Is there an Image Doctor in the House?

Alien Skin's Image Doctor 2 is designed to fix problems with images. In general, the plug-in for Photoshop and other applications that use the Photoshop standard accomplishes everything it claims to but advances made by Adobe in the built-in Photoshop features may contraindicate your employment of this doctor.

As with most Alien Skin applications, you'll start with a dual-screen before-after view (left-right, top-bottom, diagonal, or whole image) and the ability to view the full image, zoom in on part of the image, view at 100% enlargement, or enlarge beyond 100% to see fine details. You'll also have the ability to change each of the individual settings used by the specific filter that you select. Image Doctor offers the following:

 

Click for a larger view.Here's an old (pre 1990) low resolution JPG that I found on my hard drive. The first image here shows the factory default settings.

 Click a small image for a larger view. Click the larger view to close it. 

Click for a larger view.Here I've modified the deblocking and blur settings to improve the overall image. Old JPG images from cameras such as the (deservedly) much maligned Sony Mavica will never be good but the Image Doctor can make them less bad.

Click for a larger view.The default settings for a low-quality image increase the deblocking value dramatically.

Click for a larger view.Here's the before image. Notice that it's a bit "crunchy".

Click for a larger view.The after image, although not as sharp, has lost the objectionable crunchiness that's apparent in the original.

Click for a larger view.Here's a grade-school photo of my father-in-law. The image has several scratches and blemishes that I've circled in the image at the right.

Click for a larger view.Image Doctor 2 has taken care of the 3 problems that I noted above and now I'd like it to remove one more mark.

Click for a larger view.Done.

Click for a larger view.I have two copies of this image and the other copy doesn't have the physical damage shown here. Nonetheless, I thought it would be worthwhile to see what Image Doctor could do.

Click for a larger view.Remarkable! Yes, there are still some areas that would need additional attention, but this is an astonishing improvement over the original.

Here are some additional examples provided by Alien Skin:

Click for a larger view.Although cleaning blemishes is something that Photoshop can accomplish on its own, Alien Skin's approach makes the process faster and easier. If you're a portrait photographer, this would be a very useful capability.

Click for a larger view.When we look at people, we generally ignore the shine as seen in the left image. What we see is more like the image on the right. Alien Skin's Image Doctor does an outstanding job of controlling shine and glare.

Click for a larger view.Mom loves the photo but hates the tat. A small operation by Image Doctor removes the tatoo. This could easily be achieved by Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill feature.

Click for a larger view.Correcting scratches and dust spots is also something that Photoshop can accomplish on its own but Image Doctor does a good job.

4 CatsSome of Image Doctor's Features Are Overshadowed by Photoshop

If you're using the current version (CS5.1) of Photoshop or even the previous CS4 version, Image Doctor brings little to the operating room unless you're a portrait photographer. But if you're still using an earlier version of Photoshop or a less-capable program such as Corel Photo-Paint, you'll add some impressive new features. It'll be interesting to see what Alien Skin Software does with Image Doctor 3.
For more information, visit the Alien Skin website.

Easy Website Mistakes to Avoid

I recently wrote an article called “How to Keep Website Visitors from Returning. Ever.” Although TechByter Worldwide isn't a website/podcast for website designers, it does reach a lot of people who create websites in the SOHO (small office/home office) market segment. So I thought that article might be of interest.

No single “right way” exists to design a website because every website is different and every website is designed to serve a different audience. But many ways exist to design a website badly. Consider these as ways to annoy visitors and ensure that they’ll never come back.

Nobody intentionally creates a bad website but it’s easy to do. The first rule to keep in mind is never to do something just because you can do something. If you’re running a humor site, people come to the site for humor; otherwise, they’re not looking for funny business. Think you can lie about something (or fib or obfuscate)? Think again. Maybe you’ll fool some people once but long-term relationships aren’t built on prevarications.

Here’s a short list of errors that are easy to make because they seemed like good ideas at the time. They’re guaranteed not to make friends or impress your visitors.

It’s important to consider your website from the visitor’s perspective. In fact, doing so is the only way to ensure that you’ll get it right.

A Book, Everywhere

When I bought a Kindle from Amazon, I expected to use it for technical documentation but found that I was reading far more fiction and non-technical non-fiction on the device and that I used it only occasionally for technical documentation. Then I found that I needed a copy of Microsoft's Manual of Style for technical writers. My choices were to pay more than $100 for a copy of the out-of-print book or about $20 for a Kindle version. Easy decision. I can read the book on my Kindle, on my office computer, on the netbook I keep at the office, on my home desktop computer, or on a notebook computer. I can see now that my initial thought of using the Kindle for technical documentation was a good one but that it was only part of the equation.

