Unedited (aside from simple Black & White conversation) version at left shadows adjustment at right. The Shadows control, which was oddly heavy-handed in the previous release, now behaves as you would expect, manipulating just the tones in shadow areas instead of lightening or darkening the entire image. I see the once-ubiquitous “Rendering” badge less often now. There’s still a pause when opening Raw files or switching zoom levels, as Exposure X4 loads the image data, but even that seems improved with this version.

I’m using the same computer (a 2016 MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM and the Radeon Pro 460 graphics processor with 4GB memory), and, happily, the lag is gone. The improvement between that experience and Exposure X4 is noticeable, even with larger Raw files from today’s cameras, including the 26MP FujiFilm X-T3. The improvement between that experience and Exposure X4 is noticeable: the lag is gone The problem wasn’t as pronounced with Canon or Nikon Raw files, though it did show up to a lesser degree on large Sony Raw files. Using the brush to paint adjustments was like watching a movie with dialogue out of sync: I’d paint an area, wait for the software to apply the effect, paint another area, wait, and so on. In Exposure X3, I was surprised by laggy performance when editing photos, specifically working with the Raw files from my FujiFilm X-T1 and its 16.3MP X-Trans sensor.

The changes in this release address some prior rough edges, add features that are now expected for this class of software, and in general refine the experience of processing your photos without feeling like the software is getting in the way. The changes in this release address some prior rough edges, add features and refine the experience of processing your photosĪlthough the new Exposure X4 version 4.5 feels more evolutionary than its version number would suggest, that’s not a criticism. When I reviewed Alien Skin Exposure X3, I noted several features that make it unique among other photo editing and organizing applications, such as its extensive library of professional presets, a quad-layout interface option for reviewing multiple similar shots at once, and a novel way of storing nondestructive edits on disk.

Sue bryce alienskin exposure