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Minimum system requirements
lfor Photo Plug in]
3-.
Adobe Photoshop CS3 or higher, Adobe
Photoshop Elements li or higher, Adobe
Photoshop lightroom
Apple Aperture
3 or
3 or
higher.
higher
Windows
Windows
XP.
Windows Vista, Windows
7,
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processor or faster. lntel or AMD processor.
lGB RAM l2GB+ recommended]. T68 available
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disk space for caching and temporary files.
Upenlil capable graphics
card. Display with
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Macintosh
Mac USX ll].6.x~0SX ll],8.x, Macintosh
Multicoie Intel processor,
recommended].
TGB
TGB RAM
l2GB+
available disk space for
caching and temporary files. Display with
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OPEN AND SAVE
‘The collection has been well put together,
with plenty of dav<to-day filters and others
‘wit will be handv for SpQC1Z1l photographs’
l25
é> THE FILTERS
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Hi
plug-in filters over the years. have
found that some have been great
fun to use and others a total waste
of money Few have managed to
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lFTlDf955 me I0 The DOIDI "T61 IDIDK
must have ll, but the Tiffen Dfx Digital Filter Suite V3
has totally won me over This collection of filters gives you
almost unlimited creative options for your photographs
The interface is well thought out and easy to use without
having to refer to a hefty manual lf you do need more
information. there is a comprehensive PDF manual that
can be accessed via the Help menu
Although Tiffens Dfx Digital Filter Suite \/3 in itself isn't
cheap at $169 iapprox 5105i. it is economical compared
to how much it would cost to buy the equivalent glass filters
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wwwarriateurphotographer co uk 6 October 2012
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HAVING tried and tested most
Dfx Digital Filter Suite V3 also has limited
image-editing features via the Paint f||I€T,
which provides access to brushes such as
Blur. Clone. Colour. Eraser. Mosaic. Ped Eye.
Repair and Scatter Simply select a brush
and paint over the image. and as this is a
non-destructive process you can use the
Eraser to undo any stroke Brush sizes can
be quickly adiusted by holding down the Ctrl
key and moving the mouse up or down This
is a basic filter that may come in handy on
the Standalone version
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IMAGE ADJUSTMENTS
Dfx Digital Filter Suite \/3 has an impressive
collection of masking tools. such as Gradient.
Spot. Path. Snap. EZ Mask and Paint A
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MASKING
5
Photoshop raw file converter Nevertheless.
you can adiust Temperature, Tint, Exposure.
Recovery, Fill Light. Blacks. Brightness.
Contrast. Vibrance and Saturation The
controls give options to open a file and make
colour corrections before applying the filters
The Camera Raw in the Dfx Standalone
edition supports more than 440 digital
cameras Images can be saved as either a
JPEG or TIFF files The TIFF option supports
LZW lossless compression. but not Alpha
channels ifor masksl
mask can be applied to an area of an image
to protect it from the filter that is applied. or
you could invert the mask to have the filter
applied to a selected area The EZ Mask is
particularly good for creating masks with fine
detail. especially hair in a portrait However.
there isnt an option to save or export the
mask. so you are limited to using it on the
image and filterlsi you are working with
feel this is a maior oversight with the filter
set. as l‘d have liked an option to perform a
cut-out and insert a new background image
More complex masks can be created by
adding extra layers and multiple masks. and
then changing the blending modes This is
where things can become complicated. and
time spent experimenting w th the settings
will bring rewards Masks can be viewed
by pressing the letter M on the keyboard.
which is handy for quickly reviewing areas
you may have missed
There are
filters in Dfx Digital
Filter Suite V3. some of which are
familiar colour-correction filters such
as 8lb 82 series. CC filters. with black 8i
white filter favourites such as Yellow. Red.
Orange and Green Besides these there is a
large variety of Color-Grad filters for adding
gradient colours. which are a favourite
with landscape photographers There are
also many special effects filters. such as
Glimmerglass. which softens fine details
and adds a mild glow to highlights
l particularly like the new Rays filter. which
simulates light entering through a window
and allows control of length, intensity. colour
opacity and direction Another favourite is
the Polarizer filter. which intensifies blue
skies However. it can also darken other blue
obiects in an image. so a simple mask to
protect these areas might be needed
There are plenty of filters worth
experimenting with. including Cross
Processing, Film Looks. Day for Night. Gels.
Tints. Sepia. Split Tone. Color-Grad. Black
8i White. DTO—MlSI. Depth of Field. Nude FX
iwarms skin tonesi and Edge Glow The Dfx
filter collection has been well put together
with plenty of day-to-day filters and others
that will be handy for special photographs
..
Dfx Digital Filter Suite V3 can import raw
files. albeit with fewer options than. say. the
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