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This article is from April 20, 2007, and is no longer current.

The Plugin Site Released Version 1.01 of B/W Styler for Windows

The Plugin Site (www.thepluginsite.com) released Version 1.01 of B/W Styler for Windows. B/W Styler is a Photoshop plugin for B/W conversion, creating traditional B/W effects and styling B/W photos. It works in dozens of graphics applications under Windows and MacOS X including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Photo-Paint, Photo Plus and IrfanView. It supports 8bit and 16bit RGB images.
New in Version 1.01
Version 1.01 of B/W Styler offers a few new features plus some bug fixes. The most important bug fix concerns Windows Vista: Previous versions of B/W Styler crashed under Vista with 2 GB or more RAM. Version 1.01 does not.
Some effects of B/W Styler 1.01 now support hyperthreading and multiple processors, which means a speed increase of up to 30%. 22 new B/W film presets were added and the simulation of B/W films was enhanced. You can now simulate 37 different B/W films, including a few infra-red films, more accurately in B/W Styler. Finally, the B/W Styler dialog is now also available in German language. A MacOS X version of B/W Styler 1.01 will become available soon.
Overview
B/W Styler simulates the whole work flow of B&W photography from shooting a photo to processing it in the lab and framing the end result. It recreates the look of films, lens filters, lab effects and photo papers that are popular in traditional B&W photography, but even goes beyond that. Starting with a color photo B/W Styler lets you produce stunning B&W images that are not possible with B&W film. B/W Styler uses the whole contrast range of color photos to achieve dramatic B&W images. B/W Styler transforms dull color photos into interesting B&W pictures. Additionally you can enrich the B&W images by colorizing them, manipulating brightness and contrast, masking certain image areas, adding soft focus and glow effects, simulating film grain, adding special effects and framing the image.
For Beginners as well as Experts
B/W Styler contains modes for inexperienced, intermediate and advanced users. All modes of B/W Styler are connected and work together, so you can gradually add more effects and style your B&W image by switching from one mode to the other.
As a start Photographer’s Mode lets you choose between a lot of presets in one compact dialog, e.g. B&W film type, ISO rating, lens filters, lab development strategy, paper type, color toner, special lab effects and more. These effects can then be adjusted in ten simple modes, each of which concentrates only on one aspect. Additionally there are five special effect modes for doing special B&W conversions, selective B&W, split color, vignette blur and mist effects.
More advanced users can also use the B&W Quick Mode for doing sophisticated B&W conversions with the help of 16 different controls. Finally, you can fine-tune your image in Expert Mode with the help of dozens of effect features, more than one hundred controls and almost two hundred local presets.
Why B/W Styler Is Different
B/W Styler offers the whole range of B&W tools and related effects in a single plugin. So you don’t need to waste your time switching between different filters all the time. B/W Styler provides six different techniques for B&W conversion while most other tools offer only one or two. One of these B&W conversion methods (Split B&W) is not available with any other tool.
Additionally B/W Styler uses the color contrast of photos effectively to achieve more distinctive B&W photos. Other tools try to simulate the look of B&W films with only a few color sliders whereas B/W Styler gives you detailed control over the whole color spectrum. Additionally if you switch your 24bit color image to 16bit per channel before running B/W Styler, it will produce higher quality B&W conversions, which will be retained even after you switch back to 8bit per channel.
Unlike other tools B/W Styler also supplies a wide range of masking features for selectively addressing certain parts of an image. It features three different types of modes for beginners, advanced people and experts, so users can become more experienced without the need to switch to another tool. Best of all, B/W Styler is available at an affordable price. It offers more features and possibilities than other tools in the same price range and beyond.
Availability & System Requirements
B/W Styler is available for Windows and MacOS X. It sells at $49.95 (Regular License) or $29.95 (Academic/Educational License). It can be purchased at https://www.thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/. A demo version can be downloaded at the same URL.
Company Info
The Plugin Site is located in Nuremberg, Germany, and develops graphics, video and web software. We also created the Harry’s Filters, ColorWasher, FocalBlade, LightMachine, Plugin Galaxy, Plugin Commander, Edge & Frame Galaxy, HyperTyle, HTML Shrinker and Photo Galaxy products. We co-produced Alpha Magic with Hollywood FX and Pinnacle and also co-develop the FilterMeister plugin development environment with AFH Systems.

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