onOne Software, has now released two fully-functional Photoshop plug-ins: PhotoTools 2.5 Free and the new PhotoFrame 4.5 Free. The free plug-ins for Photoshop are based on the award winning versions of PhotoTools 2.5 Standard Edition and PhotoFrame 4.5 Standard Edition and are compatible with Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4.

PhotoTools 2.5 Free and PhotoFrame 4.5 Free provide photographers with select content from the Standard Editions of each product, while maintaining the full-functionality, unlike the traditional restrictions of 30 day timed trials.

The free presets for Lightroom 2, Adobe Camera Raw and the onOne Exchange allow photographers to streamline their workflow and get the most out of the onOne products they already own. The new onOne University underscores onOne’s commitment to helping customers get the most out of their software investment by providing over 100 free training videos with even more training content planned.

onOne Software Free Products and Resources include:

PhotoTools 2.5 Free Edition – Based on the same feature set as PhotoTools 2.5 Standard Edition, PhotoTools 2.5 Free includes 15 of the most popular effects found in PhotoTools 2.5 Standard Edition. PhotoTools offers powerful action based effects that can improve images dramatically, making it easy to find, experiment, combine, apply and fine-tune effects in an easy to use interface. The 15 effects available in PhotoTools 2.5 Free range from reproducing classic photographic effects like Bleach Bypass and Cross Process, to reproducing film stock such as Kodachrome and Velvia, to modern effects including automatic skin smoothing.

PhotoFrame 4.5 Free Edition - Based on the same feature set as PhotoFrame 4.5 Standard Edition, PhotoFrame 4.5 Free makes it easy to add the perfect finishing touch to images, with 20 professional grade edges, backgrounds, textures and adornments. PhotoFrame 4.5 Free offers an extremely easy way to browse, preview and add effects like frames, backgrounds and adornments to images, with the ability to stack multiple elements and control opacity, size and color.
Presets for Lightroom 2 and Adobe Camera Raw – Users get over 140 time saving Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw presets designed by Photoshop Guru Jack Davis that help quickly correct color and tone and easily add creative effects.

onOne Exchange - The onOne Exchange is a free online resource that offers regularly updated content for PhotoTools and PhotoFrame and encourages users to upload their own actions and content. There are over 65 presets from onOne Software and customers to date.

onOne University - Features over 100 free video tutorials to help customers quickly learn and get the most out of onOne Software products. New video tutorials covering a wide range of subjects are currently in the works.

Availability
PhotoTools 2.5 Free, PhotoFrame 4.5 Free, Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw Presets are available immediately at no cost as downloads from onOne Software at www.ononesoftware.com/free

The onOne Exchange is available at www.ononeexchange.com
The onOne University is available at www.ononesoftware.com/university

The Lite version of PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition is available for immediate download from the onOne Software website. PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition is a flexible yet powerful plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4 that uses Photoshop Actions to provide a range of imaging tools including effects, corrections and production automation in a full-featured interface.

Based on the same feature set as PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition, PhotoTools 2 Lite includes 14 of the most popular effects found in both PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition and PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition. The 14 effects available in PhotoTools 2 Lite range from reproducing classic photographic effects like Bleach Bypass and Cross Process, to reproducing film stock such as Kodachrome and Fuji Velvia, to modern effects including automatic skin smoothing.

The Skin Smoothing plug-in is worth the money for the full package alone so it’s very good value free

Here is a shot by Shirley Kilpatrick (Alpha 200, 18-250mm Tamron lens) taken at the Fogueres de San Joan in Alicante last year. This is a festival well worth visiting – really the best week’s holiday we have had in many years, we missed a flight to Brittany and had to book a quick replacement within 8 hours, and ended up staying in the heart of Alicante during the midsummer festival week. Non-stop, night and day, fireworks, parades, music, dance, street shows, fairs, performers, fast food, slow food – the lot. Get yourself to Alicante June 20-28th and you will have no shortage of superb photo opportunities.

This shows Photo Tools 2 professional edition with effects such as the Luminizer A4 action which creates glowing colours on portraits (this one action is why the Photo Tools 2 package can sell for as much as many editing programs). As you will see, the GUI which PT2 uses to take over Photoshop is beautifully designed with mini preview images included (not your own pix, the one in the bottom right corner is part of the program as a preview). You can stack effects, remove them from the stack, control many of them by parameter or strength, and apply your presets to many images.

You can see two full size before and after images from this simple exercise in skin-tone enhancement:

http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/113229503

http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/113229535

These photographs are by Shirley Kilpatrick, retouching by David Kilpatrick, although they are hosted in the Alpha 200 images gallery of David Kilpatrick’s pBase.

You can read David’s review of OnOne Photo Tools 2 which appeared in the British Journal of Photography:

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=853335

Availability and Pricing

PhotoTools 2 Lite is offered at no cost and is only available as an electronic download direct from onOne Software. To receive the product, please visit www.ononesoftware.com/pt2lite and request a free download with a valid email address.

For users who wish to access the full database of effects that come with the Standard or Professional Editions of PhotoTools 2, they will need to purchase a copy of the Standard or Professional Edition. PhotoTools 2 Professional edition is available for £199.00 and the Standard edition is available for £129.00. You can purchase these direct from onOne Software at www.ononesoftware.com, or from UK distributor Colour Confidence at www.colourconfidence.co.uk or by calling 0800 735845.