PictureWindow

Update on Mar. 24th 2019

First beta release of PWP 8

Available from DL-C website

Update: PWP 7 is now FREEWARE.

Norman Koren wrote some excellent articles on his website. A must see.

Update on Dec. 21th 2016:

PW7 Pro has come to end of production. It will not be updated and will be not available for purchase anymore. Thank you DL&C for giving us this fantastic program.

All Good Things Come to an End

We first released Picture Window and Picture Window Pro roughly 23 years ago in 1993, and it has steadily evolved from that time to the present, transitioning from 16- to 32- to 64-bits and from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 to Windows 10. During that time, we have enjoyed the support of a dedicated group of users who have helped us improve the product at each stage.

But nothing goes on forever and the time has come for us to shut the program down. Consequently we will no longer be selling Picture Window Pro or issuing any new releases. We will keep our current website in place until roughly April 2017, including the message board and download areas, but have already removed the ordering page. For those who wish to download the latest version, Kiril and I have prepared a minor update that fixes a few outstanding bugs and removes all copy protection so a serial number will no longer be needed to activate the program. This final version is already available on the website for download.

I am working on a total rewrite of Picture Window with a more modern interface that may or may not ever see the light of day. The DL-C.COM domain name is reserved for at least three more years, and we expect to transition to a new and simpler website next year so Picture Window Pro can remain available for download as freeware.

If you want to be informed of any further developments, please stay on the mailing list. Otherwise please click on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email and you will be removed from the list.

I want to personally thank everyone who has used Picture Window and our other products in the past -- especially those who have helped improve the program over the years by reporting bugs or making feature suggestions. I hope to remain in touch with as many of you as possible going forward.

Jonathan Sachs
President, Digital Light & Color


PictureWindow still is one of those good programs that almost no one ever heard about it. At first glance, most people will not notice (better, perceive) how powerful this program is. It’s not perfect but it’s close to, at least in some areas. I have no business relationship with Digital Light & Color, and this is a real-world user report.

It’s very important (not to say mandatory) that the user read the 500-page manual (yes, it’s this big) or at least take a look at the tutorials. If you don’t do this, you will never have a true idea of how powerful this software is. Best of all, it’s made for photographers, it’s very small and extremely fast.

Here is the manual link . You can download a full functional 30 day trial (Windows) from  Digital Light and Color. 

My personal impressions:

• For $89 no other program can beat it in terms or cost/performance
• This program has by far the most sophisticated color correction system EVER. Nothing beats it, honestly. Several attempts were made do mimic it like in DxO Optics and Silkypix, but they don't get even close. The way PWP does is simply perfect.
• The perspective and optical aberration controls are commendable and very intuitive and by far the easiest to use. It's like using a bellows of a view camera.
• The masking system is light-years beyond the competition. It makes Adobe Photoshop looks conceived in the Neolithic era.
• It has all the truly necessary tools for a photographer, from color correction to retouching
• A very powerful user-definable workflow.
• Extremely fast.

What I “don’t” like, but can live with:

At first glance, the interface appears strange. Takes some time to be really familiar, but after this initial period you’ll be quite fast.
Some tools have very complex adjustments (but... the tools are indeed very advanced, so not software’s fault). Runs only on Windows.

It can run under WINE on Linux and MacOSX (I run it in a Mac very smoothly). If you want to test the WINE version for Mac you can download it here. Just copy the .app file to a Mac folder and start it. If you have Mavericks or a newer system, you'll probably need to download XQuartz and install it first. It was tested up to MacOSX 10.9.5

If you have a Mac and a Windows valid installation CD you can also run PWPro under a Windows virtual machine with Parallels Desktop, VMWare or VirtualBox. It will run 100% happy under Windows XP. If you still have it, just make a VM with XP, and install PWPro on it. 

The native Windows printing spool and drivers may not work properly with Wine. If you print directly from Wine, it will do it using the postscript driver and some printer may not be supported. I usually save the image in a shared folder and print using the preview application on the Mac.

Also works perfectly running in a Windows virtual machine using VMWare, Parallels or VitualBox.


Some other considerations:

• It runs well on any PC. If you have a 2-core and 2 gigabytes of memory, it will be VERY fast.
• It handles large images quite well. I tested it with 25000 x 10000 pixels images and it worked without any problems
• The built-in image browser is very smart and efficient
• It takes very few disk space. Not a monster like most.
• It has absolutely all you need for photography. It’s not a design tool like PS, but specially made for photography use, without any fat.
• No “magic” tricks like “auto” tools. When you figure how to make your own corrections you will understand what I mean.

Some examples of how good it is:

1) Warp / Rotate for perspective control

The Warp tool is perfect for perspective correction. On the left, the original image, showing a strong perspective distortion caused by the use of a wide angle lens from a short distance.

