CyberLink has just released a newer version of its photo editing software: PhotoDirector 10. It comes with a wide range of tools that allow you to convert normal photos into stunning works of art. This makes it ideal for users of all levels.

CyberLink Photodirector is photo editor with AI functions. It is part of the larger CyberLink Suite 365, which means that the emphasis in Photodirector 12 is on editing, composition, and convenience of use - basically, the goal is to allow you to create not just better, more effective photos, but also enhanced, more impressive images that are.

Find out more about this software in this PhotoDirector 10 Essential review.

More About PhotoDirector 10 Essential

1. Cyberlink has clearly tried to develop a viable alternative to Photoshop Lightroom, but at a reduced cost. Although not quite there, it is tantalisingly close and based on value for money Cyberlink PhotoDirector 12 definitely deserves our 'Best Buy Award' for photo editing software.
2. Turn Your Photos Into Art. Get to the heart of creative photo editing, fast. With powerful AI tools, eye-catching visual effects, advanced color controls and intuitive layer editing, you can create breathtaking compositions and artistic masterpieces in a snap.
3. CyberLink PhotoDirector 10 Ultra Turn Your Photos into Artwork Photo editing doesn’t have to be daunting. PhotoDirector features a wide range of easy-to-use, professional-quality tools built specifically for turning your photos into stunning artworks no matter how you shoot.

Unlike its predecessors, PhotoDirector10 Essential offers a multitude of enhancements, including the new and improved layering system that encourages creative flexibility. It also has cropping masks that allow you to add new layers to projects.

With its easy to navigate interface and clearly labeled features, users can easily identify what tool to use. There are practical tips on some icons, explaining when and how to use them.

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The Pros and Cons of PhotoDirector 10 Essential

Here are some of the pros and cons of using PhotoDirector 10 Essential:

PROS

• It has new AI style tools that are pretty impressive.
• It has updated layers that make it stand out from its competitors.
• It’s a feature-packed program.
• Soft-proofing and tethered shooting enable the use of printing techniques that streamline tasks.
• It has a vast online inventory of free styles and some paid style packages.
• It comes with a generous amount of server storage space.

CONS

• It’s a bit slower on outdated PCs.
• Some operations and tasks are time-consuming.
• There is no tethered shooting option for iPhones.
• The soft-proofing feature is not compatible with all printer types.

How to Use PhotoDirector 10 Essential

There are many things you can do with PhotoDirector 10 Essential. We’ll teach you below.

Importing and Adding Tags to Manage Photos

You can import photos into the software from an external source, such as your external drive, digital camera, or memory cards. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Library module.
2. Click the Import button to start importing photos from your source.
3. Choose Photos to import an individual photo file or select all.
4. Click Open.
5. Select Folder if you want to import an entire photo folder.
6. You can now begin organizing your photos and adding keyword tags. Do this by going to the Photo Import window and clicking the Advanced button. Once you are done, click Apply During Import.
7. To add multiple tags to your photos, separate them with a semi-colon.
8. Hit Import to import all the photos of your choice into your library.

Resizing Photos to Share on Social Media

Ever wondered why some photos look so much better on your desktop than they do on Facebook? There are many reasons behind that. Some of them are as follows:

Compression – Social media sites don’t want photos that take up too much space on their servers. So, even if you choose the high-resolution option, these sites will still compress your photos, removing pixels that result in poorer image quality.

Color Space – The web space mainly uses sRGB. This color space allows you to see more color variations that browsers cannot.

Sharpness – Once a photo is resized, some details are thrown out. To make photos look better, you have to export your photos for social media.

To export a photo for social media, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on Export Selected Photo.
2. Go to the Export menu.
3. Choose a location where you want to save the file.
4. Select JPEG for file format, 100% for image quality, and sRGB for color space.
5. Navigate to the Image Sizing section.
6. Choose Resize to Fit.
7. Change the value under Long Edge to 2048. It is the recommended size for Facebook photos.
8. Be sure that the Sharpen After Resize and Don’t Increase Photo Resolution options are ticked.
9. Save the file.

