Finally got around using PhF

Hi,
I finally got to use photoflow for a couple of weeks and I’d like to give a little feedback (especially for @Carmelo_DrRaw)
I’ll start with the cons and then go to pros.

Con
I got a lot of crashes. So many that it deterred me from using it further. The only one I can pinpoint is that it always crashes when I try to use dream smoothing from Gmic. The others looked quite random to me and I didn’t have the time to pinpoint them.
I’m sorry, I would love to give a more concise feedback, but at the moment I can’t.
I’m on WIN10.

Pro
I really love the idea of the program.

  • The possibility to use layers
  • The possibility to use masks and do local adjustments
  • The non-destructivness
  • Working directly with the raws

So though I stopped using it for awhile I will certainly look into it again (and maybe then I can give a better feedback regarding the crashes).

To give at least a little back here’s a preset using contrast masks which I think is just killer!
Not because I made it, but because it’s possible in PhF so easily.
Overlay Group.zip (750 Bytes)
(Uh, I can’t upload pfp?)

It allows you to do contrast masks and all the things I did here:

Only that it is so easy in PhF because the clone layer in the preset already gives the L, R, G, and B channels.
It works like this:

  • If the invert layer opacity is on 50% basically nothing is happening.
  • If the invert layer opacity is >50% then Contrast is “reduced” (actually only absolutely correct if using the L channel)
  • If the invert layer opacity is <50% then Contrast is “augmented” (again only absolutely correct if using the L channel)
  • The bilateral layer is there to bring back details when working with perfectly inverted masks.