Amazon has developed reader software that runs on Windows and Mac operating systems. Linux users can install the reader under WINE ("WINE is not an emulator") and the application runs on many other handheld devices such as those from Apple and Android.

What this means is that you can purchase a Kindle version of a reference book (usually the price is lower than the price for a paper book) and then install it on a Kindle, an office computer, an office netbook, a home desktop, and a notebook.

Click for a larger view.I've decided to learn more about Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010, which is a development platform for several languages (Visual Basic, C#, C++, F#, Visual Basic for Applications, and more.) In other words, this is not a trivial undertaking.

I decided to buy Professional Visual Studio 2010 as a Kindle book so that I can use it on my Kindle ...

Click for a larger view.... as well as on my office computer, an office netbook, my home desktop, and a notebook.

If I'm really desperate, I'll be able to read the book on my Ipod Touch.

But I don't expect to be that desperate.

Trade Offs?

As an old curmudgeonly guy, I expect to prefer printed books and that's generally accurate. With a printed book, I can write notes to myself in the margin. I can flip instantly from the table of contents or index to the page that addresses my current interest. I can leave Post-It notes throughout the book. With the electronic version, I can do none of these.

But the electronic version makes it possible for me to have the book on a Kindle and on an office computer, an on an office netbook, and on my home desktop, and on and a notebook. The electronic version makes it possible for me to have access to the book wherever I am and without carrying around a gigantic, heavy book.

This is a generational thing.

My parents wouldn't have and (surprising to me) some members of my generation don't trust bank ATMs. A surprising number of people in my generation still won't pay bills, make purchases, or deal with their bank online. Printing a website to read it, although ecologically irresponsible, is something that I understand.

As much as I like paper copies of technical documentation, I'm now sold on the advantages of electronic manuals.

Short Circuits

Netflix Pushes Video Streaming

Netflix announced this week that prices are going up and that they're going down. Those of us who subscribe to the 2-DVD plan can have 2 physical DVDs at any time and unlimited streaming. It's probably no surprise that physical DVDs are a lot more expensive than streaming: The discs must be warehoused, picked, packed, shipped, received, unpacked, and returned to stock. Then the process repeats. Streaming eliminates discs, warehouses, and the people required to pick, pack, ship, and receive so you can guess what the company's long-term plans are.

Click for a larger view.Netflix plans to separate unlimited DVDs by mail from unlimited streaming. The 2 DVD plan costs $15 per month and those who use that plan have two choices:

The combined plans will be $20 per month, which is a pretty slick way to sock a 33% increase to your customers without telling them it's a 33% increase. "You don't need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs," the message from Netflix says.

I rarely use the streaming service because I prefer the freedom of location provided by DVDs. For me, the decision to drop the streaming component is easy enough even though I use streaming once or twice a month.

The writing is on the screen, though. The cost of DVD-only plans will continue to increase until it reaches a point that some of us are unwilling to pay it. Then we'll switch to a streaming program that will probably continue to increase in price.

Isn't the future exciting?

Google+ Wants to be the New Facebook

Google+ (pronounced "Google Plus") is Google's version of Facebook. So far it doesn't amount to much and it will be interesting to see what users do with it. I became a member this week and already my younger daughter and a few acquaintances are there. MySpace was supplanted by Facebook. Will Facebook be supplanted by Google+?

Click for a larger view.Here's my default Google+ page with photos from some people who have shared images with me (blurred for privacy).

Click for a larger view.Here is a page where I have shared some images from the Columbus Zoo.

Karen Templer (who I don't know) wrote in a post that was linked by someone I do know, "In a lot of ways, I feel this is like the early days of Twitter -- a world still small enough that you can actually check out the profiles of new people you run across, or who've reshared or commented on your posts, and see if their posts are of interest. Of course, the hurdle is Circles. I might go to check out someone and see only an empty posts page, because they've shared everything with Circles I'm not a member of."

When Google releases something new, documentation is usually absent and that's the case with Google+. It's up to users to figure out how things work and maybe to figure out how things should work.

ContactGoogle+ is using the same model as G-mail in that you need to receive an invitation from a current user but there are no apparent restrictions on how many people a user may invite. So if you haven't already received 135 invitations from your closest friends and you'd like one, let me know.