If you're a Paint Shop Photo^R Pro fan and want to try some other Corel^R software, the new Paint Shop Photo Pro X3 Ultimate is the way to go. You get all the new and enhanced features of X3 along with Corel KPT^R Collection and Corel Painter^TM Essentials 4.

New and Enhanced Paint Shop Photo Pro

There are several new features to ease your workflow. With Multi-photo Editing, you can edit one photo, save the editing step sequence and apply the same process to other photos with the same issues. Another new feature that allows you to save editing steps for later use is the Camera RAW lab that opens from within the Full Editor workspace.

One new feature that I will be using a lot is the RAW image batch conversion. With this batch processing tool in the Organizer, you can convert a group of RAW images into another image format. This tool alone will save me a lot of time. I also like the enhanced Express Lab, a simplified version of the Full Editor, which loads with only the most common tools for image editing. This simple, intuitive interface has some new tools. The Local Tone Mapping tool makes it easy to enhance the details in your photos. The new Color Balance, Color Vibrancy and Adjust Contrast/Brightness tools help you correct those common problems. The new click-and-drag Sharpen and One-Step Noise Removal tools make corrections as easy as a click of your mouse.

For those of you who need to remove objects from photos without distorting the image, you will like the new Smart Carver^TM. It works like a paint brush as you paint over the object you wish to remove. Then it removes the object and corrects the horizontal and vertical aspect ratio. Like the Smart Carver tool, the new Object Extractor also works like a paint brush and makes removing objects from their backgrounds very precise. Paint Shop Photo Pro's On-Image editing and enhanced text engine allow existing text to be reselected for editing and makes applying text to a path easier.

The new Project Creator is your starting point for creating and sharing photo projects such as photo books, cards, calendars, collages and slideshows. Starting from one of the stylish templates, you can create a photo book with customized text captions in a few clicks. Creating slideshows gets more exciting now that you can include HD video clips, soundtracks and professional-looking transitions. The Project Creator makes sharing your photos online with Facebook, YouTube, Flickr^R and email easy and you have several options for saving your projects in PDF, JPEG and Microsoft^R Silverlight^R format.

Corel KPT Collection and Corel Painter Essentials 4

With this new release of Paint Shop Photo Pro X3 Ultimate, you can discover your creativity with Corel Painter Essentials. With this software, you can turn any source image into a work of art with the Photo Painting filters and Smart Stroke^R technology. You can also create art from scratch with Natural Media^TM drawing and painting tools. If you find Corel Painter and its high learning curve a little overwhelming, Painter Essentials might be a good place to start. Besides the filters that come with Painter Essentials, you also get the Corel KPT Collection of 24 Kai Power Tools plug-in filters.

*Corel provided a review copy to me free of charge.

Corel material used by permission of Corel Corporation. Copyright 1997-2010 All Rights Reserved. Paint Shop Photo Pro, KPT Collection and Painter Essentials are registered trademarks of Corel Corporation.