PhotoImpression Reviewer's Comments

PhotoImpression by ArcSoft is a mid-priced photo editing program with adequate editing tools, dated clip art, a  quick slide show function and email. It’s simple, fast and intuitive, but there are higher ranked products to achieve better results. 

PhotoImpression Screenshots. Click for more
       


Ease of Use:  

Very easy to use with a simple interface. Tabs make locating all tasks easy, and the task screens are uncluttered. At PhotoImpression, it’s one task at a time. 

Importing:  

Open an image from a folder, camera/scanner, removable media or an ArcSoft Album. 

Editing:  

PhotoImpression has the tools to fix the most common problems in photos. Use Easy-Fix Wizard to straighten, crop, fix red-eye, add brightness and contrast, sharpen, adjust the color, or make the subject stand out. Want to do it all? Just click.Go to Photo Editing Tools for more editing tools, which duplicate some of the auto-mode tools, but offers retouching and cloning. Results appear coarse. Here, layers are simply built-in objects, text or multiple photos that you can click on and move around. Transparency is not supported in PhotoImpression.Add and edit text on the photo in a text box. You can change the size, color and font, and make it either bold or italic. You can add a drop shadow or apply a texture or color gradient to the text as well. However, every text style has to be a separate object— you can't have a different text treatment in the middle of a sentence.Twenty four frames, 100’s of clipart images and about 35 effects are included, but they appear dated. 

Sharing:  

PhotoImpression really only has two ways of sharing your photos; through email and limited printing.

To increase PhotoImpressions’s printing options, you can link to ArcSoft Photo Greeting card, ArcSoft PhotoPrinter and ArcSoft CD & DVD LabelMaker, but you’ll have to purchase the software. See TopTenREVIEWS’ side by side comparison chart to find products that include these printing options at a comparable price. 

Output Capabilities:  

PhotoImpression does not support GIF formats or allow you to optimize JPEGs in any way. Eight other file formats are supported.

Organizing:  

The organization and search functions are limited to the Windows tree configuration. Drag and drop would be a big improvement to both keywords and the 5-star rating system. 

Help/Support:  

The help for PhotoImpression is sufficient. There is a User's Manual and built-in help—more a glossary of feature terms than a searchable tip index. There are no step-by-step instructions or screenshots. Online find a searchable FAQ page for all ArcSoft products. If you need additional technical support, you can contact ArcSoft through an online form.

Summary:  

Though PhotoImpression is a mid-priced program with an easy to use interface, there are too many functions that require purchasing additional software.  Better values are available: see the #4 ranked product, ACDSee's Photo Editor in TopTenREVIEWS’ side by side comparison chart.