SmartFix

SmartFix

The SmartFix tool is one of the most sophisticated image analyzing and correction tools of CodedColor. This Tool can be applied on almost any picture, as it leaves good pictures untouched. Also, it is independent of monitor settings, so you don't have to worry about a badly calibrated monitor. Try SmartFix on any picture you think is already "perfect" - you will be surprised.

The following corrections are included in the SmartFix algorithm. They are only applied if necessary:

Stretch RGB channels

Adjust the Saturation of the colors

Adjust Shadows and Hilights

Bring details to light using a Smart Flash

These corrections will work well for most of your pictures. However, because of the smart flash, you may not want to use it in some cases, such as sunsets or highly contrasted portraits.

Note, that when the smart flash needs to be applied, the whole process can be noticeably slower because of the complex analysis involved.

SmartFix sensitivity

These sliders change the intensity of the 3 main SmartFix operations. Decrease the values, if you frequently produce noise, artefacts or high contrast in the resulting images. Remember however, that every image reacts differently to the SmartFix algorithm, and that only series of similar images (under same lighting situations) lead to good results with the same settings. The batch processing dialog, for instance, allows SmartFix corrections to multiple images at once, and this is where the sensitivity values should be carefully adapted.

Example

In the example below, a slightly foggy sky lead to overall washed out colors. Even though the sun was present (as seen by the shadows), the colors don't look very vibrant. By automatically stretching the histogram, contrast was improved and the gray color stain in the walls was removed. This becomes clear when looking at the top left wall, which already has a distinct satellite dish shadow, but now also reflects the sunlight correctly. Also, the meadows in the back appear more "sunny", and the clothes on the line have gained in color vibrancy.

Also have a look at what we did to this picture in the Fill Bucket topic.

Before

After

See also the Cloning example, which incorporates 2 further steps to dramatically improve an image.

Related Topics

Since the SmartFix tool causes noticeable (yet defensive) improvement in almost any picture, we have also added it to the Batch Conversion utility.

Before/After Tutorials