February 28, 2007 - AKVIS LLC announces the release of AKVIS Retoucher plug-in v.2.5 for Windows and Macintosh. New to version 2.5 of this photo restoration plug-in: compatibility with Windows Vista, new installation and activation method on Macintosh. Upgrade for registered users is free.

Few things in life stir our memories and emotions the way photographs do. Unfortunately, as time goes by, old photographs fade out, get stained, or get otherwise damaged. In order to preserve them, many people try to digitize photos to pass these cherished images on to future generations.

AKVIS Retoucher plug-in restores damaged photographs to optimal condition with minimal effort and amazing results. Surface defects such as scratches, water spots, flakes and stains can be removed automatically, just select the defects and run the program. The wide variety of capabilities are demonstrated at http://akvis.com/en/retoucher/examples-image-restoration.php

Moreover, the software is able to reconstruct the lacking parts of a photo using the information of the surrounding areas. You can, therefore, restore a torn photo or a photo with some parts missing.

AKVIS Retoucher is a handy tool for improving the composition of your photos. You can remove date stamps, logos, small irrelevant details (wires, refuse bins, etc) and even big objects (i.e. people who fell into the shot by accident, cars in the background). If you need to increase the canvas size (from one side or proportionally) to bring the main object into focus, i.e. to center it, AKVIS Retoucher will help you to extend image patterns to the blank areas of the canvas.

New to version 2.5: simplified installation and activation on Macintosh; added compatibility with Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta (Windows and Mac Power PC) and with Adobe Photoshop Elements v.5.; added compatibility with Windows Vista

The application is straightforward and can be used by amateur photographers who have never performed retouching/image restoration before. The program comes with a game-like tutorial, so any person can master the program within minutes.

The full functional trial version of AKVIS Retoucher is available at http://akvis.com

AKVIS Retoucher Plugin is compatible with Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Corel Photo-Paint, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Ulead Photoimpact, Picture Publisher pro and other digital imaging software that supports third-party plugins. The software runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista and on Macintosh Mac OS X 10.4, PowerPC G3 and above.

AKVIS Retoucher sells for $87 USD, downloadable from www.akvis.com . Home users can enjoy the full line of AKVIS plugins in the AKVIS Alchemy bundle (Enhancer, Chameleon, Stamp, Coloriage, Noise Buster, Decorator, Sketch, LightShop and Retoucher) for USD $320 USD, a savings of $343 over purchasing each separately. For business licenses consult the official web-site. One license key allows activating the software on two computers, for example, on a desktop and a laptop.