What you’ll learn in this course

- Hi, My name's Rich Harrington and in this course we're going to be exploring how to use software from a company called Macphun. They make a variety of products that can be used as stand-alone applications or as plug-ins, depending upon your workflow. We're going to explore all of these options including using these as plug-ins for tools like Apple Photos, or Adobe Photoshop as well as how to use these as stand-alone applications. The software the Macphun makes is available really in two different flavors. You'll find these available as apps on the Mac App Store, at a lower price, and somewhat limited features, as well as more robust versions that they sell on their website, either as single stand-alone apps or as things that are concluded in something referred to as the "creative kit".

Now the apps we're going to look at today include using Intensify to bring out details and color within images to add a little bit of pop. We'll then explore tonality which is all about black and white workflow, which is one of my favorite styles of photography. We'll use a utility called Snapheal for things like removing distracting objects, unwanted things in a scene, getting rid of blemishes to touch up a portrait. We'll explore creative focus effects with the Focus app, to really put the focus on our subject and put other things out of focus.

These allow for both technical and artistic considerations to really guide the viewer's eye when they look at a photo. We'll explore FX Photo Studio, which offers a wide range of filters, some of them quite nice, others you might want to avoid. And we'll explore Noiseless, a utility for removing noise and grain in images. You can run this on photos straight out of the camera, or you might find it useful to hand off images after you process them inside of Macphun, so that you get a cleaner final image. We'll also explore Aurora HDR, a new high-dynamic range tool for creating HDR images.

It was designed in conjunction with well-known HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff, and you'll see some of his touches on the application. We've got a lot to explore, so let's jump in.