Now featuring 172 filters, including 3-D

MacPhun's two photography apps for Mac, FX Photo Studio and FX Photo Studio Pro, have been updated to version 1.1, the first update since their debut on the Mac platform in May (the apps have also been popular on the iPad and iPhone platforms). The program now sports 172 photo effects and filters (up from 159 at debut), enhanced integration with Aperture and iPhoto, user interface improvements and compatibility with Lion.

The two programs specialize in offering artistic filters and effects for stylizing photos, along with advanced editing tools in the Pro version. Both versions offer the same filters, textures and effects -- such as lomography, tilt-shift, grunge, comics, night vision and many others, including a new "3D" effect -- but the Pro version offers RAW files support, 32MP resolution support (the standard edition is limited to 16MP) and support for more image formats.

Both versions allows users to save effect combinations as presets, color correct and do basic editing such as modifying exposure, hue, saturation and rotation. The resulting creations can be copied into iPhoto or Aperture, posted to social and photo-sharing networks such as Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter, and the "recipes" of effects can be shared with other FX Photo Studio users. Pictures can also be exported in standard formats such as TIFF, JPG, PSD, PNG and others.

The standard version (FX Photo Studio) is on sale for a limited time to celebrate the upgrade, and priced at $10 (normally $25); FX Photo Studio Pro remains at its normal price of $40. The programs require Mac OS X 10.6 or later. The iOS version of FX Photo Studio sells for $2, and the iPad HD edition sells for $3.

by MacNN Staff