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By Marshal Rosenthal As a photographer who moved into digital imaging some years back, I've had to learn how to handle myself around graphic programs that often demand a level of craftsmanship akin to what photography demands. Graphic programs demand a different kind of artistic ability. For example, while freehand drawing isn't an option for me (I just can't draw), I've found that skill with Adobe PhotoShop enables me to make up for my own deficit — except when it comes to special effects. Special effects, or altering and enhancing an image, require patience, software and above all, a vision. Vision I have; I can envision what I want. But with some software, creating that vision using a computer still requires drawing ability, which as I've said, I don't have. Aren't computer's supposed to do the hard part for you, to take care of the technical stuff so that you're free to be creative? That's where Eye Candy comes in — it lets you work out an idea, and then processes it for you. Other software does various bits of this kind of processing. But Eye Candy has presets which give you a starting point for particular effects, like Smoke, Glow, Motion Trail, etc. Eye Candy lets you preview a series of special effects that Alien Skin (the parent company) has created for you. It does a lot of the detail work for you, as opposed to making you create all of the intermediate images and steps to accomplish a seamless effect yourself. Most software for graphic/animation/video work is designed to process existing information — i.e., to let you add soundtracks to, and edit video digitized frames. Other programs don't necessarily guide you through the steps, or give you basic effects to start working with. Eye Candy has given me a whole new level of creative control (the program installs as a plug in for PhotoShop 4.0). And as someone who used to struggle to create simple effects by hand, so to speak, I really appreciate the power Eye Candy gives me. An example: Back in college, I made a holiday card with a picture of myself as a vampire, with flames shooting out from my eyes. I did it using a 35mm camera and double-exposures: I shot myself in the dark with a flash and then exposed the same piece of film to strips of burning flash paper suspended on threads at about eye level. The results were okay, but I couldn't really control the look, since I couldn't see what I had done until the film was developed. Now, with software to manipulate photography on a computer, you can judge each step as you go. You can back up and tweak as necessary, as you proceed towards that elusive goal — the right look. If I were doing that Vampire shot now, with Eye Candy, I'd first shoot myself with a digital camera (or scan in the image from a conventional print or slide). Then I would select my eye with the lasso and go to the Filter menu (in Photoshop). Bringing up Eye Candy, I would then create a flame simply by pulling it up from a menu selector. I could manipulate its color, direction, intensity, etc. before applying it to the eye. I could then clone it to the other eye, using the same effects, or in a whole new fashion. There are 21 ready-made effects, including Antimatter, Chrome, and HSB Noise, as well as the ones mentioned above. The re-sizable preview window makes it easy to see what's going on. The 200 presets overall give me plenty of starting points, and I can save whichever version of the file I'm pleased with. And of course nothing happens to the image until I want it to. click for larger image With images online, and with an application doing the hard stuff, all that I'm responsible for nowadays is being creative. While Eye Candy takes some getting used to, it's really fairly easy, especially compared to burning flash paper. Ideas that once would have required a great deal of craft have become simplified. Software like Eye Candy puts a studio on your desktop, and makes a whole new range of artistic vision easily attainable.
Marshal Rosenthal is a writer and photographer based out of New York City. His reports and features on technology and digital entertainment can be found in online/print publications both in the States and abroad.
Eye Candy 3.0 for Macintosh/Windows
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