AKVIS Enhancer

www.akvis.com

Reviewed by Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG

AKVIS Enhancer is a tool that is used to reveal the (lost) detail in images. It adjusts the highlights and shadows and images details. Like the Retoucher plug-in, it too is a Photoshop compatible plug-in and is extremely easy to use.  The images here show the before where the photo is dark and little of the detail in the lower half is visible and the image that Enhancer was applied to. It is brighter and most of the grassy area has been recovered and more texture is seen.

Most impressive is the ease with which the plug-in enhances the color and restores the missing details. As you can see in the image to the left of the interface, it offers both before and after views, it auto processes the image when it is opened in Enhancer and then you have the option to make further adjustments by using the sliders. The sliders adjust Processing the “Level of Detail, Highlight and Shadow Priority, and post processing the Intensity. When you select any of the options to adjust hints are shown in the box below the sliders. When you are satisfied with the adjustments, clicking the green “check mark” button saves the changes and returns to the image editor…..in this chase it is Photoshop CS2. Other feathers are the Information button, the Help button, the Language selection, and the final button….the red one, will cancel the changes and return to the image editor.

Install Enhancer into your image editor, such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel’s Photo Paint or Paint Shop Pro. Then all you have to do is open an image that needs enhancement, select AKVIS Enhancer from the Filter or Effects menu, let it auto assess the problem and that’s it. It will make auto enhancements and from there you can select to keep them or adjust them using the sliders. It just couldn’t be an simpler to use!

Each of the examples at the end shows how Enhancer has restored the detail and highlights and shadows to the photos. It enriches the photos and makes them more visually pleasing.  Each photo that I tried it on gave me the same results….it was absolutely improved by letting the plug-in analyze it and then make adjustments. I can’t tell you how many times I sat here and manually tried to correct under or over exposed photos and didn’t always get the best results from all my efforts. Often I had to turn to a color correction and do manual corrections with one of them to achieve the same results I got with Enhancer and a few adjustments to its sliders.

Below are examples of photos that I previously had to adjust using a color correction tool. The results are nothing short of amazing. I could never have gotten this level of enhancement without a color correction tool and manually fixing the color problems before Enhancer. This not only is a fast and simple solution to fixing photos with similar problems but it greatly reduces the amount of time spent trying to achieve this quality of improvement. I am seriously impressed with Enhancer.

You can purchase or download a trial version of AKVIS Enhancer at www.akvis.com. Enhancer lists for $69. This is another AKVIS product that I can recommend not only for its ease of use but for the quality of results.  Tutorials and practice images are available on the Akvis web site too.

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