I must say, this plugin is a total pleasure to work with. Noted videographer Luca Bonomo has created a gem of tool that is long in subtlety and utility while being easy to use and light on system resources. His choices and controls for gradient color enhancements, light flickers and transitions that are "packaged" in just a super way to quickly make the ordinary, extraordinary. Mild to wild.
Our market is awash in plug-ins to amend color; some good, some mediocre. The difference isn't determined by the colors they create but in the way the digital variables are bundled up for use by people like us. It's one thing to change a color as eye-candy and another to change a color to enhance story telling.
LightKit is based around story telling enhancement effects. To that end, each of the 7 categories is aptly named and loaded with presets having subjective names that are a clue to their usage. For example, "Orange - Candle-like Light" or "TV Ambient Mild". Without even seeing the effect, the word picture speaks volumes. That's just practical labeling. Kind of a focus-on-the-benefit approach instead of naming features.
A majority of the effects are built around animated parameters for believable ambient light generation. (The complete effects list is: Light Flicker, Light Pulse, Multicolor Gradient, Multicolor Vignette, Regional Light, Stylizer and Vivid Touch plus two transition effects, Flash and Burn Wipe) To that end, the effects aid in focusing/emphasizing on the light areas of the imagery. So, use is as simple as seeing you have a nighttime automobile interior, choosing LightKit's Light Pulse and selecting the preset "Night Ride Street Light" which involves gently pulsing blue and artificial light colors. Skip the live footage light mods - post it! Need an ambient faulty neon sign to illuminate your scene? Choose "Broken Neon Tube". I love common sense labels.
