Leaf

Ever since mobile phones got fitted with powerful cameras, pictures quickly became an important resource in various types of activities. However, not all of them are in natural state, and you might want or need to adjust different effects or fix particular aspects. In this regard, Leaf comes with a set of tools to not only enhance, but also convert pictures.

The setup process can take a little while, and it's best to run it with administrator privileges from the start. Even running the application can be a little time-consuming, but once the main window is up, loading a picture is easily done by dropping it over the main window, with the basic option to use the browse dialog also available.

File support is pretty impressive, and you're able to process formats like BMP, GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, PCX, PSD, J2K, J2P, RAW, TIF, NEF, CRW, as well as RAW. Exporting, on the other hand, is limited to BMP, PNG, GIF, and JPG. However, it's also possible to generate a PDF file from the edited pictures.

Most of the space is the canvas, with the loaded picture fitted to the window size. A slim sidebar houses all effects and functions, including undo and redo operations to fix any accidents. All the way to the bottom you find a slider with which to adjust the brush size. What's more, the brush itself comes in a single form, namely circular.

You start working on the grayscale layer of the image, with the possibility to gradually color all regions. There's the possibility to choose different coloring styles from the sidebar, such as negative, sepia, as well as several color channels. The original file is not overwritten, but you need to manually save your work before exiting, otherwise all changes are discarded.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that Leaf comes with a decent set of image processing tools, but it can take a bit of time before you can reach the workspace. File support is decent, but the overall set of brushes and filters you can apply leaves much to be desired overall.