CyberLink PhotoDirector 4

CyberLink PhotoDirector 4

Even at its debut, I was surprised at what a user-friendly yet powerful digital workflow app PhotoDirector was. It had nearly all the bases covered—support for camera raw files, keyword tagging, and even local adjustment brushes. But it still lacked advanced features like face-tagging and corrections for chromatic aberration and geometry offered by competitors like Adobe Lightroom 4 (, 4.5 stars), Apple Aperture 3 ( 4 stars), and ACDSee Pro 3 ( 4 stars). Not only does the latest PhotoDirector release address all of those omissions, it adds some nifty tricks like content-aware object removal, HDR effects, and even a body slimming tool. It also brings the first Mac OS X version non-Apple-built pro photo editor to support Retina displays.

• Pros
  Friendly yet powerful interface. Lens corrections for chromatic aberration and geometry distortion. Cool faux HDR effect. "Body shaper" and other nifty editing tools. Exports directly to Facebook and Flickr.
• Cons Slow photo import. Setup can be pesky. No geo-tag maps. No easy image emailing. No tethering.
• Bottom Line
  CyberLink's PhotoDirector photo workflow app is a pleasure to use and can organize and do some cool things with your photos, but its import is slower than competitors and it has no geo-tag maps.