VERDICT: Paint Shop Pro Photo XI is moving in the right direction but it’s not easy teaching an old dog new tricks.

Paint Shop Pro (PSP) is a long-established and popular software brand, but over the years it has come to seem dated – an old-style bitmap editor rather than an up-to-date PC Photography package.

It’s a perception that new owner, Corel, is determined to address as shown by the recent release’s change of name to Paint Shop Pro Photo (PSPP).
The main area in which PSP has been left behind by rivals is in its general photo management and in this latest release Corel tries to improve matters on two fronts. Firstly it throws in a copy of its new dedicated photo management software Corel Snapfire. This provides a basic Photo Downloader for transferring images from camera to hard disk and a dedicated visual environment for managing images but it’s underpowered and most users will end up ignoring it.
More significant are the many improvements Corel has made to PSPP’s integrated Organizer palette which lets you view folders of all supported image formats as thumbnails along the bottom of the screen. Enhancements include a new option for viewing all images simultaneously, the ability to review and quickly enhance selected images full screen, a new Info palette which lets you add captions and keyword tags and a new Photo Tray palette to which you can drag photos ready for further handling and future retrieval. These are all major advances and there are also advantages to having integrated thumbnail management immediately to hand. Generally however, PSPP’s Organizer palette still feels underpowered compared to standalone solutions and now it also feels uncomfortably cramped.

Paint Shop Pro XI's photo editing power is strong but overly technical

Where PSPP excels is in photo editing power. In particular there are over 50 global colour corrections available from the main Adjust menu covering everything from powerful levels and curves management (now including histogram displays) through to commands for removing chromatic abberation and purple fringe. And in this latest release Corel has added two more filters – Skin Smoothing and Depth of Field – that are well worth their place.
The downside is that the sheer range of adjustment power can be intimidating and confusing – when should you use the Salt and Pepper filter for example or Texture Preserving Smooth? Thankfully Corel has made life simpler by picking out just six main filters – including the excellent Clarify command – to be accessible from the main toolbar’s Enhance dropdown. In fact for most photos all you will need is the One Step Photo Fix which now automatically takes care of color balance, contrast, clarity, and saturation. The results are generally good but often you’ll want to fine-tune the process. PSPP offers its Smart Photo Fix dialog for this but again it’s cramped and underpowered and highlights the need for a dedicated workspace for core adjustments and edits.
For more in-depth, hands-on editing, PSPP’s retouching tools are impressive particularly the Makeover brush which lets you remove spots, whiten teeth and apply a sun tan (it might sound tacky but the results are flattering). Improvements in this latest release include a Colour Changer which automatically applies existing illumination to the newly applied colour and an enhanced Crop tool with its own floating toolbar. For creative work, PSPP offers a wide range of artistic brushes as well as its famous Picture Tube for painting bitmap elements. It also offers comprehensive layer-based compositing with full support for vectors, masks and non-destructive adjustment layers and access to dozens of creative effects including new options for apply traditional photographic filter effects and a Time Machine filter which lets you apply vintage-style effects.
In terms of sharing your photos, PSPP offers a dedicated Print Layout workspace which lets you select a template, then drag on selected images, interactively resize and reposition them where desirable and add text. New in PSPP XI is the ability to email your images but again the dialog is cramped and ugly. That’s it as far as sharing with PSPP is concerned, so you might assume that the bundled copy of Snapfire will fill the gap. It does let you create a few photo-based projects, but features such as the ability to create slideshows and CD burning are reserved for Snapfire Plus and even here there’s no suggestion of web-based sharing.
By shifting PSP’s focus to target the modern PC Photography market Corel is making moves in the right direction - but not quickly enough. While PSPP XI undoubtedly provides a lot of bitmap editing power, its weaknesses in terms of management and sharing - highlighted rather than solved by the inclusion of Snapfire – mean that there are better options available to make the most of your digital camera.

EASE OF USE 3/6
FEATURES 4/6
VALUE FOR MONEY 3/6
OVERALL 3/6