There was a time not so long ago when a photograph was appreciated for the purity of the photographer’s vision of reality. Then digital imaging happened and photography morphed into the vision that a photographer’s mind could imagine. Now, from weddings, fashion and senior portrait shoots to commercial advertising, photography is, in many ways, only the starting point to the creation of very unique images of reality not far removed from the video and motion picture realm.

For photographers and their clients who appreciate this mindset,
Boris Optics 2021 provides the tools for them to bring imagination to life.

Boris Optics 2021 is the creation of Boris FX, a Boston-based company highly regarded for its visual effects contributions to motion picture and television special effects. With the acquisition of Los Angeles-based Digital Film Tools (which itself acquired Tiffen Dfx), Boris FX created an amazing set of visual effects for photographers. Boris Optics includes the best of the effects in Digital Film Tools (including EZ Mask, my all-time favorite masking tool), Tiffen Dfx, and its own Sapphire effects library. Optics is available on Mac and Windows platforms for $149, which includes the standalone version and plug-ins for Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom Classic. Also available is a yearly subscription for $99 or a monthly subscription for $9. (While I worked primarily with the standalone version, accessing Optics from Photoshop overcomes a major shortcoming in the standalone and Lightroom versions as I discuss below.)

[Read: DXO’s Nik Software Celebrates 25 Years With 25 Presets]

Boris Optics 2021: What’s New

In this initial release, Boris Optics 2021 includes 160 filters in 9 categories, including 75 Emmy-award winning Boris Sapphire Hollywood effects-style filters. Filter options include optical glass filters, film stocks, lens flare, glows, lighting effects, lightning effects, diffusion, gobos, and many others. Each filter that I tried offers a bunch of presets and includes a set of customizing parameters, that is some cases, such as the lens flare effect, offers 50 slider options. No question that you can create (and save) an effect that will be unique to your vision and not available on Instagram. It is unlikely that you could investigate all of the possibilities in one lifetime.

User Friendliness and Navigability

As complex as Boris Optics must be under the surface in order to provide the range of presets and parameters it contains, it is incredibly easy to use. The user interface has the modern medium gray, dark gray, black look, the type is white and highly legible, and the layout is logical. The left panel shows your layers, the center panel the working preview, and on the right is the presets/parameters panel. Running along the bottom are tabs for the nine categories of effects. Clicking on a panel heading displays your preview image with the default setting of each of the effects options. I especially like the ability to not only examine full camera EXIF data, but also to view and edit some basic document information. All of these panels and more can be displayed or hidden using the View menu. There are some very useful tutorials on the BorisFX.com website if you need a quick start or a deeper plunge into the program.

While there is no way to customize the keyboard shortcuts, I found that most of the time, a Photoshop keyboard shortcut worked as I expected. However, I do wish that the Tab key worked to close all of the panels other than the preview window.

With 160 different filters, naming conventions can be an issue. I enjoyed the choices that were made, particularly those found in the Color>Color Correct set, where movie titles are assigned to the various presets—Clash of the Titans, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Cocoon are just a few of the many examples.

Boris Optics 2021: Presets and More

With the history brought to Boris Optics by Digital Film Tools and Tiffen Dfx as well as Boris FX people and software, it should be no surprise that everything works and works exceptionally well for an initial release. I have been a fan and user of Digital Film Tool’s EZ Mask since I reviewed it in 2013. It’s been emulated by other imaging software companies (unfortunately not Adobe), but EZ Mask remains one of the quickest and most sensitive masking tools available. Its implementation in Optics is excellent. Once created, a mask can be dragged from one layer to another and inverted in the new layer if desired. The mask also remains fully editable in the new layer.

The ability to preview each preset effect as a thumbnail rather than just a random name in the Presets window is definitely a plus. Selecting one displays it immediately on the full image in the preview window. Find several that might work? Giving them a “star” adds them to your Favorites. Opening the Favorites tab allows you to quickly look at each one and choose the one you want. From there you can customize it with the various parameters and also save it as a custom preset.

You can add layer onto layer, with masks and inverse masks, to create whatever final image you may desire, or keep creating until you find something you like. There seems to be no end to the possibilities. And Optics had no problem working with my Nikon raw files including the Z 6 and
the Z 6II.

Features That Need Improvement

Whether you use Optics as a standalone or as a Lightroom or Photoshop plug-in, the interface is identical. However, when using the standalone or Lightroom, clicking the gear icon to save your edits flattens the layers and the sequence of edits is lost. While this might be acceptable for quick editing in Lightroom, I would hope for a non-destructive save in a future version of the standalone Optics. The workaround is to convert the original to a Smart Object in Photoshop before opening it in Boris Optics. This allows you to return to Optics at a later time and reedit.

Finding a filter or a preset within a filter can be a daunting task given the large number of available options. There is a Search tool that allows you to find filters and presets by name. However, to find the Kodachrome presets nothing comes up when you type “Kodachrome” into either the Filters or the Presets search boxes. Even when selecting the Film Lab tab, neither search will find the Kodachrome options. Only after selecting “Film Stocks” in the Film Lab will a preset search for Kodachrome give you results. A single all-inclusive search tool is needed to simplify finding an effect.

How Boris Optics 2021 Compares to its Competitors

Honestly, there is no program to compare with Boris Optics 2021. For one thing, Optics isn’t trying to be another Lightroom, or Bridge, or Photoshop or any of the many programs with presets tacked on. It plays nicely with Adobe programs, but seems happy at this point to be the most complete preset program I have ever seen. And the cost for the non-subscription program with a year of updates compares favorably to some preset add-ons with just a few prebuilt presets. Optics is worth the price alone for access to EZ Mask. If you are using presets to create unique images for yourself, social media, or your portrait, wedding, fashion, or commercial business, Boris Optics 2021 is the best option available. A trial version is available for download at BorisFX.com.

View all of Stan Sholik’s recent software reviews here.