Digital cameras make it easier to just keep the photos you like the best, but they don't guarantee every photo you keep is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Thankfully, every decent photo editing software package includes an "autofix" feature for fixing errant pictures. Those tools are pretty good, but not exacting. They can sometimes save a disaster, but they can rarely elevate a picture to art.

The answer to skillful manipulation of digital images is a dedicated image fixer such as AutoEye 2.0. It's dedicated and designed to do one thing well--adjust color balance, hue, saturation, contrast, brightness, focus, exposure, and other aspects that make up a digital image.

You can use AutoEye 2.0 as a plug-in (an accessory) for Adobe Photoshop, but if you're not using that high-end (and expensive) program it also works separately. Open the image you want to enhance, and then save the changed image in a format you can work with in your standard image editor. Advanced users will appreciate the program's support for layers, a key technique for creative image work. Photoshop users can make changes to several files at once if they use AutoEye 2.0 as a plug-in.

All users will appreciate the program's full-screen previews and its Memory Dot feature, which remembers all of the changes you've made to an image so you can walk back through the changes to get to an earlier version that you might like better. If you develop a set of changes you really like, you can save them as a "preset" and apply them as often as you like to other images.

Some people won't like the program's non-conventional interface, which appears as a series of control modules and which looks very different from the standard Windows or Macintosh control panels that many applications use. But even though the look is a little dated (that's so 2001!) it's easy to understand and to work the enhancement tools. Just slide a button along a bar to increase or decrease an effect, or type in a panel number for the same effect.

Is it worth buying a specialized image-enhancement program? You may find the answer in your own creative desires. For the basic digital photo hobbyist, this program isn't necessary. But for anyone who longs to move from the snapshot universe to the world of artistic expression, AutoEye 2.0 provides an easy-to-follow path.

Pros: Can produce absolutely stunning images from pedestrian digital photos.
Cons: Expensive; costs more than many full-featured digital image software programs.