Alien Skin Software has announced Exposure 5, the new version of its flagship photography effects software. The tool is designed to help digital photographers achieve accurate film simulation using a range of creative effects.

Exposure 5 can be used as a plug-in with popular host software or as a stand-alone program. The upgrade brings creative tools of traditional film photography to the world of digital, such as the look of discontinued films, darkroom tricks, and trendy lo-fi camera quirks, according to Terence Tay, designer of the new Exposure 5 software. Classic films like Kodachrome, Polaroid and even Panatomic-X are accurately simulated, he adds. Hundreds of preset effects can be applied with a mouse-click. Exposure 5 includes both Color and black-and-white processing so there's no need to switch between tools.

Exposure 5 will be available in June at www.alienskin.com for US$199. Owners of any version of Exposure may upgrade for $99. Free upgrades will be automatically sent to everyone who purchased Exposure 4 directly from Alien Skin Software in March 2013 or later.

Exposure 5 may be used as a standalone program or a plug-in. When it is used as a plug-in it requires one of the following host applications: Adobe Photoshop CS5 or later; Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 or later; Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 or later; Apple Aperture 3 or later. On the Mac platform, OS X 10.7 or higher is needed.