Our Verdict

CyberLink’s PhotoDirector 10 Essential is a program that is great for average computer users. It can be used to learn how to edit photos or perhaps to step up one’s photography game, thanks to its creative editing options.

Do you know other photo editing apps that work for mobile or desktops? Let us know in the comments and we’ll have them reviewed for you.

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Cyberlink Photodirector Free Download

Review summary

Good points

• Supports a large range of RAW camera formats and lens profiles.

• Comes with a wealth of preset options for enhancing images.

• Effectively removes unwanted objects from the foreground.

• Smart face recognition tagging feature for photo management.

• Finds and organises groups of photos quickly.

Bad points

Our verdict

Cyberlink PhotoDirector 12 is an excellent choice for organising, editing and sharing your photographs. It's great for creating photos bursting with creativity that stand out from the crowd.

Full review

Cyberlink Photodirector 10 Download

PhotoDirector use to be characterized by its simplicity and affordability, but also its distinct lack of advanced features. If you wanted something more powerful Adobe products were the only way forward. But in recent years after a succession of significant upgrades the photo management and editing suite is a threat to Adobe's crown.

PhotoDirector is a one-off license fee without future subscription fees. A fully functional 30 day trial is available. It also supports high DPI (Dots per inch) monitors.

Installation

You can obtain the program as a download or single DVD. If you purchase the DVD it comes with a quick start guide.

Cyberlink recommend you have 1GB of hard disk space and 2GB of memory available on your computer. The installation file is 365MB.

Once you've entered the license key, registering the software is optional. You are not required to enter unnecessary information like with other packages.

Getting started

Once you've entered the license key, registering the software is optional. You are not required to enter unnecessary information like with other packages.

The interface design has a clear, well organised workflow which follows the conventions of standard photo editors like Photoshop.

The workflow is comprised of six modules: Library, Adjustment, Edit, Layers, Slideshow & Print. As you navigate between modules the left hand panel changes while the right hand window containing both the photo viewer and photo browser panel remains constant. This is so you can apply multiple changes to the same image.

You can't detach and float the panels which is something we would like to see in future.

If you have a second monitor you can preview full-scale images of your work in progress.

You can zoom in and out of photos using either the magnifier glass tool or the list of preset zoom sizes (including screen size fit).

Import

PhotoDirector supports the import of JPG, TIFF, PNG, PHI files. It also supports a wide range of proprietary RAW formats. The colour and quality of the converted image was very good.

You have the option to include subfolders and exclude possible duplicates. You can reference your files in their current location or create a copy. If you do create a copy, you can choose to have your files renamed. During the import process you can apply presets and copyright information.

One of the most recent additions to PhotoDirector is the Video-to-Photo feature set. It's a little more exciting than it's name suggests.

This a one directional import tool that allows you to import video files and extract single stills which can be edited or used to create panoramic or multiple exposure images.

PhotoDirector supports over 20 different video formats on import including AVI, MPG, MP4 and MOV.

During my own tests the 'True Theatre' adjustment setting appeared to reduce the detail of picture, so I disabled that setting.

Organise

The 'Library' module is where you organise your photographs. There is no separate image organiser like with Photoshop Elements.

You can import individual files or folders from your computer or from an external device. You can also import from the Cyberlink Cloud (more about that later in the review).

Projects - Under project you can see the current project name. You can have as many (or as little) projects as you wish.

You can create multiple projects, although for the average user you'll find one is enough. To switch between projects, the program will need to restart.

Projects are saved as .PHD files. They can also be uploaded to the cloud.

Smart Collection - CyberLink automatically organizes photos into collections or as I prefer to call them 'filters' which makes it easier to sort through photographs. It's deemed as 'smart' because whenever you import or rate photos the collection is updated automatically.

