Image Doctor 2

Let’s face it, if you’ve viewed photos on your computer that either you’ve taken or others have placed online for the public to admire, chances are you’ve seen some areas in those photos which could use some improvement. It could be to the image quality, the composition, secondary elements, or even the primary subject itself. Now it’s easy to look at someone else’s photo and criticize it for its faults, but think twice next time and consider how much effort it may take to correct all of your nitpickings. Perfecting an image digitally requires the time, the skills, and the right tools for the job. Without all of these, well, you can now understand why that pixelated snapshot of grandma with the clothesline in the background wound up on the internet.

Enter Alien Skin Software’s Image Doctor 2 plug-in software for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements. It is a highly capable tool that can solve the problems mentioned above (and more) while also reducing the amount of time and skill needed to complete the corrective tasks. Imagine being able to achieve quality results faster, with more control, using a very easy to understand interface that extends beyond the capabilities of your image editor. Image Doctor 2 is the second incarnation of Alien Skin’s plug-in filter set designed to correct skin/facial features, remove unwanted objects, and repair defects in older scanned photos or improperly compressed JPG image files.

I’ve had the pleasure of putting Image Doctor 2 through its paces recently and I assure you, no nurse is required. This plug-in for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is a joy to use and makes quick work of tasks that require too many extra steps in the native software application. Installing the plug-in is pretty straight forward once you download it directly from the Alien Skin website, here: http://www.alienskin.com/ You can try it out by downloading the 14-day trial or you may purchase the full version online and download it immediately- you’ll receive your license key at the same time. After downloading and launching the installer it will locate your Adobe application during the Host Selection part of the install process and place it where your software can find it. Be sure to have Photoshop/Photoshop Elements closed when you run the installer so the next time you launch either of them Image Doctor 2 will be readily available.

Once you launch your image editor you’ll find the Alien Skin Image Doctor 2 selection within your plug-ins/filters menu item. What you’ll notice after moving your cursor to the plug-in is a fly-out that gives you 5 distinct filter choices which include the following:

• · Blemish Concealer – for skins and other surfaces which exhibit abnormal or unwanted colorations
• · Dust and Scratch Remover – to clean up the signs of age or for more precise removal of small imperfections which aren’t part of a continuous tonal area
• · JPEG Repair – helps reduce the “jaggies” associated with highly compressed JPG photos, can smooth out areas or add some texture where needed
• · Skin Softener – reduces or eliminates wrinkles and subtle imperfections
• · Smart Fill– a better way to remove larger areas or objects and replacing them with the existing background

The moment I installed Image Doctor 2 I knew exactly what photo I was going to test it with first, and I did so immediately after installation. It was uncanny how I had just the day before struggled with and dreaded the task of having to remove power lines from a photo I’d taken recently. I had tried using the native application’s clone and masking features but never achieved the effective results I needed without repeatedly trying new settings over and over and still not being happy with the outcome. With Image Doctor 2 at my command it was clear from the start I was going to use the Smart Fill filter to rid myself of the ugly power lines.

All but the JPEG Repair filter require you to select an area to affect prior to running the filter. I found that when making my first pass at removing one of the power lines in my photo, the Doctor nailed it dead-on and gave me the results I had longed for. I proceeded to work over the rest of the image and did encounter some sections where the filter needed more precise adjustments to yield the quality, random textures I was looking for, but I found I could take a preset (included with each filter) and manually adjust it enough to get the object removed and replaced by my background texture. All adjustments are made with traditional sliders and there are multiple ways to view the resultant change in a preview window before committing to the edit. I found the labels assigned to each of the adjustments to be plain and obvious in their description, which meant I spent less time on trial an error. It’s nice to find a tool that isn’t cryptic or that requires understanding a complex term in order to know why you want to change the slider. And even if you aren’t sure of a filter’s setting, the Help menu is right there within the interface and directs you to content specific searches for the words you enter or you can view an entire PDF manual for the plug-in as well as jump to Alien Skin’s support web site for more answers.

Once I finished cleaning up my photo I had to stop and smile – I did it all in one sitting, and without frustration. At that moment I knew I would be disappointed if I had to fix a photo in the future without the help of Image Doctor 2. I did later make use of all of the filters in the set on different photos, finding the Blemish Concealer and Skin Softener to be valuable in portrait types of images, while the Dust and Scratch Remover was definitely an aid in cleaning up some older scans I had. Although I typically maintain my JPG compression at the higher quality end, after loading up a highly compressed photo and applying edits using the JPEG Repair filter, I was impressed with what could be accomplished when there isn’t a lot of detail information there to begin with. It turned the unacceptable into a reasonable rendition which, if the corrections had been attempted using Photoshop’s native options, would take much longer to achieve and let’s face it- nobody wants to spend any more time on fixing a photo than necessary.

I haven’t used the original version of this plug-in but I imagine the current version adds improvements in performance and features. There appears to be 64-bit support for host applications which are running in this mode, so additional gains in speed of processing should be seen in where available.

As an aspiring amateur photographer and computer graphics fan I can readily state that Alien Skin’s Image Doctor 2 plug-in is a valuable piece of software for anyone who’s ever taken an imperfect photo. And even then, if your shot is spot-on but you need to enhance the features of the subject matter, you’ll appreciate the speed and ease at which this can be accomplished using the Image Doctor 2 product. Overall I was very pleased with the effectiveness of Image Doctor 2 and would definitely recommend it for anyone who finds they are struggling with their image editor or who wants an easy to use means of touching up difficult areas in a photo. I look forward to checking out additional plug-ins from Alien Skin in the future, and I expect Image Doctor 2 will be a tool I look to use on a regular basis. Overall I would rate this product 5 out of 5 stars.

Publisher: Alien Skin

Platforms: Windows (XP or later) on Intel Pentium 4 or better

Mac(OS X 10.5 or later) on Intel processor

Application compatibility: Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later, any image editing software compatible with CS3 or later plug-ins

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