arrgh the demon eyes.

March 26, 2008 7:28 PM

Excruciatingly simple redeye removal on Windows?

1. I don't have a Windows machine to test for myself.
2. Going home tomorrow and want to find something.
3. Think Grandparents, (ok it's mom, but I'm like 40-ish), so at least think older non-computer people.
4. Tired of getting pictures of little ones in the family that always have Demon Eyes.
5. Photography tips probably won't help. I'm looking for the simplest batch style, maybe draw a rectangle around the eyes and click "Fix" and "Save" type of program.

posted by zengargoyle to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Picasa is very easy to use and has a red-eye removal feature.
posted by Memo at 7:31 PM on March 26, 2008

I'll check that out, but I couldn't get them to switch from their ISP email to GMail... too complex and new.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:42 PM on March 26, 2008

From what I remember, Vista has a built-in red-eye remover, as part of their image viewer/editor. My parents use it quite a bit: it's just like you said, you select the red-eye tool, draw a rectangle and bang! they're gone.
I do not know if this is on xp though.
posted by ddaavviidd at 7:48 PM on March 26, 2008

You don't need to be a gmail user to use picasa - in fact, your grandparents might find the picture emailing capabilities of picasa to be quite useful as well - it will work with your default email client.
posted by davey_darling at 8:04 PM on March 26, 2008

Yes, Picasa is great and very simple.
posted by LarryC at 8:17 PM on March 26, 2008

I have a Mac machine at the moment but by far my favorite quick-and-dirty free image editing program for Windows is Irfanview. There's a very simple tutorial (literally like 2 steps) on how to remove red eye using Irfanview here. It definitely seems like what you're looking for (draw a box around the eyes, click a button a few times).
posted by peacheater at 8:48 PM on March 26, 2008

Brand spankin' new from Adobe: Free, web-based Photoshop Express.
posted by sageleaf at 10:11 PM on March 26, 2008

I use the Microsoft Office Tool, called "Microsoft Office Picture Manager", for exactly this. If they have Office installed, this might be the easiest option.
posted by The Toad at 1:07 AM on March 27, 2008

I haven't checked yet, but I think people are missing the "Excruciating simple" part.

These people use preconfigured by ISP Outlook Express. They play solitare and install games from Wallmart for the kids. They've never used a word processor of any sort. It's a miracle that they can even get pictures from the camera onto the PC (I guess there's a wizard that says: "click yes to upload pictures".)

Irfanview sounds the best at the moment. No Web 2.0 stuff, they don't get it... they couldn't remember a password if they had to. My sister has to come and update their AV stuff and clean the machine every couple of weeks.

I'm really looking for something drop dead simple where you drag a new folder of pictures from the camera over an icon and hit 'Skip' or 'Fix" (and maybe 'Save').

They can barely google, they don't login to websites. The 8 year old running around has more computer savvy. It's one or two clicks or they're screwed.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:28 AM on March 27, 2008

I really really like Xnview, it is similar to Irfanview but it has a really simple red eye removal tool that works really well. You just window the general area near one eye, click red eye correction, repeat on 2nd eye, save, Done! other photo stuff like cropping and re-sizing is easy too, and its free!
posted by Wezzlee at 5:10 AM on March 27, 2008

Seconding and thirding Picasa, it IS excrutiatingly simple. It is not an online program. Download it for free from google. My Dad can use it, and does!
posted by sdevans at 5:29 AM on March 27, 2008

Ah, I just knew about Picasa web stuff my sister uses to organize her photos. Didn't know there was a standalone program. Sorry everybody I'll give it a shot.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:26 AM on March 27, 2008