Dustkleen Review

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DustKleen by Image Trends is a program that assists in the removal of unsightly dust that appears on scanned photographs.  Photos that look fine in person come up with all sorts of dust and lines after they are scanned.  This program is helpful in removing dirt, mold, scratches, blotches or other unwanted artifacts from your scanned photos. 
How it works:  Like a scratch remover tool, it pulls the colors from the pixels surrounding the one being removed.  But Dustkleen offers more options than regular Photoshop scratch removal tools.  A highlighter tool allows you to see what will be removed.  A zoom screen that allows you to view what you are working on very close range.   It also offers a wide array of variances in brush size and strength.  You can literally sweep across a sky background with the kleen brush, removing unwanted dust and blotches, or you can use a detail brush to mine out very small spots. 
BEFORE:

DustKleen will start by automatically scanning your photograph to remove any dust.  If the dust and scratches are too similar to the photos color and appearance it doesn’t pick it up.  However, DustKleen also comes with a manual mode and a brush to allow you to go in and directly hit dust items. 

You have the option of having a highlight on the photo so you can see where you have brushed to remove the dust. 

Just turn off the highlighter to see the results! 
You also have the ability to see the before and after images.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The automatic feature of Dustkleen did remove the dust, (similar to regular Photoshop tools such as the dust filter and healing brush), but the most success came from doing it manually with the brush.  It is a stand-alone program, not a filter or plug-in though, so it is applicable to anyone and not limited to users of specific graphics programs. 

Recommending Dustkleen would depend on the user and the amount of photos you would be cleaning up in this manner.  You can achieve the same results and maybe more by using the dust filter and healing brush in Photoshop.  But for those who do not have a program with dust removal capabilities, or those who have multiple pictures to scan and clean up, this would be a very helpful program.  Since it is easier to use than some Photoshop filters and tools, for photo clean up on multiple photo projects, Dustkleen would be a good choice. 

Other before and after photos: