OSXcellence – Photo Sense for Mac Review

So you have a Mac? And you want to make your images look better? But you can’t be bothered to use iPhoto’s manual editing controls? And you want to use auto-enhancement on batch images? And you’re willing to pay two-thirds of the price of Photoshop Elements to get something that performs this function only (which, of course, Elements can do – a lot better)?

Well, whilst I would suggest that you are a fairly niche target market, the market that you represent is catered for (or so the makers, VeprIT, hope anyway) by Photo Sense for Mac.

The process of “improving” pictures with Photo Sense starts with adding images, which have their previews immediately “enhanced.” The options for processing include the standard exposure, contrast and saturation adjustment, as well as noise reduction and sharpening. In addition, effects can be added, although the extent to which you use most of those included very much hinges on “personal taste”.

By clicking on each individual image, you can manually adjust it, with the aid of a histogram and a split-screen before and after.

As with most auto-enhancers, the results of Photo Sense’s default processing are at best, “dramatic”, and at worst, disasters. Whilst the heady mix of over-sharpening, super-saturation and ridiculously boosted contrast can be attention grabbing, the thought of allowing these images into print fills me with dread.

If you switch off most of the processing options, the images that come out of Photo Sense aren’t disastrous for the average-level point-and-clicker, which is, after all, at whom this product is aimed. Given this fact, however, the pricing is somewhat over-the-top ($33.99/£23.99), and if you really don’t want to learn manual editing, I would recommend sticking with iPhoto’s auto-enhancement, which for you, the Mac user, is free.

You can try Photo Sense by downloading a demo from VeprIT’s website, or buy it on the Mac App Store.

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