How To Customise Your Workflow In Zoner Photo Studio X

Zoner Photo Studio X photo software has had a spring update and with it comes new ways for photographers to customise their workspace when managing and editing photos. 

Before getting into 'what's new', we thought it's worth doing a quick overview of what Zoner Photo Studio X can be used for as, unlike other well-known brands, Zoner are still growing in popularity so you might not have heard of them before. 

Zoner Photo Studio X is an all-in-one photo management, photo editor and RAW converter that also gives you options for creating photo books and other printed products, as well as video creation, in one place. You get access to layers and masks, retouching tools such as brushes, Gradient/Radial filters and more to make non-destructive adjustments to images (including RAW files). Plus, the user interface is split into 5 modules simplifying the layout and only giving you the tools you need for the task in hand. 

The first module is the Manager module which makes it easy for you to create an organised file structure for browsing and sorting your photos. Up next is the Develop module where you can adjust parameters such as white balance, exposure and dynamic range by toggling sliders then you have the Editor module where you can use layers and masks to replace skies, add text... etc. Print is where you export your images into finished products and the new Video module is all about creating and editing video footage. 

The Manager and Develop modules are areas of the software we've looked at in detail previously so do go and take a look at our 'How to organise and develop your photos with Zoner Photo Studio X' feature if you want to delve a little deeper into how these areas work. 

Now, rolling back to the introduction where we said the software has had an update, the creators of Zoner Photo Studio X have worked hard to bring you a new version of the photo editing tool which is more adaptable to your needs.

Customisation is king with this update with more options for showing (or not showing) information and these personalisation options are what we'll mainly be focusing on in this feature but there have been a few other updates, too, which include a spring clean for the modules, a new fisheye lens adjustment and general speed improvements. 

It's All About Personalisation

Starting with the Manager module thumbnail view, you can now adjust the look and data contained within the previews by using the display and sorting configurator. You can choose how much information is shown, or not shown, below each thumbnail as well as in the filmstrip that appears at the bottom of the Manager, Develop and Editor modules.

Another new feature that isn't really about customisation but is worth a mention is that you can now apply ratings and coloured labels directly on thumbnails which will save time and speed up your workflow. We mentioned that this would be a good thing to have when we first put the software to the test so it's great to see it featured now. 

Back to the Configuration panel, this new feature will help you organise your thumbnail previews by giving you display options, as well as ways to sort photos and group them together. Here's where you can decide how much photo information is displayed below each thumbnail, too. Personally, I prefer a clean user interface so removed the data from my view but you can add as much or as little information as you like. 

You access the Configuration panel by clicking the AZ icon that sits towards the top of the window. From here you can change the way the thumbnails are displayed: thumbnails only, thumbnails with extended info, as tiles or just the info without the images. You can arrange the thumbnail previews by name, date or one of the many other options available and decide if you want to group images together. 

Another area where more personalisation options are available is in the Preview window as you can now adjust the information display settings to show/hide information such as capture dates, shutter speed, ISO, info on where the photo was taken...etc. Basically, the information displayed is what you want to see and not what the software thinks you should show. 

By clicking on the picture icon that has a cog on it found top right of the user interface, you can personalise what metadata is shown on your preview along with various other data and you can also choose the background colour your image appears on. Text style, size, font and colour can be edited as can where it appears on your photo. These settings aren't set in stone for every photo either as all of the elements can be adjusted for each photo. 

Similar personalisation options are also available in the Viewer where you can play slideshows (which has also received a few new customisation options). 

You launch the viewer in Zoner Photo Studio X by pressing F3 (or you can launch it straight from Windows as a way to browse photos). You can use this tool to browse photos yourself or use it as a way to show friends/family your image collections. 

The same 'information display settings' as found when previewing images in the user interface are available to you along with options for adding detailed information to images you want to showcase in a slideshow. When creating slideshows, you can choose from several different slideshow transition effects, customise the interval for slide transitions and add videos to your slideshows much more easily. 

The amount of information you can add is vast and you can spend quite a bit of time customising each of your photos to display precisely what information you want and where. 

More On Zoner Photo Studio X

You can try the new features out for yourself in a no-strings-attached free trial of Zoner Photo Studio X which gives you access to the full version of the software. Then, if you're convinced that Zoner Photo Studio X is for you, ePHOTOzine members can currently save 25% when purchasing the software. Also, the pricing of Zoner Photo Studio X is going to change on 27 of April 2022 from $49 to $59 (yearly subscription) or, if you pay monthly, from $4.99 a month to $5.99 a month. So to take advantage of the less expensive price, we'd recommend making your purchase sooner rather than later. 

To store your images while using Zoner Photo Studio X, you can access Zonerama, one of the best photo storage and sharing site on the market for 2022, for free.