CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: photographers of all levels

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CyberLink’s PhotoDirector has transformed my photo editing experience. Using Adobe Lightroom’s photo workflow tools with Photoshop’s functionality is like having the best of both worlds. Hand-holding support, comparable to Photoshop Elements, makes it stand out from other photo editing software and makes it excellent for photography enthusiasts like me. PhotoDirector has quickly become one of my favorite picture editing program, even if Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Elements remain my Editors’ Choice.

PhotoDirector rivals Adobe’s image editing and workflow tools. I enjoy PhotoDirector’s Photoshop-like capabilities including adjustment layers, masks, font kerning, and guided edits. Even better, it has AI-driven style transfer, content-aware removal, sky replacement, people masking, and GIF animation generating. With these features, I improved my photo editing skills. PhotoDirector’s limitations are expected.

You can’t use Lightroom or Photoshop’s Subject Select or geotagged maps with it. It compensates with sketching tools, facial beautification choices, blur effects, and cartoon effects. It also has a nondestructive workflow and a great collection organization tool set, unlike Photoshop. I think PhotoDirector is a great program for its ease of use and wide range of options, even though some may say its feature set is too vast. It has become a crucial part of my picture editing toolset since it lets me create professional-looking images without the high learning curve of other products.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 Specifications

Please take into consideration that these are the bare necessities. It is recommended by CyberLink that you use a computer that has a higher powerful processor, graphics card, and RAM in order to achieve the best possible performance.

Feature	Description
AI-powered photo editing	AI-powered tools to automatically enhance photos, remove unwanted people and objects, and change backgrounds.
Generative AI	Create images and stickers from text with the AI Text to Image & Sticker generators.
Portrait and body retouching	Auto retouch tools to enhance portraits and body sculpt subjects.
Smart tools to fix photos	One-click tools to suppress noise, unblur photos, and upscale low-resolution images.
Layer-based editing	Create and edit complex images with layers.
RAW photo editing	Edit RAW photos from a variety of cameras.
HDR photo editing	Create and edit HDR photos.
Color grading	Fine-tune the colors in your photos.
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What is CyberLink PhotoDirector 365?

Hobbyist photographers are the target audience for the complete photo-editing package known as PhotoDirector 365. It is geared for those who are already familiar with Adobe Photoshop Elements. CyberLink developed this program specifically with new users in mind. However, due to its many capabilities, it is an appealing alternative choice for more experienced photographers.

PhotoDirector 365 contains fundamental tools for altering photographs and, like Photoshop, makes use of layers. PhotoDirector 365 is a non-destructive editing program that works similarly to Lightroom. Your original file will not be altered in any way by the program. In addition to that, there is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system that is completely operational within the program. Using a ranking system and other keywords, you are able to organise hundreds of thousands of photographs using this.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: User Interface

PhotoDirector’s minimalist, black UI lets you focus on the image by removing most distractions. The software is separated into categories accessible by top-of-screen buttons. In ‘Library’, you choose a photo to edit. Previous opens are shown here. Your star-rated and’recently altered’ photos are also stored here. It’s easy to return to work.

The metadata area of ‘Library’ lets you update IPTC details and tags. Adjustment’ is where most people will spend most of their time: here, you can access all the usual colour correction tools, including LUTs, a healing brush, a red eye tool, paint brushes, masking tools, and presets.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: Pricing And Subscription

The question over whether to purchase a lifetime licence or subscribe to a service is a contentious one; however, happily, CyberLink gives its customers the opportunity to do either (at least partially). Users have the option of purchasing PhotoDirector with a lifetime licence, with the most recent version being PhotoDirector 14, or subscribing to the service on a month-to-month basis through the PhotoDirector 365 subscription model.

At the time this article was written, PhotoDirector 14 Ultra could be purchased for the price of $99.99, and PhotoDirector 365 could be subscribed to on a monthly or annual basis at the rates of $14.99 per month or $54.99 per year, respectively. Unfortunately, the PhotoDirector 14 Ultra lifetime licence is only offered for Windows Operating Systems; those who use a Mac will need to select the subscription option instead.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: : Smart editing tools

Artificial intelligence in image editing software has been employed in PhotoDirector 365 for artistic and practical purposes. Finding a beautiful setting with a dull sky is one of the worst parts of shooting landscapes. With the new AI sky replacement tool, that’s gone. The software will scan the image and replace the specified sky area with one of the preset thumbnail images, your own photo, or more photos from the Store page with one click.

Unfortunately, even using one of the default photographs that displays when running the software, it struggled to clip out foreground objects and only chose sky, which seems like an oversight by Cyberlink. The mask can be refined by adding/removing layers and changing feather and edge amounts, but it doesn’t work with images provided “out of the box,” which is frustrating.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: Astrophotography Features

When it comes to editing astrophotos, the only thing that would be useful would be the AI denoise tool. When we tested it on an image, we discovered that it does work quite well; however, it is the same as the AI denoise in Lightroom, Photoshop, or Affinity Photo 2, so unless you wanted to acquire PhotoDirector for some other purpose, it definitely wouldn’t be worth getting it only for this function unless you wanted to get PhotoDirector for some other reason. Aside from that, there aren’t really any other capabilities that would be especially helpful for editing using Astro.

Disappointingly, the’stack’ option in the library menu does not truly align or mix the photos together; instead, it simply stacks them for organisational purposes. This caught our attention and originally excited us. It would mean the world to us if a later version included this functionality. We believe that PhotoDirector, which appears to be moving more towards an AI direction, has the potential to contain some fantastic tools for the editing of astronomical photographs.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: Importing and Organizing Images

The import function works like Lightroom’s. Importing is quick. However, like Lightroom, photo rendering can take time. Photo resolution may take two seconds after the loading spinner disappears. It reads many file kinds, including raw files. Advanced lets you add information or presets to imported photos. You can copy, rename, and copyright the image. Automatic tone and noise reduction is also available.

Face recognition is crucial. CyberLink is a leading facial recognition company. This version includes AI-tagged faces. Familiar faces are recognised quickly. Compared to the Mac version, facial recognition has improved. However, its functionality is still behind Windows. We struggled to detect faces automatically.

Final Words

Flexible PhotoDirector 365 is my fave picture editor. I can tweak it like my creative process. Like my room’s furniture, a changeable workstation lets me make little changes to create the perfect atmosphere. On adventurous days, PhotoDirector 365 lets me layer edit while painting. I may stack elements to create my masterpiece like a painting.

It may look chaotic because my art supplies and creative efforts have gathered over time. Like my creative path, this blog has expanded. As my skills and interests have grown, so have its loft levels. Its alternatives are lovely. PhotoDirector 365 lets me explore my art. I can explore its features and find my prefered workspaces like my creative area. It changes with my artistic style and needs, like my creative space.

CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 review: The Good and Bad

Although it has its limitations, PhotoDirector 365 is a good image editing programme. However, the programme is cheap, quick, and trustworthy, making it perfect for resourceful designers who need to make changes quickly without breaking the bank.

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