Noise Reduction Pro 3.0 has a re-sizable preview window offering a real-time preview and user-definable presets for each individual parameter. It's optimized for 16-bit images and scriptable via Photoshop's Action palette. Noise Reduction Pro 3.0 costs $99.95, but you can download a free 30-day trial version to try it for yourself.

Sloppy Borders?

All Photos © 2005, Joe Farace, All Rights Reserved

Nobody loves sloppy image borders on their photographs more than me and when I saw Sloppy Borders Volume 1 from Kubota Image Tools (www.kubotaimagetools.com), I was in love. Kubota Image Tools has done all the hard work and created a package of more than 100 ready-to-use sloppy borders that anyone with Photoshop CS or newer can use. Kevin Kubota and Lensbabies' Craig Strong worked in the darkroom and printed the borders, using a variety of filed out (the traditional way) negative carriers. The prints were scanned at high resolution and prepared for overlay with any image file. Kubota created scripts to size the border to match the original image file, resulting in an easy way to apply a border to any image no matter what the size, cropping, or orientation. Borders can be added to one image at a time or run in a batch for a folder full of images. You can add color to the borders with the bundled Sloppy Colorizer Action. Also included in the package is a bonus Photoshop Action that automatically creates 4x6 prints with sloppy borders for printing proofs.

PhotoFrame Pro 3.0
I've always liked adding creative edges to photographs and my favorite Photoshop compatible plug-in for this has always been PhotoFrame. onOne Software's (www.onOnesoftware.com) PhotoFrame Pro 3.0 offers thousands of new frames, including color, traditional, and realistic-looking ones. The plug-in offers several tools that let you try variations before making a selection. For example, multiple frames and edge effects can be selected to compare how they look. The Random Frame Generator will add 3-5 frames that can be adjusted and then applied. A built-in Frame Browser helps you find the frame that's "right" for your image. The Frame Preview Grid lets you preview multiple frames at once with your image as the background. You can use Layer Mask mode to apply a border as a layer mask and save your favorites for access later. PhotoFrame Pro 3.0 is compatible with Max OS X 10.3.9 and higher or Windows XP Service Pack 2. It costs $159.95, and upgrades from previous versions are available for $69.95. A 30-day demo is available from onOne Software's website.

Photoshop Actions Of The Month

The DECK is a free Photoshop Action from Panos Efstathiadis (www.panosfx.com) that lets your image appear to be on top of a stack of prints. The ZIP (Zone Information Protocol) file contains two different sets of Actions, each one is optimized for portrait- and landscape-oriented images. As with all of Efstathiadis' Actions, all the layers are left intact at the end for you to manipulate away to your heart's content.