Folders - is a mirror of your computers folder structure. Nothing exciting here and fairly self explanatory. However the software doesn't sync automatically and its something you may need to do if you have added files or folders while using PhotoDirector.

Albums - is the most useful feature set. You can create your own albums with a category name such as 'Flowers' or 'Food' and then add photos by dragging and dropping them into the album. There are 'albums' and 'album sets'. Albums contain photos, whereas album sets contain albums. So for example your album set would be called 'Holiday', and you albums within would be called 'Iceland 2017' or 'Hawaii 2019'.

Tags - offers an even more granular way to organise photos. Simple create a tag and drag and drop selected photo to apply the tag.

Adjustments

The adjustment module comes with 'Manual' or 'Preset' adjustment tabs.

Manual - Manual adjustments are sub-divided into 'Histogram', 'Regional tools' and 'Global tools'. Comes with standard adjustments such as white balance, sharpness and noise removal.

If your lens manufacturer is not supported, there are plenty of manual adjustments that compensate for lens distortion.

Presets - Presets are grouped adjustments. Once you have created your preset it can be applied quickly and consistently to other photos. HDR (High Dynamic Range) effects, B&W.

Tone, white balance, curve and level adjustments.

There are a bunch included by default, you can create your own or download them from the DirectorZone community. You can upload your own then others in the community can take advantage of your preset.

You can see a split view of a photo before and after the adjustment or edit was made.

There is history panel available that lets you see all of the edits you have made to an image ordered chronologically. If you click on any of the edits, you see a preview of the image at any point in time and you can revert back instantly if needed.

Editing

If your someone who likes to enhance your own photographs by using the techniques deployed by fashion magazines on cover there are beautification and body slimming tools.

My biggest frustration with the software (and one I very much hope they will overcome in the future) is the need to save a temporary copy of the image you are editing between modes.

You can choose to disable notifications, they are annoying because they appear so frequently, but equally you risk forgetting to save the image.

Layers

Layers can often be some what confusing experience. There was an inevitable learning curve, but I found myself soon getting the hang of it.

The 'layer' mode supports upto 100 layers per photograph and offers 16 different layer blending modes including Darken, Multiply and Linear Burn.

You can combine two images together and merge them into one.

Note: Layer editing is not available in the Deluxe edition.

Sharing

You can select which share options are made available to you. So if you don't have a Facebook account you want to share too, you can remove that option.

Give Cyberlink permission to access your Facebook account.

Exporting

Profiles store export settings, so that they can be applied to future exports.

Backup

Backup comes in the form of CyberLink's Cloud Services. You recieve 25GB of free storage space for one year as an incentive to join. If you have the Suite edition you get 50GB free. Otherwise fee based subscriptions to use the Cloud service are yearly and are dependent on how much storage space you use in MBs.

Cyberlink Cloud is available accross all of Cyberlink's products, but particularly benefits users of PhotoDirector.

It provides a backup of your photos, music, videos. Obviously that prevents against data loss, but also allow you access your content on multiple devices. It also backs up projects, templates and program preferences.

Community

Several years ago Cyberlink created an online community called 'DirectorZone' which was originally intended for users of its video editing software to upload and share video creations. Building upon its success DirectorZone was expanded to include all of it's software product offerings including PhotoDirector. It's since become a popular destination for PhotoDirector users. It's also free to use, but you will need to sign up to an account for access.

To start with there are thousands of templates for users to download for free. Many of them have been created by Cyberlink themselves, but the vast majority have been created by community members. Templates for PhotoDirector come in the form of 'Photo Presets' (which are adjustments) and 'Express Layer Templates'. You can search and filter on them based style (scenery, people, HDR.. ), number of downloads, likes or views. Once you have downloaded them and imported them into Cyberlink to use, you can then rate and comment on them for other community members to see.

Tip: Make sure to visit the 'PhotoDirector Photo Gallery' as it showcases work by other PhotoDirector users.

