onOne PhotoTools2 [SOFTWARE REVIEW]

When I heard the claims onOne software was making with their new product PhotoTools 2, I was so skeptical I almost wrote them off as another company over-hyping, over-pricing and under-delivering. As I was opening the case I read on the cover, “Instantly Give Your Photos the Professional Look”. Um hm… Flip the product over and you read the claim, “This is the fastest and easiest way to make your photos stand out from the crowd.”

Had I not noticed that some of the biggest names in the business, like my favorite Photoshop guru Jack Davis, and renowned photographer Kevin Kubota were part of the team behind this software, I may have put it back in its box. But, to get to the punch line now, I was dead wrong.

PhotoTools 2 has positioned itself to be a one stop effects and photographic enhancement software that fills the needs of almost every type of photographer. Made by photographers, it fits nicely into the work flows that most of us already use, namely, it integrates smoothly with Photoshop, Aperture and Lightroom. I use Aperture almost exclusively these days and I was very excited for a product to come out that would get me one step closer to eliminating bouncing in and out of Photoshop. A disclaimer is required here however… Because PhotoTools uses Photoshop as its behind the scenes “engine”, you are still required to have a copy of Photoshop installed on your computer (CS2 or higher). That definitely ups the ante if you don’t already have PS, since that more than doubles the investment to use this software. I had it installed already so I was off and running in no time.

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