Picturesque: Beautify And Style Your Images

Picturesque is a new application by Acqualia Software. Created by the developers of other incredible applications as Soulver, and World of Where. Their latest application which was launched yesterday, Picturesque, is designed to make images look gorgeous for the web.

picturesque1.png

Picturesque has an animated “drag and drop” style interface. To start beautifying an image, simply drag it onto the main window, where you will be presented with a nice HUD (heads up display) which allows you to make many different changes to make the image look amazing.

The overall GUi of the application doesn’t leave much to be improved on. It’s simple, easy on the eye, and very easy to work with. The HUD (heads up display) in which you make image changes is styled very similar to the HUD you see in Apple’s applications iPhoto and Aperture. Picturesque, and the images it can output, are very easy on the eye.

picturesque2.png

Many different functions can be applied to the image in the “beautifying stage”, including resizing, applying blur, reflection, soft glows, shadows, and delicate curves. Think of Picturesque as a Photoshop replacement for small image adjustments, for many, it will permanently replace Photoshop in the dock.

Images can be edited in a batch, making similar changes to many images a simple trick, saving you plenty of time from opening the images up individually. Bundled with the application are a set of Automator actions to add beautification to your workflow, and make simple changes a breeze.

picturesque3.png

Picturesque was designed with bloggers in mind, making it easy for them to create stunning images to showcase on their blogs. All of the images in this article are created (in seconds) with Picturesque. It’s a $19.50 download directly from Acqualia Software.

Contest: Thanks to Zac Cohan at Acqualia Software we have three copies of Picturesque to give away. To enter the competition, pop open Picturesque and create a masterpiece, then link to the image in the comments section below - 3 winners will be picked this Saturday evening based on the best picture created with Picturesque.

Comments

  1. #1

    Torben → www.torbenlarsen.com

    Great little program.

    Here’s my contribution - it helps to start out with a good motive :o)
    http://www.torbenlarsen.com/picturesque/

  2. #2

    Commaz → whatgeekwants.wordpress.com

    Great proggie…
    I wonder if there is any similar for Windows, because i don’t use Mac!

  3. #3

    Dustin → web.mac.com/dustin.cook/iweb/D-Money/Home.html

    I love the concept and it works well, only thing is I really dont like the dock icon. Hehe I guess thats an alright since the app maks up for it.

  4. #4

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    I love the concept and it works well, only thing is I really dont like the dock icon. Hehe I guess thats an alright since the app maks up for it.

    Funny you say that, because the first thought I had when I opened the application was “This looks out of place in my dock.” I’m sure I can find a nice replacement icon.

  5. #5

    Dustin → web.mac.com/dustin.cook/iweb/D-Money/Home.html

    Yea thats true, should be easy enough.

    After tryingit for a while I do like it but there are some things that need to be fixed. One of the things that bugs me is when you have multiple photos open in the app, the settings in the Inspecter apply to every photo that is open, instead of each one having the settings applied to it saved so you can go back and edit it later.

    I have two photos I made just fooling aorund. Would have had a bunch more if it weren’t for the annoyance I mentioned above.

    http://web.mac.com/dustin.cook/iWeb/D-Money/Picturesque.html

  6. #6

    Indraneel → indraneel.thepurohits.net

    Okay, wait; the contest is to create a picture in Picturesque, in order to win Picturesque. WTF??

  7. #7

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Okay, wait; the contest is to create a picture in Picturesque, in order to win Picturesque. WTF??

    Correct, you create a screenshot using the trial version of the app, in order to win the full version.

  8. #8

    DeathAxe → justincomparable.com

    Made in 5 minutes and based on my Flickr pictures
    http://justincomparable.com/picturesque/

  9. #9

    Joe Jacobs → www.causingshadow.com

    I gave it a go. Pictuesque could be great to make images for posts in my blog.

    Ya, I did Halo. I just finished writing an article on leaked Halo 3 footage and I though “What the heck, why not try it?” I’m rather pleased by it. Anyways

    http://causingshadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/h3header.png

  10. #10

    Steffan Williams → www.steffanwilliams.co.uk

    The first thing I thought when I saw it was “Huh, AppZapper for pictures?”

    Then I actually read it and it was just the opening UI that was ripped. :P
    Love the look, nice lil app but no I won’t be making a submission to this contest because I suck at anything arty.

    Good luck to the rest of you.

  11. #11

    Lendohn

    Hello,
    It seems like a good program…I like the contest idea!
    I don’t know if I can post more than one entry, so let’s try this one first, with one of my pictures:
    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/472621751_b59b0d6755_o.jpg

  12. #12

    Mathieu

    Very cool small application, I like it! :)
    Here is my contribution for the contest: http://tinyurl.com/2ynago

  13. #13

    Lee → www.wattsupproductions.com

    Checked out this app, and I think it’s pretty cool, I can definitely see myself using it now and then. So I threw these little nuggets together. Sheer beauty, I tell you.

    http://www.wattsupproductions.com/1.jpeg
    http://www.wattsupproductions.com/2.jpeg

  14. #14

    Jack Sauer → jacksauer.com

    How could I possibly lose with this pic?

    http://urltea.com/fv3

    (God I’m good at sucking up…)

  15. #15

    Cloudy Boy → homepage.mac.com/cloud.e/myblog

    http://homepage.mac.com/cloud.e/zen/woah.png

    My creation.
    I used screen capture because the watermark threw off the illusion
    *edited

  16. #16

    Cloudy Boy → homepage.mac.com/cloud.e/myblog

    *duplicate post - sorry bout that
    *edited

  17. #17

    Joe Jacobs → www.causingshadow.com

    http://homepage.mac.com/cloud.e/zen/woah.png

    My creation.
    I used screen capture because the watermark threw off the illusion
    *edited

    Weird, your blog is casting shade. Mine’s CausingShadow. *insert weird sci-fi music*

  18. #18

    Cloudy Boy → homepage.mac.com/cloud.e/myblog

    @ Joe Jacobs

    - That is so cool! Casting Shade was the name I conjured up when me and some buddies began making a podcast - which at it’s inception was pretty cynical. The podcast has since died (oh sigh) but has been replaced with my blog (which I need to update)

  19. #19

    shadownight → thomasgvl.50webs.com

    Great little app, really. So easy and smooth.

    Glenn, I hope it’s not too late to enter, it’s only 8PM on Saturday here in Canada ;) Here’s my entry:
    http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1293/tulipsmallsz9.png

    The faded edges works great… neat program.

  20. #20

    lacrymosa07

    hope it’s not too late!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/58428287@N00/476302799/