Easy Editing? Easy.Filter!

Digitizing family history is a difficult task on a lot of levels. Sometimes, though, a tool shows up that makes the task a bit easier. Let's look at one.

The picture of G&G, out of the album and into the scanner, shows its age:

There are many tools out there, both free and otherwise, to improve the image. The Photoshop Elements I use can do many things, but does not do everything I want as easily as I want it to. Easy.Filter Smart Curve, a Photoshop plugin, suits me fine because it adds features not available in my Photoshop Elements, automates some tasks, is FREE, and, most importantly, works well.

When I run G&G's picture through Easy.Filter's automatic mode, I get:

What a huge improvement! It's not perfect, but it looks much better with Easy.Filter and a little effort. That, gentle reader, is what's known as a bargain purchase -- value added with little cost and effort. I didn't learn how to do this overnight, but I tried different tools until I found one that worked well for me. Which is probably another tip.

TIP: Don't be afraid to try different tools until you find one that works well for you.

UPDATE

Dave writes in the comments, "'Gentle reader?' You sound like Steven King..." Actually, I was going for Isaac Asimov, but whatever.