provides a huge amount of adjustment options, a flexible cataloging system, as well as various output features.

A fully functional trial version is available, which means that you can use AfterShot free of charge, without any restricted functions, for a limited period of time. The software can be installed in a few moments, without making any complicated settings and you can also associate it with certain graphical formats. It can be used on any modern day computer, due to its modest hardware requirements and there is no need to install any prerequisite tools.

The main user interface presents a large number of options, but they are well organized and easy to spot, so you can master the program's controls in no time. AfterShot allows you to explore your local folders and their contained pictures on the left side of its interface, where you can also create catalogs and organize the images and run a series of output processes, on separate tabs. The right half of the window is the place where you can make all sorts of visual adjustments on your photos. Instead of loading images one by one and bringing up multiple menus, on separate windows, you only need to select a picture from a local folder or from a catalog and make all the adjustments you need, on the same window.

A large number of adjustment controls can be found on several tabs, on the right side of the interface. They are too many to count, but all you need to know is that AfterShot provides all the adjustment options you would expect from any professional image editor. You can modify a picture's tones, re-balance its colors, adjust the white balance, increase or decrease the picture's exposure and make many other adjustments. What's more, the program provides full support for RAW images.

The possibility of working on layers is another useful feature, which is definitely worth mentioning. You may create one or more adjustment layers and masks, for each layer, which can be selected instantly in a drop menu. It is also possible to create cloning layers. Instead of using a brush and risking permanent damage to your pictures, you only need to place two control points on your picture, which can be modified or removed at any time.