Overview
WorkBench exists for the photographer who comes back from a job with two thousand frames and cannot spend four minutes on each. It analyses an image, works out what is wrong with it, and corrects it: exposure, colour cast, contrast, tint, noise, sharpness, and a set of face aware corrections that find skin, eyes and teeth and treat them separately from the rest of the frame. The result is not a replacement for a careful edit on a hero shot, it is a very good starting point applied to everything at once.
It runs as a standalone batch application and as a plug-in for the common editors, so it can either process a folder unattended or sit inside an existing workflow. The build here has the full preset set, the batch engine and the plug-in hosts all enabled, with no trial watermark on output and no activation step.
How the correction works
The analysis pass looks at the image rather than applying a fixed curve. It reads the tonal distribution, identifies the subject, decides whether the scene is backlit, flat, mixed lit or correctly exposed, and applies the correction that case needs. That is why it handles a set of frames shot in changing light without being reset between them, which is the failure mode of any preset based approach.
The face aware corrections run after the global ones. Skin is detected and smoothed by an amount you set, blemishes can be removed automatically, eyes are enlarged very slightly and brightened, teeth are whitened, and shine on foreheads and noses is reduced. Every one of these has a strength setting and every one can be turned off. Used lightly they are invisible, which is the point; used heavily they look exactly like what they are.
Presets and batch processing
Corrections are gathered into presets, and presets are what you actually work with. Build one for the way you like portraits handled, one for events under mixed light, one for product shots on white, and apply the appropriate one to a folder. Presets can be layered, so a base correction and a look can be kept separate and recombined.
The batch engine processes a folder or a watched folder, writes to a chosen output structure, renames on a pattern, resizes, converts format, and applies output sharpening for the intended destination. On a modern machine it moves through several images a second on full resolution files. Watched folder mode is what wedding and event photographers use to have the corrected set appear while the originals are still copying off the cards.
Fitting it into a workflow
As a plug-in it appears inside the common raster editors and cataloguing applications, applying its correction to the open image or the selected set and handing the result back. As a standalone it reads raw files directly with the current camera profiles, which means it can sit at the very front of a workflow before anything else has touched the frames.
Output can be written as full quality files for delivery or as previews for selection, and the original is never modified. For the review stage there is a side by side and a split view with the correction applied to one half, which is the fastest way to check that a preset is doing the right thing across a set before committing the batch.
What you get
- Scene aware automatic correction of exposure, colour, contrast and tint
- Face aware processing for skin, blemishes, eyes, teeth and shine
- Layered presets separating base correction from look
- Batch engine with folder and watched folder processing
- Renaming patterns, resizing, format conversion and output sharpening in the same pass
- Raw file reading with current camera profiles
- Plug-in hosting inside the common editors and cataloguing applications
- Split and side by side review views before committing a batch
- Originals never modified, output written to a separate structure
Inside the archive
- Perfectly Clear WorkBench 5 standalone application, offline installer
- Plug-in components for the supported hosts
- Factory preset library for portraits, events, product and landscape work
- Camera profile set for raw handling
- Install notes covering plug-in registration
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 21H2 or Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Quad core, 3 GHz or faster for batch throughput |
| Memory | 8 GB minimum, 16 GB for large batches |
| Graphics | DirectX 11 capable card with 2 GB VRAM |
| Storage | 3 GB free plus space for output |
| Display | 1920 by 1080, colour calibrated recommended |
Installing it
- Unpack the archive to a local folder.
- Close any host application before installing, or the plug-in components will not register.
- Turn off real time protection for the install.
- Run setup as administrator and select the hosts you want the plug-in registered with.
- Launch the standalone once. There is no activation step and output carries no watermark.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Direct is usually faster here | Online |
Release history
- Camera profile set refreshed for recent bodies
- Fixed face detection missing profiles turned beyond 45 degrees
- Watched folder mode no longer reprocesses files still being copied
- Preset layering added
- Batch throughput improved on multi core machines
- Skin smoothing reworked to preserve texture at low strengths
- Output sharpening presets added for print destinations
Questions about this release
Does it overwrite my originals?
No. It always writes to a separate output structure, and the original files are only read.
Will the face corrections look artificial?
At default strengths they are subtle. Pushed high they look processed, which is a choice rather than a limitation. Every one can be disabled.
Can it read raw files?
Yes, directly, with the bundled camera profiles. That lets it sit at the front of a workflow before anything else opens the frames.
Does the plug-in need separate activation?
No. The plug-in components are registered by the same install and carry the same licence state.
Comments
Preset layering is what I wanted. Base correction stays put, look changes per client.
Skin smoothing at low strength keeps the texture. Earlier versions did not.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Two thousand frames from a reception, watched folder, corrected set was ready before the cards finished copying.