Performance

In both plug in and standalone modes, Alien Skin Exposure X has a fast start up and improvements have been made to not just that but also the UI so that the program can be navigated faster. Additions such as shortcut keys and panels that can be moved and hidden. We mentioned earlier that there's no need to import images in order to work on them and this useful when you have very high resolution images to work on.

You can also copy images from more than one card at once and multi-task by working o something while the program copies in the background.

It's important at this point to note that Alien Skin Exposure X is only 64-bit compatible on Windows 8 or 10. There's a little bit of backwards compatibility as a plug in because it will work with CS6/Lightroom 6 or CC 2015.

Conclusion

Exposure has always been a favourite of ours to use and is part of a select group that we use regularly to replicate certain film styles. We really love the old film styles and especially the really old ones. We've seen some film simulation programs in the past that have made such tiny variations to the actual image that it makes you wonder if there's anything being done at all. With Alien Skin Exposure X there's always a definite noticeable change without it looking as though it's over the top.

While the program is generally a breeze to use – and Alien Skin designed it all to be in one place for that reason – we struggled to get to grips with the long winded workflow of the stackable layers. When we heard the effects could be stacked, we thought “Yes, finally!” But that was where our enthusiasm ended after we actually tried it. In all fairness, once you have it mastered it works very well, we just think that clicking a little white dot to switch layers is more confusing than seeing a number of layers in a row such as what you'd find in an editing suite.

Still, the results are what matter and we really like what Alien Skin Exposure X gives us. The changes you make are nondestructive and your new image will be given a suffix so as not to record over the original and Exposure works with a lot of raw file types.

Alien Skin Exposure X is a bit of a niche market and because of that it will only appeal to certain photographers. That could be the reason why the price is at the point it is. You'll have to decide whether £100 to make your pictures look 100+ years old is worth it. It can add a new dimension to wedding photography and done properly can add an element of nostalgia with the light leaks and water blotches which customers may find appealing. If you can do that, it's worth every penny.

Ratings (out of 5)
Features	4
Ease-of-use	3.5
Value for money	4

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