ONE CLICK TUNER This happens to almost all of us-the photos clicked on a holiday looked fantastic on the digital camera's tiny LCD display, but when they are downloaded and viewed on a PC they look too dark and fuzzy. But don't be disheartened as this is where Ashampoo Photo Optimizer comes in-it is designed to improve and transform your images with a single click of the mouse.

Features
Things have gotten easier with this version of Photo Optimizer. Since it automatically recognizes the main image folders on your PC including 'My Pictures' and comes
with improved support for direct transfer from digital cameras, it really does make the process of tuning images a single-click experience. The user interface targets novices, with a tree-structured navigation panel on the left, a display panel of images on top, a thumbnail preview in the center and, of course, the 'Optimize' button on the right completing the main window.

Similar to the Windows Picture Viewer program, it also incorporates rotation buttons and a toggle to switch between the original and modified versions of the image. The Advanced mode consists of three slider bar controls for' Brightness', 'Contrast' and 'Gamma'. If you ever go wrong, simply hit 'Reset' to undo your changes. Thus, you never have to get stuck with any mistakes. Another new feature is the fact that backups of the original files are stored in a central location and not in the same directories as the originals, and can therefore be easily accessed.



Performance
The program is really quite intuitive-it's a boon for amateur photographers since the tidy interface is exactly what it should be. The program clearly displays the folder structure of the PC in the left column which helps one to access the individual directories instantly. The 'Optimize All' and 'Undo Optimize All' buttons handle the batch processing feature of the program.This enables the user to optimize image folders and large photo collections with a single click.

One of the new innovations is the option to enhance a photo several times in a row. In most of the cases where the test was conducted, which was simply hitting the 'Optimize' button repeatedly, we obtained a passable optimization of a photo image in just one go. Repeating the test did not produce any different results.
The strength of the tool lies in editing poorly exposed pictures-it brightens
dark areas and adjusts well-illuminated ones-this is analogous to the 'Brightness/ Contrast' controls in Photoshop. The tool corrects colors only automatically though and that too not always satisfactorily-so if you are looking for something more complicated, you need to get yourself a specialized image or photo editing program.

VERDICT: Delivers good results for the purposes of enhancing photos. However, since manual photo correction features, such as 'Remove Red Eye', are missing, it loses out. FOR: Fast and efficient photo optimization with a single mouse click. AGAINST: Very few features for photo optimization, no red eye correction.