14 DAY TRIAL // If you've ever wanted to mess about with images and image effects, but never had the money for a professional image editing application, then Radical Photo might be something you would have an interest in. While it does not even come close to professional editing applications, it is a good starting point for those who want to see what image effects are all about.
What it does Radical Photo is a simple little program that adds effects and filter over images, in a very simple drag and drop manner. It is the kind of application that does not really need any documentation because everything you need to know is told to you visually. Just drag any effect to the effects list of the image.
Whether you want to mess about with a photo or are trying to accomplish a certain look and feel, Radical Photo makes everything easy, and the ability to drag effects in and out as you please makes it very easy to experiment without fear of messing up or doing something wrong.
Effects and filters Radical Photo is all about applying the included effects to your images, with minimal hassle.
The effects found in the applications are Color Levels, Emboss, Pixelate, Grayscale, Twirl, Wave, Blur, Scale, Edge Detect, Invert, Sharpen and Smooth. Some of these effects have options, which can be played with to alter the result of the effect, while others are predefined and cannot be altered in any way.
The effects themselves are very easy to apply, simply drag them from the available list to the used one. If the effect has any options that can be changed, they will automatically appear at the top of the screen, usually in the form of sliders.
The results of the effects are visible immediately, and any change is rendered on the spot and displayed.
Layers and stacks Although it is not immediately clear, the program works with layers, each effect being separate from the others and tweakable at any time. The effect layers can be reordered by dragging them around, and, depending on what effects are used, different orders can produce different results.
Furthermore, an effect can be used several times on the same image, and again, this can also produce different results by applying a certain effect in stages, with other steps in between, rather than applying it directly at the beginning or end.
This is again a pretty good insight into the way advanced image editing applications work with layers and how effects can have different results depending on the order they are applied.
A good starting point While users of advanced programs will laugh at it, those who have never applied a filter or effect to an image will find it more than appropriate. Many of the users of 'pro' applications forget that they started out using Paint or some other similar application, which is as far away from Radical Photo as this program is from Photoshop. Too often, people will go out and buy expensive applications thinking that they are 'better', only to never use the full potential of these and, more often than not, to get discouraged by all the features and options that they do not know.
This program, in its simplicity gives is a pretty good idea of that image effects and filters can do, and how they interact with each other, and someone who is well familiar with it will have a much easier time grasping the use of Photoshop or other similar programs. Not only that, but it familiarizes the user with layers and how different effects interact with each other and produce different results depending on how they are used.
The Good Very easy to use and a good staring point for learning about image editing applications. Pretty much everything is self explanatory and the use of drag and drop means there are no complicated controls or options.
The Bad Some effects, such Blur, have no options, why the developer decided not to include a slider for the blur intensity is beyond me, but if all those effects that are currently set in stone were editable, this program would have had a lot more weight.
The Truth While it is no Photoshop replacement, it is nevertheless a good starting tool for learning about image effects while actually working with them. Whether you are trying to enhance an existing photo or just messing about to see what comes out, this program lets you do it fast and without much hassle.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
