On the eve of CES 2012, Corel rolled out AfterShot Pro, a new software package for Windows, Mac and Linux which is designed for serious photographers and destined to catapault Corel into much the same league as Adobe with its Lightroom product.

Aimed at “streamlining workflow” for photo pros and enthusiasts who snap lots of shots, AfterShot Pro is meant to dovetail on the Windows side with PaintShop Pro X4, a photo editing package released by Corel in September, said Jeff Stephens, senior product manager at Corel, in an interview with NotebookReview.com.

AfterShot Pro is based on technology inherited through Corel’s recent acquisition of Bibble, noted Stephens, who is the former president of Bibble.

Although many of Corel’s current products do run on Windows only, AfterShot Pro isn’t Corel’s first foray into Mac software, or into Linux, either.

Stephens said that Bibble found the Linux edition of its own software to be particularly popular in Europe, where users tend to hold on to their older PCs longer before purchasing replacements.

‘Selective’ and ‘non-destructive’ editing.

In a demo, Stephens showed off features of AfterShot Pro that include fast search through metadata tools; “selective editing,” for applying image adjustments such as white balance levels and fill light only to selected portions of an image; and “non-destructive editing,” for applying adjustments without making changes to the original image.

On the photo editing side, some adjustments can be done automatically, Stephens noted. “In lens correction, the software knows which camera shot the photo, and with which lens — and it’s able to make optical adjustments,” he maintained.

Based on the lens used, AfterShot Pro can determine whether to make “chroma” or “luma” corrections for noise reduction, according to Stephens.

“You can also add multiple regions to a picture, and apply multiple settings,” he elaborated. By lowering the white balance of the sky in a picture, you can amplify the sky in a photo and make it stand out, he illustrated.

After trying out various adjustments, you can then compare multiple results obtained by various adjustments against the original photo.

Easy access to photos anywhere

In addition, AfterShot Pro allows for easy access to photos housed either within or outside of the software’s built-in catalog system, Stephens contended. Instead, you can get direct access to photos stored on memory cards, and to pictures located on a PC hard drive, for instance.

Stephens also demo’d a “three-star rating” system that helps batch photographers — such as people who perform photo shoots at weddings — tag the best pictures from a series of shots and quickly return to them later for building a catalog.

Priced at $99.99, Corel’s AfterShot Pro is available immediately for downloading. A boxed edition is set for release later this month.

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