This tool use is very obvious: go to the menu and select GEOMETRY ➞ WARP , and on the  OPT button, select FREE e PERSPECTIVE. Then just drag the corner points for the desired correction. 

Below, the warped grid, adjusted for perspective correction (left) and the corrected image (right). Easy peasy.

2) Color Correction / Color Shifting




In terms of color correction NOTHING can beat Picture Windows’ vector tool. It’s simple, intuitive and astonishingly efficient. This is one of the high points of this software.

It’s simple:  In the center of the color hexagon (cube ?) is the pure white point. Just click in some point of the desired image that needs correction and a dot will appear over the cube. This dot lies in a position that represents the color itself. All you need is to DRAG this point to the desired color.

In this example, the original image has a slight magenta cast. Of course, any good white balance tool may do the job, or if you really like boring work, you may adjust the color balance in terms of cyan-red, magenta-green and blue-yellow adjustments, or you can go deeper and use some more sophisticated tools like the selective tool from Photoshop. The problem is that this demands a lot of time for a simple adjustment. If your image needs several different color corrections, then you’re doomed.

The next example shows a simple correction but related to three different color casts, and one of them is a bit sneaky.

First of all, note a strange thing in the original image. All the scene was under the same light situation, of course, but why the white squares on the towel are bluish and the plate’s white ceramic has just a slight cast ? Simple explanation but not obvious.

The photo was shot at the Bolivian Altiplano at 4200m over the sea level. The sky was partially clouded. At this altitude, with scattered thin clouds, the UV incidence is very high. White tissues are whitened by the use of some bleaches and some fluorescent substances that absorb the UV rays and emits in the blue wavelengths. This is called “optical bleach”. The result for us, humans, is a very pure and shiny white. But this is an optical illusion caused by our brain-eye system. It assumes that the tissue “must” be white. The interesting part is that the camera actually senses the true colors, and the towel squares are in fact bluish.  But since we see them as white, let make them white.

Now a more complex situation. This scene was under a strong yellow light, actually the sunlight filtered by a plastic yellow roof. The light here lacks the wavelengths from violet to blue. How to compensate for this ?

If you know the original colors, the task is not bad if you use PW’s color correction tool. Just select the known color points and apply the correction.

3) Making Masks I

Picture Windows’ masking system is probably the most powerful compared to all the other ones. Besides the traditional methods like polygons, magic wand and magnetic lasso, it counts with some extremely sophisticated methods and my favorite one is “masking by similar pixels”.

It works by identifying textures and applying the mask just over the regions that fit the pattern. Don’t underestimate this method. It takes some time to master it, but it can save you a lot of time and may produce splendid results.

Above, the original image, a challenge in terms of photometry. The first plane is under a relative strong shadow and the second one under bright sunlight.
 
The problem here is how to compensate the second plane for an acceptable image and still keeping a natural look.
 
Nowadays, the fashion way would be doing an HDR, taking two shots, one for each exposure and combining them. But sometimes this is not practical, and usually, this technique demands tripod use and a lot of time.
 
The best practical way here is to make a mask to isolate each plan and then apply a brightness curve compensation for the second plane.
 
Try to do this using a magnetic lasso or the magic wand. It will be a pain because of the similarity between some parts of the sun lighted rocks in terms of color and contrast with the second plane.
 
Of course, you can do this using a manual polygonal mask, but it will take a lot of time.
 
The most practical way here is to use the similar pixel mask, aka texture mask.  You must try several values for the Radius, Transparency, Softness, Spacing and Threshold until the desired effect.
 
Select the brush tool and drag it over the area in question, you will notice that all that matches what’s inside the brush area will be filled with the mask’s chosen color (green here). When done, click “APPLY” and a new mask image will be created. Then you may need to retouch it by hand using a brush, to remove eventual specs. Save the finished mask.

With the new mask in hands, we can now apply a brightness curve correction just within the masked area.
 
Select the original image and then  TRANSFORMATION  ➞ GRAY ➞ BRIGHTNESS CURVE. 

Note a small white box at the right side of the amount control. Click there and select the mask.
 
There are two adjustment controls for the amount. one over the line and another under it. The top one is the amount applied INSIDE the mask and the bottom one, OUTSIDE.
 
Change the curve as shown to increase contrast, to make darker shadows. When finished, click APPLY.


 

After this, you will have the final image, with the new curve setting applied to the masked area.

Next, a far more complex mask use.

Prologue:

A friend asked me if It would be difficult to work a photo he did and turn it into a background for a slideshow presentation. He showed me a background that he had found interesting.

The idea was to make a solid black city skyline, followed by two distinct gradients, one for the mountain range and the second one for the sky.

Although looking very simple, it can turn into a nightmare, depending on the detail level of the scene that needs to be masked. This scene is somewhat complicated due to the tree leaves and a very irregular city skyline.

