Info: https://www.jpg-illuminator.de/
Download: https://www.jpg-illuminator.de/download.htm
Forum: https://www.digitalfototreff.de/index.p ... twicklern/
Size: 25 MB, fully portable. No settings are written into the registry or into Windows user locations. Everything resides in the exe-folder.
The program is capable of much more than what the name implies. Over the years it has grown in a full-blown photo editor: Perspective correction, sharpening, color manipulation, curves and graduations, repair and clone stamp, BW-conversion, frames and vignettes and captions and watermarks .... — and yes, it still does a great job in lightening up underexposed areas.
What I like most, is the efficient workflow:
- Instead of saving modified files right away, you can optionally let it calculate all rendering afterward, once you have edited whole folders. No need to sit idle and wait for each pic to be processed.
- It always keeps the original file. By default in a subfolder of the original picture location.
- You can bundle settings into "filters", that act as presets. It comes with pre-made filters that you can tweak. Or save your current settings as a filter. Then apply them in various ways via strength sliders. Batch-processing is possible, too.
Biggest hurdle (apart from the German interface): You have to get used to their way of doing things. It does NOT use layers and masks! Sliders and dialogs are packed with clever (but hidden) gems, accessible via right-clicking, Ctlr-clicking etc. at unassuming spots.
cheesy pun, not intended.
— and here comes another Dankeschön (using it as a noun, therefore contracted into one word). To you, for praising my review. And for the link to interface design guidelines. Very interesting read, I could not agree more. Wish every programmer would read this before going off on their own tangents.
