If you've got a few special photos that you intend to blow up or use for something important, it's always a good idea to retouch them slightly to optimize their appearance.
If you do this with Photoshop, then expect a steep learning curve because you'll be fiddling around for hours with filters and other industry standard enhancement tools. However, if you're looking for something that can do a basic job with the minimum of fuss and ease of use, then you should take a look at Lightbox Free Image Editor. Lightbox Free Image Editor used to be a bit of an ugly duckling interface wise but that's all changed in version 2.0 which sees it have a complete interface overhaul which gives it the feel of a real professional retouching application. In addition, the Help section has been vastly expanded, a handy Photoshop style Color Changer added and the masking features is more intuitive and easy to use compared to previous versions.
Lightbox Free Image Editor only offers you the most basic retouching functions such as crop, resize and red-eye removal. gives you is over brightness, shadows, color and saturation of images. For a fee however, you can upgrade to LightBox Plus which features cloning options, smart contrast tools and many more professional level tools. Whichever you use however, you're guaranteed some pretty impressive results. Finding the right adjustments to make can be a case trial and error although Lightbox Free Image Editor does offer "Auto Balance" and "Smart Fill Light Options". It also automatically removes red eye and can also add borders to your images and trim fuzzy edges or annoying objects.
Lightbox Free Image Editor is a powerful but simple solution for those that need to optimise their photos with professional results without having to learn or pay for professional programs.
