AKVIS Retoucher
                                    (An Adobe Photoshop Compatible plug-in)
                                                      www.akvis.com
                                    Reviewed by Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG

 

Reviewed by Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG

AKVIS…..remember this name. I have mentioned it numerous times at our meetings and demonstrated their products at my Graphics SIG. AKVIS has a line of Photoshop compatible plug-ins that are designed to repair…retouch, enhance, and a do a host of other improvements to your photos, old and new.

Retoucher repairs and restores damaged photos. It does so with a few simple steps that yield amazing results. I have used many methods to restore photos and this one was moved to the top of my list of ‘must haves’ in the repair department.

Due to the wide variety of damage that happens to photos over the years, you may need to use a combination of tools to complete fixing extensive damage. You can use the tools found in your image editor or combine them with other plug-ins from AKVIS. How far you go will depend on the desired results. You may find that by taking the added time to do extra touching up will give you excellent results.

What we all seek when approaching restoration is something that delivers what it promises and isn’t difficult to work with. Enter AKVIS Retoucher……apply a selection to the damaged area, launch the plug-ins interface, click the arrow to begin the repair, assess the process after if finishes, save or discard. It’s just about that simple! Once you accept the changes, you then have the option to use Photoshop’s tools to tweak any necessary minor adjustments as I mentioned previously. You may find this necessary in heavily damaged photos. It is worth taking the extra steps when you see just how well the fine tuning works. A slight blend with the blur tool and a touchup with the healing brush usually fixes any left over remnants of damage. Work with a light hand so that you don’t exaggerate the repaired areas and call attention to them.

This damaged photo of a baby is from the AKVIS selection of images they make available with their tutorials on their web site. They have excellent tutorials and have downloadable manuals available as well. I strongly recommend taking advantage of what they offer. They go out of their way to help you get a good understanding of how to use each of their plug-ins and get the best results possible. Hopefully you are able to see the lines and damage to the photo.

Using AKVIS Retoucher with Photoshop is even easier when it comes to applying the selections. The most difficult part of preparing for the restoration is applying selections to the damages areas. In Photoshop, you click on the Quick Mask Mode button, choose a hard edged brush or the pencil, and then draw a fine line over the lines of damage. After all the lines are covered, click back to the regular mode which will then reveal all the selected areas, invert the selections so that only the lines painted over are selected and then open Retoucher from the Filter menu.  Clicking on the green arrow button begins the retouching and as it works you see the red lines disappear as each defect beneath them is repaired. When the process finished, you either click on the “check mark” button to accept the repairs and return to Photoshop or click the red button to reject the repairs and return to Photoshop.

This example shows the baby’s photo with the selections painted on using the Quick Mask Mode in Photoshop. If you aren’t familiar with this option or where to find the button, it located directly beneath the foreground and background color options (black and white color squares shown in the photo). You will see two buttons there, the one on the right applies the Quick Mask Mode and the one of the left will return you to the normal setting.

I have a couple of photos that I use as my benchmark test of how well a plug-in works. They are old family photos that are very heavily damaged. I opened the one shown here, used Retoucher, then sat back in awe as I watched it go to work on my photo. I had previously used this photo with other repair applications and it was a lengthy process…not always perfect but the photo would come out better than it was when I began. Retoucher seemed to work much better and faster than other products I tired. When I first used Retoucher, I used it with Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro and I did the selections in the repair a few at a time. I was looking for accuracy and I didn’t know for sure if it would handle all the damage at once…..it does. What made me like it immediately was the quality of the repairs. Selections have to be applied with a fine hand….not a large coverage but one that just covers the area…..this way when the repair samples from a small section and doesn’t leave big streaks or other detectable markings.  (Repaired and color corrected version of this image follow.)

I used Photoshop in this example. The process is much easier using Photoshop. The Quick Mask Mode lets you draw the red lines over all the affected areas which I find easier to see and do. I only drew one line using the Quick Mask Mode but you can see the red line running the length of the image clearly enough to see what I am doing.

The Retoucher dialog box is opened in this image and the repair process working. The selected area, the red line, is being removed as the damaged area is repaired.  The progress bar across the top show how much of the repair is completed.

Across the top the icons are for Zoom – zoom in, right click to zoom out;  a hand to move the image, the green arrow button to begin the retouching, the progress bar,  the check mark button (to accept the changes), the wrench tool button which is the advanced options, the language button (English here), the “About” or Information, the Help button, and the red button the declines the changes.

The images above show the photo in the final stages. On the left the lines and heavy markings have been removed and on the right the photo was color corrected to restore it to the original color.

I said above to remember the name Akvis….you will hear me mention it often. I find their plug-ins work great, do what the say they will, and make the photo repair process a lot simpler. I recommend that those who are looking for a plug-in to help them repair photos visit the AKVIS web site, www.akvis.com, and download their trial products and try them. Retoucher sells for $87.00 The AKVIS web site has instructions for using Retoucher with Adobe Photoshop, and Corel’s  Photo Paint and (Jasc) Paint Shop Pro.

More examples from AKVIS. Some photos repaired using both Retoucher and Photoshop tools for finishing touches.