AKVIS LightShop 2

Introduction

AKVIS LightShop 2 is a Photoshop-compatible plug-in that allows you to create fascinating light effects such as lightning, fireworks, halos, glows, flares, etc. The settings and tweaks within LightShop provide an infinite number of light effects. AKVIS LightShop 2 is available as a stand-alone application and as a Photoshop plug-in.

LightShop 2 is from AKVIS, a company based in Russia that specializes in graphics programs. Apart from Frame Suite, AKVIS also creates other Photoshop-compatible plug-ins like Retoucher, Chameleon, Stamp, Sketch, Enhancer, Decorator, and Coloriage.

You can download a free 10-day trial version of LightShop 2 from the AKVIS site.

My contact at AKVIS for this review was Kat Kharina. Thank you, Kat.

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How To Use

Here’s how you can use LightShop 2:

1. Open any image in an image editor such as Adobe Photoshop (or create a new image). LightShop also works with a transparent layer.
2. Choose the Filter | AKVIS | LightShop option, as shown in Figure 1, below.
3. 
   Figure 1: AKVIS LightShop
3. Doing so will open the LightShop 2 interface that you can see in the Figure 2, below.
4. 
   Figure 2: AKVIS LightShop Interface
4. The interface is divided into two parts: the left side is the preview window where you can see the picture and the changes made, and the right side of the interface has the presets and effect settings.
5. Select any of the ready to use light effects from the preset list provided as shown in Figure 3, below.
6. 
   Figure 3: Light Presets
6. Once the light is selected, double-click to open Effect Settings. Here, you can change the properties of the light required, as shown in Figure 4, below.
7. 
   Figure 4: Light properties
7. After all changes are made, click the Run icon (see icon below).
8. 
8. Doing so applies and creates a preview of the image. You can make further changes or apply more lights as required. You can also preview the changed image, as shown in Figure 5, below.
9. 
   Figure 5: Preview the changes
10. For this picture, we applied three different light effects.
9. Once you’re done with the applying the light effects, apply the result to the image by pressing the Apply icon (see icon below) to return to the image editor.
10. 

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Specifications

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