PhotoBling

Adding complex effects to images is usually associated with professional users and sophisticated applications.

PhotBling developers have made this application accessible to amateur photographers, by offering an easy-to-use editor to apply artistic effects to images. The default supported image format is JPEG. BMP and PNG images can be opened in the application as well, but the options available to these formats are limited.

The interface is basic and easy to use, very similar to Windows Explorer. The presets are displayed in the left up corner, arranged by category. Below them there are the control options, a space for inserting comments to the user-defined presets, and the Effect percent bar. The bar allows you to customize the intensity of each filter applied. The largest part of the interface is taken by the preview window.

There are 6 categories of default presets, each one for a specific category of filters. Each category name reveals the functionality: soften, shine, frame, sketch, and artistic. The last one, named "other", allows the adjustment of luminosity, contrast, and saturation, very similar to the editing options found in any image program.

Various combinations of filters can be saved as user-made presets and displayed in the interface.

PhotoBling doesn't offer real-time preview of the edited images, changes are visible only after they have been applied. This provides a reduced control over the editing options, but could also lead to great unexpected results.