If there's one segment of the photo market full of applications, it's photo finishing. You've got Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, Paint.Net and a gazillion others, ranging from free to costly. So I'm a little surprised to see Nikon advancing its photo software, Capture NX 2. And it looks like the company may be going after Photoshop. You guys have an up-armored Humvee?
The big news is the app's ability to let you work on a section of an image in a much simpler way than before. In Photoshop, as an example, you're forced to select any area you want to manipulate. It sounds easier than it is. Where the contrast between two objects isn't distinct, the process breaks down.
According to Nikon:
Capture NX 2 introduces the all-new Selection Control Point tool, which allows users to carry out nearly any image adjustment to a specific area with just a point-and-click to make the selection. Whether applying an Unsharp Mask to just the eyes in a portrait, a Gaussian Blur to only the background of a photograph, or D-Lighting to open up the shadows, the Selection Control Point makes all those jobs easy to do. What once was a complex and tedious task now takes just a fraction of the time.
I went to high school with Complex and Tedious (and Warren Peace--another story for another day)!
I'm feeling deja vu as Nikon describes the rest of NX2's improvements, because these features are already in Photoshop and others: Shadow/Highlight Adjustment, Auto Retouch Brush, and Customizable Workspaces. Still, as someone who has considered poking myself with knitting needles when faced with masking out the sky above a forest, the Selection Control Point tool could be powerful enough to seal the deal.
Capture NX2 ships later this month with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $179.95 (full version) or $109.95 (upgrade). A 60-day trial version will hit Nikon's Web site at the same time.
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