When onOne Software bought the plug-ins from Extensis a few years ago I was a little worried that either these great plug-ins would be cannibalized for their technology or turned in to what amounts to plug-in jokes for Adobe Photoshop. Instead onOne Software has kept these wonderful plug-ins alive and well and have released updates for nearly all of them (PhotoTools with the button bar plug-in for Photoshop being the only one that was apparently killed off). So when onOne Software bought the makers of PhotoTune and SkinTune in September 2007 I wasn't too worried about another set of great Photoshop plug-ins going away. Soon PhotoTune 2.2 was released and I was very happy to see so many nice improvements to the product. I was however surprised that PhotoTune and SkinTune were brought together in to one package, though I was thrilled about it, just surprised.

PhotoTune 2.2 Screen Shot is going to be a replacement for Intellihance from what I have been told by onOne Software. I am not sure if PhotoTune is really a good replacement for Intellihance or not. It is certainly a good plug-in and one that makes a complex task much easier. However, it doesn't offer the features or tools that Intellihance does. Personally, I would like to see onOne Software improve Intellihance and maybe bundle Intellihance, PhotoTune and SkinTune as one product. The three plug-ins will definitely take care of almost all of the image adjustment tasks one might have. Before/After Sample

So what makes PhotoTune 2.2 so cool? Well, it is how it works. It works kind of like the eye test an optometrist gives you. It shows you two samples of your image with some adjustments made to it. You simply choose which one looks best to you. You do this for 7 different adjustments (it is a 7-step process) with the final step being an overall tweak of the previous 6 steps. Once you're done your image is corrected. Along the way you have some control over how course or fine the adjustments shown are though the control is quite limited. So if the two samples it shows doesn't quite do it or does too much you can adjust the two effects to either have more or less effect.

SkinTune Screen Shot is the second plug-in in the PhotoTune package and is designed to correct skin color in photos of people. It works quite easily, simply load your image in to Photoshop load SkinTune and then click on the skin of the person you want to correct. You will then be asked to choose a race the options are African, Caucasian, Asian, Latin, Middle Eastern and All. SkinTune then adjusts the skin colors for you. If you don't like what SkinTune has done you can either redo the process or you can click on the skin shade slider and adjust the effect. Before/After Sample

There are also controls for brightness, contrast, saturation, to equalize color, shadow and highlights, etc. This is very easy to use plug-in and one that I think works quite well. I especially like to run PhotoTune first and then SkinTune the two plug-ins together for images with people in them does an especially good job.

I like that you can have SkinTune try and do all of the work for you, but should it not quite get the skin to where you want you have the needed controls to adjust the SkinTune effect. I also like that these controls and simple and easy to understand with instant feed back in the preview area. Speaking of the preview area you get your image shown twice in the plug-in one is the original unaltered image and the other is your adjusted image. This makes comparing and detecting minor changes so much easier.

New Features

• 16-Bit Compatibility - Now, you can open your RAW images in Photoshop and correct them in PhotoTune 2.2.
• Better Color in Just 6 Steps - The Color Wizard has been reduced from 13 to just 6 steps. This is an amazing accomplishment that we never thought possible. Not only are there fewer steps than previous versions, the precision and quality has been improved as well.
• User Control in the Color Wizard - They've added the ability for you to set the amount of each change during each step in the 6 step Color Wizard process.
• Step Back in the Color Wizard - When correcting color, you can now use the progress bar to navigate or step back to any previous step in the Color Wizard.
• New Wizard Snapshots - The Wizard Snapshot is a new feature that lets you record any color correction preview during the 6 step Color Wizard process and recall it on the Fine-Tune Panel. So, if you see a correction you like in the middle of the color correction process, you can choose to save it.
• Support for Photoshop Selections - Now in PhotoTune 2.2, if you want to target a color correction to only a specific area in your digital photo, you can make a selection in Photoshop and then enter the PhotoTune 2.2 plug-in. Any color corrections you make will only be applied to that selection.
• Improved Adjustment Algorithms - All adjustments have been refined and improved for better color results. Plus, 8 bit and 16 bit adjustments share the same polynomial equations so results will match perfectly.
• Simplified Workflow - A single Save History file will work on either an 8 bit or 16 bit image to simplify your workflow.
• More Snapshots - PhotoTune 2.2 allows you to record up to 4 Snapshots in the Fine-Tune panel so you can compare multiple corrected versions of your digital photos. Additionally, new Snapshot management features have been added as well.

This is a very nice set of plug-ins and one that makes a complex task much easier. I don't see it as a replacement for onOne's Intellihance plug-in and as I said earlier I would like to see them add Intellihance to this package then I think you would have a set of plug-ins that could handle 99.9% of your image color and exposure adjustments.

The main cool feature that isn't mentioned by onOne Software is that PhotoTune and SkinTune both can be used in Adobe Photoshop CS3 on a SmartObject and it remains completely editable. Like the filters in Photoshop you can apply PhotoTune or SkinTune to an image that has been turned in to a SmartObject make you choices in the plug-in and then at any time in the future even after saving the image and closing Photoshop go back in and change your settings in the plug-in and have the image update. This is totally non-destructive editing and a real plus in my book.

PhotoTune 2.2 is very easy to use and works surprisingly well. Though I do have to be honest I do find myself making a couple of manual adjustments after finishing with PhotoTune. Like all programs that try to auto-correct or automate image correction it isn't perfect, at least for how I like my images, it maybe perfect for you so please try out the 30-day demo and see for yourself.

Needs

• Windows XP SP2, Vista or higher
• Photoshop CS2 (9.0.2) or CS3
• Photoshop Elements 4 or higher
• 512 MB RAM
• 150 MB disk space
• Adobe Flash Player 9
• Internet connection for update checking & tutorial movies

Note: We would like to thank iStock.com for the use of the photos used in this review.