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ProSelect
Issue: 4.3 (January/February 2006)
Author: Toby Rush
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 3,858
Starting Page Number: 9
Article Number: 4305
Related Web Link(s):
http://www.timeexposure.com/
Full text of article...
Time Exposure's ProSelect is designed to assist photographers in the customer selection process of a photography session: the session where the customer selects poses, sizes, layouts, and quantities after the photography session. ProSelect is designed to be easy to use... not only for the photographer, but for the customer.
To prepare for the customer, the photographer needs simply to import the image files into the program. ProSelect allows the photographer to select a folder of images -- either on the hard drive or on a camera mounted as a volume. Once imported, the photos appear in the main ProSelect window in a scrollable list on the left and arranged in a grid in the main part of the window.
The customer can view a large version of any image by clicking on a thumbnail, or a single button will begin a full-screen slideshow complete with music drawn from the iTunes library or elsewhere on the hard disk.
The main window interface is dark and subtle, causing the photos being displayed to be the focus of the attention. The buttons are simple but clear; each tool's function is displayed in the lower right-hand corner when the mouse is placed over it.
Viewing photos is just the tip of the iceberg, however. Using drag and drop, customers can place photos in three categories: Yes, No, and Maybe, each denoted by a face icon with appropriate expressions. Customers can rotate images, display them in color, black and white, or sepia; the photographer can set an automatic vignette effect and even set up actions in Adobe Photoshop that will be available to the customer from within the program. Customers can crop photos very easily; proper proportions for standard picture sizes (8x10, 5x7, and so forth) are enforced.
ProSelect also allows the photographer to create templates, which define arrangement and scaling of photographs on a sheet. The customer is then free to build their own sheets of photographs as part of the selection process. Customers can add notes to any sheet or image. Customers can even add matting and framing, which is previewed for them in the main window.
ProSelect also handles the ordering process as well. After the customer selects poses, quantities, templates, and any other aspects of the order, the order is automatically tabulated -- complete with sitting fees, taxes, and anything else necessary -- and an invoice can be printed with a click of a button.
After the customer leaves (or, depending on the printing facilities available, while she is waiting!), ProSelect can export high-resolution files to Adobe Photoshop for printing.
ProSelect's simplicity makes it an ideal tool for the professional and even amateur photographer, and at around $260, it will most likely pay for itself in no time at all.
End of article.