Usual tools like polygonal and Bezier lines would be a challenge even for the most patient Zen monk. The magic wand (automatic selection by color and level) isn’t very efficient in this case. Many “leaks” can occur.

Below, the final proposed image.

Our task will be to mask the city skyline and the palm trees. Note that I removed some urban elements in the middle portion of the image, to make the skyline more interesting.

In the masking tool window:

• Radius is related to the brush sizeTransparency is how dense the brush effect will be
• Softness is how strong will be the gradient effect from the center to the edge of the brush
• Threshold is related with the tool sensitivity in terms of texture

The values are experimental and must be modified according to the situation. For more information, please check the user manual.

The trick here is the “Similar Pixels” box. This method is an extremely powerful way to make complicated selections, based on textures, not just in colors and levels. This humble control has more power than you can imagine.

Above, I’ll try to show you an idea of what the similar pixels selection is. As you see, the irregular edges related to the leaves are automatically kept out from the mask.

You just need to be careful with how you pass the brush over the image. Maybe you will need to try other parameters values for radius, spacing and threshold. It would work equally well even if you choose to mask the tree itself.

Continue to pass the brush over the sky are until finished and then click APPLY.

Take a look at the images below. We can use the same technique on much more challenging image elements, it’s just a matter of finding the correct tool parameters.

The green color is a great choice here. It’s a very different tint, not present in any part of the image. Choose the masking tool color wisely. As you can note, blue would be a poor choice and white, a stupid one.

In this image, other tools like the magic wand, that makes the selection based in colors, would be useful just for the sky, and a nightmare for the trees. You can also speed up the process by selecting large sky areas using the rectangle selection tool. All selections will be “added”.

The magic wand would be a disaster if the sky had more clouds or overcast.

We need to make tree masks:

• Sky
• Mountain range
• City skyline with trees

Then

• Make the skyline a solid black “first plane”
• Make the mountains look like a gradient, mimic the atmospheric attenuation
• Make the sky gradient

The tools:

 
Do the masking process for the tree masks/regions and save the tree masks as files. The masks should look like below this:

Pay attention to the third mask...

You may be tempted to use it directly as the first plane image. You can do this, but there are some important facts you should be aware of.

• Masks are in black and white
• The original image was in 24-bit color

If you REALLY want to do this, you will need to convert the mask from 8-bit black and white to 24-bit color and do one more pass in the process.

Let’s do the most practical way.

You need to apply a SMALL blur to the three masks and save them.

Important note, the masks should have the EXACT size of the original image and in perfect alignment.

Now we will make the solid black city skyline, modifying the levels of the original image, but INSIDE the masked area. Choose TRANSFORMATIONS > GRAY > LEVELS AND COLOR.

Note the two sliders on the amount scale. The upper one, in white is related to the area OUTSIDE the mask and the lower one, in black, is related to the area COVERED by the mask. You can choose how strong the effect is changing from 0 to 100%. In our case, we want to set what’s inside the mask BLACK. Click on the input image square and select the original image. Click on the mask square and select the proper mask. Slide the white arrow to zero and the black arrow to 100%. Now move the dynamic range to the minimum. This will turn the first plane all black.  Save the image.

The second part is to make the mountains a gradient, lighter at the bottom and darker at the top. Choose the last saved image and select TRANSFORMATION > GRADIENT.
Set the input image and mask-like explained before, but use the mountains mask ! The black and white arrows in the amount slider work exactly like the last example.
Choose the linear type and fill operation like shown in the tool window. You will see two parallel lines connected by a perpendicular one. Those lines can be rotated in any direction and the gradient starts from the lines “1” to “2”. Click APPLY when done and save.

Repeat the process using the last saved image and the sky mask. Set the gradient tool as shown below and click apply.
Now you should have the two gradients and the solid black part in the same image. 

Finally, we need to turn the gray gradients into a bluish one. Select the color correction tool from the main menu or clicking at the cube on the vertical toolbar. We don’t need masks now. Click in the middle of a gradient (the mountain one for example) and a small black square will appear at the color cube center. Drag it to the desired color and apply. Save the image.

This small tutorial covers some aspects about how to make masks and how to use them using Picture Window, but honestly, this text doesn’t cover even 5% of the possibilities.

It’s possible to select areas for masking by direct polygonal selection, by tonal range, by color range, by contrast, and by irregular shapes.

To truly understand all the program’s capabilities you are advised to read the user manual and do many exercises.

Again, several aspects of this program interface aren’t obvious, and you will surely miss them if you don’t pay attention, don’t read and don’t try by yourself.

I'm using this program since version 2 and believe me. It's good.

Final word:

It's a really good program with a superb, unmatched color modification tool and an extremely powerful and flexible masking system, even in 2016.

The learning curve is steep, and the interface is very outdated, but I recommend 100% !