Exposure's ingenious Preview Split lets you preview an effect on half of your image.

While photographers enjoy the wonders of digital technology, it's hard to leave the film camera behind completely. That's because different film stocks have unique, artistic effects on photographs that can't be replicated easily on a digital photo. But with Exposure, you can finally put that film camera to rest. Exposure is a set of Photoshop filters that can simulate different film stocks. It's a lot easier to use on your Mac than developing the actual film stock in a darkroom, but more importantly, Exposure creates authentic-looking results that'll satisfy many die-hard film photogs.

Exposure has 17 black-and-white film stock simulations, including Fuji Neopan, Ilford Delta, Kodak T-MAX, and Kodak TRI-X. Exposure also has 19 color stock simulations, including Agfa RSX II, Fuji Velvia, Kodak Ektachrome, and more. On top of all that, Exposure includes dozen and dozens of additional effects, such as daguerreotype, sepia tone, old film, applying grain, and more. But wait, there's more - you can adjust each effect using a full set of tools within Exposure, including saturation, curve controls, sharpening, grain intensity, and more.

Exposure is accessed within Photoshop via the Filters menu. Previews on a 3MB color photo took about 4 seconds to appear on our Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 with 4GB of RAM. Speaking of the preview, we love how Exposure lets you split the image in half, where the original is maintained in one half while the effect is applied in the other. Our only nitpick: You have to leave the Exposure interface if you want to switch back and forth between the color and black-and-white effects.

The bottom line. Exposure is a virtual treasure trove of photo effects. Digital photographers yearning for the look and feel of photo stock will love it.

COMPANY: Alien Skin
CONTACT: www.alienskin.com
PRICE: $199
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.3.9 or later, 256MB RAM, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 or later or Adobe Photoshop CS or later, Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 or later
Easy to use. Lots of simulated looks to choose from. Universal binary.
Have to leave Exposure to switch between color and black-and-white effects.