Slideshow

To create your own slideshow you start by dragging and dropping your selected photos into the preview panel. Next you can then apply a transition effect between the photos: 'Fade', 'Wipe Left Soft' or 'Motion' as well as set the aspect ratio: 16:9 or 4:3 and duration between the image transitions. You then have the option of applying background music to the slideshow. There are five included music tracks that you can apply, but you can also add your own in MP3 format. (Tip: Selecting 'Fit to music' for the image transition definitely enhances the slideshow).

If you want to add a sense of chronology to your photos then you're likely to be disappointed as there is no way to order the photograph's which is something you're more than likely to want to do.

Printing

If you want to print your photos then PhotoDirector provides plenty of options.

Mobile app

The mobile app is available for both Apple iOS and Android devices. It's a freemium product offering which means it's totally free to use, but contains a set of advance features reserved only for those willing to pay.

There are three main modules: Edit, Camera and Collage. The most useful is 'Edit' mode that allows you to perform many of the adjustments available in PhotoDirector.

The sub-navigation has active links to the template store, video tutorials, settings and shop.

If you're looking for some help using the app there are some very limited FAQs contained within settings. There are video tutorials which load in on demand from YouTube which are short, but succinct.

If you do wish to upgrade to fully working version you will get higher output resolutions, no advertisements, unlimited use of the removal tool and no Cyberlink watermarks on collage templates.

The stickers are really fun, but it would be great if there was more of them available.

Help & Support

Telephone support for technical issues is only available as an extra paid for service. They offer two month support packages purchased individually that give you unlimited technical support during that period. The service is only available for US and Canadian customers.

Telephone support for installation issues is provided for free.

Video tutorials are located within the Director Zone.

There are some excellent 'How to videos' including 'Organize Your Photo Collection', 'Create HDR shots', 'Correct Common Lens Related Distortions' and 'Applying a Radial Filter'.

Within PhotoDirector is a simple help file with a contents section, index of topics and search facility.

Overall

Cyberlink has clearly tried to develop a viable alternative to Photoshop Lightroom, but at a reduced cost. Although not quite there, it is tantalisingly close and based on value for money Cyberlink PhotoDirector 12 definitely deserves our 'Best Buy Award' for photo editing software.

Your questions ..

Q. What is DirectorZone?
DirectorZone is an online resource created by Cyberlink for users of its products. You can download presets and share photo creations.

Q. Is DirectorZone free?
Yes

Q. Can you add copywrite symbols?
Yes, using the watermark creation tool.

Q. What is ColorDirector?
It's an entry level video editing package created by Cyberlink which is focused on color and lighting effects.

Q. Is ColorDirector available on the Apple Mac?
No

Q. Can I upgrade PhotoDirector for free?
No

Q. Does it work on Windows 10?
Versions 8 and above are compatible with Windows 10.

Q. Can you make photo slideshows?
Yes

Q. What is the difference between Basic and Ultra versions?
'Deluxe' does not include layer editing, 360 photo editing, panorama from video, blur tools, motion blur, split toning, auto lens correction, radial fiilters and multi exposure image creation. 'Ultra' is not available for Apple Mac computers.

Q. Is the mobile app free?
Yes and no. It's currently a 'freemium' product which means that it is free to use, but offers advance features at extra cost.

Q. Do I need to purchase PhotoDirector to use the mobile app?
No

Q. What is the difference between Mac & PC versions?
'Deluxe' versions of the software are identical. 'Ultra' version is not available for Apple Mac.

Q. Does PhotoDirector use and maintain reference files?
It uses reference files and does not move or alter them.

Q. What is the difference between HDR and Bracket HDR?
'HDR' is an artifical effect applied to a single source image. Bracket HDR is created (as the effect was originally intended) by using multiple images.

Q. Is the Cyberlink Cloud service free to use?
No. However if you purchase the 'Ultra' version of the software you recieve 25GB of free space for one year.

Q. What is TrueTheatre adjustments?
TrueTheater is video and audio enhancement technology developed by Cyberlink.

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