REVIEW

 By: Allen M. Gottfried
Airbrush Action, Digital Media

ALIEN SKIN – IMAGE DOCTOR2

Here in the Airbrush Action Digital Media and Production departments we are constantly seeking new innovative, easy to use and affordable software or plug-ins to use to make our lives easier and that of our fellow artists.

Our friends at Alien Skin Software recently let us demo their new release of Image Doctor 2, a Photoshop Plug-in that makes photo manipulation and retouching a breeze.  

Now some of the plug-ins and filter I have used pose no real need to purchase them or even use them to perform a few basic tricks. This package however is indeed worthy of the purchase price. If you are an artist working a variety of photos, old, new ones that are good but have a minor mistake or artifact that is making you not want to use it, then Image Doctor 2 is for you.

I went online to see what the program was capable of and I was impressed but as always I had to try it for myself. I loaded up a few pictures from our stock photo library including ones with people, structures and landscapes to try a plethora of different types of images.

The plug-in gives your five main tools to work with. Blemish Concealer, Dust and Scratch Remover, JPEG Repair, Skin Softener and Smart Fill. If you are working to restore old photos this package would be a wise investment without a doubt with the advanced controls to cover up many problematic artifacts. JPEG repair is a great tool too for anyone that is working with jagged images that might need some help. The coolest feature of this package had to be Smart Fill. This plug-in examines your photo and you can make selection much like the Photoshop clone/stamp tool but this thing is amazing. It analyzes the surrounding pixels and determines how to cover up those evil mistakes.  I was able to take cables out pictures, removed a duck from a pond picture completely and had some fun manipulating some friend’s photos too.

How can this program work for the airbrush artist? Well, if you scan or photograph your work this could be a great tool to aide in making some easy or sophisticated adjustment to make the picture better, cleaner and present a sellable final product. Say, if you have a bad background, a scratch on the scan, or any other blemish you need to cover up. The program is really made for the digital artist but thinking outside the box any artists that uses Photoshop to correct art, pictures or more can benefit from this program.

Alien Skin offers a demo of this product and I highly recommend that you check it out! www.alienskin.com

This sample is nothing spectacular but it took
only seconds to finish and it was done with a preset.
If you take time and use all the correct settings
you can work some real magic...and save time too!