PhotoFlair
PhotoFlair can improve incorrectly exposed photographs with just one click. It may sound incredible, but this underrated product is the real thing: a technology based on the insights of the late Dr. Edwin Lang, the inventor of Polaroid photography. He rightly supposed that color perception is a combination of the eye's retina ("retin-") and the brain's visual cortex ("-ex") and he called his theory of two-channel processing the Retinex theory.
Years passed before NASA developed retinex algorithms that simulated the effects of Dr. Land's experimental Retinex filters. These algorithms, which have been used to enhance space images, are now marketed by a commercial firm as the PhotoFlair package. It is ideal for restoring detail in old photographs that have been digitally scanned, while also having forensic applications, such as enhancing images from surveillance tapes.
Comment
TruView's samples gallery is one of the most convincing demonstrations by a vendor of image enhancement software. Anybody who is in the business of restoring old photographs should definitely consider acquiring this software.
Besides Retinex, the software's other features include a levels dialog for adjusting red, green and blue channels and a composite channel, histogram equalization, gamma, sharpen, blur, despeckle, edge detection, 3 types of image resizing algorithm (pixel replication, gaussian, and cubic interpolation), cropping, grayscale conversion and image rotation.
Tech info
- Plugs into: Photoshop; Premiere (Windows only)
- OS: Windows 2000 onward; Mac OS X
- Price level: (standalone) $70; (Photoshop plugin) $40; (Premiere Plugin) $95
TruView Imaging Company
Based in Hampton, Virginia, TruView Imaging Company markets the Retinex technology for forensic, medical, remote sensing and general photographic applications.
From the same vendor:
- (standalone and plugin versions of PhotoFlair, inc. Premiere plugin for video)
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