Description

 

FocalBlade effectively sharpens photos for display and print, reduces noise and produces great looking blur, soft focus and special effects. FocalBlade is ideal for sharpening and enhancing all kinds of photo, e.g. snapshots, landscapes photos, portraits as well as high-ISO shots, because it effectively sharpens and reduces noise at the same time.

FocalBlade is available as a Photoshop-compatible plugin for Windows and MacOS X as well as a standalone application and Lightroom external editor for Windows. The plugin works in dozens of graphics applications, including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Photo-Paint, PhotoImpact and IrfanView. All versions support batch processing and process RGB images with 8-bit and 16-bit/channel. The FocalBlade standalone application supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PSD, Camera Raw and DNG image formats among others.

The Magic of FocalBlade

FocalBlade transforms the most lifeless image into something unbelievably sharp and artifact-free so quickly and with so little effort, that the whole process can seem like magic. In fact the secret lies in its sophisticated and painstakingly fine-tuned algorithms. These enhance and uncover the smallest details with radius values smaller than 0.1 pixel and sharpening up to 2000% without damaging the image.

Edges and surfaces are sharpened independently, which means a photo can be sharpened overall without destroying the softness of areas such as sky, walls, skin and other even surfaces. The Adaptive Radius method even sharpens each image pixel with a different radius depending on its details level. FocalBlade avoids halos at high radius settings and even provides sliders for suppressing white and black halos independently. Furthermore, it allows the user to protect shadows, highlights and certain colors.

FocalBlade produces unmatched sharpening results and offers a tremendous amount of control of the sharpening process. Unlike other tools it features automatic sharpening, does not add visible halos, does not increase noise, retains a photographic look, respects edges, allows precise adjustments and instantly achieves a great result. FocalBlade is flexible as well as very easy to use. Best of all, FocalBlade saves precious time and is available at an affordable price.

Sophisticated Features

FocalBlade supports one, two and three pass sharpening workflows, incorporates modes for various tasks and experience levels and offers interactive explanations for each feature. FocalBlade even batch process images with the help of actions or scripts.

The Split View and Preview tab sheet features are great for comparing the original and sharpened versions as well as visually choosing the sharpening strength. Displaying the edge mask and sharpening halos in FocalBlade is a big help for manually fine-tuning the effect. Additionally you can apply grain to increase the impression of sharpness in low-quality images. More than 80 presets are delivered with FocalBlade and saving your own preset files is also possible.

During the seven years of its existence FocalBlade has gained an entourage of thousands of photographers worldwide and established itself as probably the most popular sharpening plugin for Photoshop and other compatible applications.

New in Version 2

FocalBlade 2 incorporates dozens of new features and improvements. Based on the results of an extensive survey with over 1000 users, FocalBlade 2 received an innovative overhaul and dozens of elaborate new features.

It renders 10 to 120 times faster than Version 1 (depending on the used settings and CPU). It supports multiple sharpening workflows and various output devices. FocalBlade 2 is now fully scripting aware and supports smart filtering in Photoshop CS4 and CS5.

FocalBlade 2 achieves better sharpening effects with less artifacts through improved edge masking and halo reduction. It now allows sharpening radiuses of up to 32 pixels. To further reduce sharpening problems three colors can be chosen to be protected from the sharpening effect. The new Softproof feature, which simulates the sharpness of prints on screen, helps users achieve satisfying sharpening results without test prints.

Lab and CMYK images are processed by FocalBlade 2 without having to switch to RGB mode and back. FocalBlade also reduces color noise, adds grain, zooms the preview up to 3200%, benefits from several UI enhancements, including a Navigator tool for quickly displaying an image area, and contains many other new features.

Upgrade Options

Windows Version 2 Upgrade: Registered users of Version 1, who bought it in November 2009 or later or purchased the 64-bit upgrade of Version 1, are allowed upgrade to Version 2 for Windows for $19.95. Others can upgrade for $29.95. The upgrade also includes the 64-bit plugin. Please contact us with your order details.

Mac Version 2 Upgrade: Registered users of Version 1, who bought it April 19, 2010 or later, are allowed upgrade to Version 2 for MacOS X for $19.95. Others can upgrade for $29.95. Please contact us with your order details.

Standalone: If you are a registered user of Windows plugin, you can buy the Standalone/Lightroom version for $19.95. Please contact us with your order details.