Ashampoo Red Ex — Complete Review and Features Overview

Ashampoo Red Ex — Tips and Tricks for Better ResultsAshampoo Red Ex is a tool designed to remove red-eye and other color casts from photos quickly and with minimal fuss. This article collects practical tips, workflow strategies, and lesser-known tricks to help you get cleaner, more natural-looking results while saving time and preserving image quality.

1. Understand what Ashampoo Red Ex does best

Ashampoo Red Ex specializes in detecting and correcting red-eye and similar color artifacts in portraits. It works best on clear, well-exposed photos where the eye whites and pupils are distinguishable from surrounding skin tones. For images with extreme highlights, heavy motion blur, or very small eyes, manual touch-ups may still be necessary.

2. Start with the highest-quality source image

Always edit from the best possible original:

Use the highest-resolution photo available to preserve detail.
Avoid heavy compression (low-JPEG quality), which makes corrections less natural.
If you have RAW files, convert them to a high-quality TIFF or high-quality JPEG before running corrections.

3. Make basic exposure and color corrections first

Perform global adjustments before red-eye removal:

Correct overall exposure and contrast so pupils and whites are more distinct.
Fix white balance to remove color casts that might confuse the automatic detection.
Remove strong highlights or lens flares that could interfere with accurate detection.

4. Use automatic detection, then refine manually

Ashampoo Red Ex’s automatic mode is fast and often accurate, but don’t rely on it alone.

Run automatic detection to catch obvious cases quickly.
Inspect each corrected face at 100% zoom to ensure the tool didn’t darken irises or oversaturate surrounding skin.
Use manual tools to adjust any missed or overcorrected areas.

5. Tweak the correction strength

Rather than applying a single, strong correction:

Use subtle adjustments to preserve natural eye texture.
If the software offers an intensity or strength slider, start low and increase until the red-eye is neutralized without flattening the eye’s natural color.

6. Preserve catchlights and iris detail

Catchlights (reflections in the eye) and iris patterns make eyes look alive.

If the tool darkens or removes catchlights, restore them by painting back highlights on a new layer in your image editor.
For hollow or flattened irises after correction, use a low-opacity brush to reintroduce texture and color.

7. Use feathered selections when masking

When you mask corrections manually:

Apply feathering (soft edges) to avoid hard, obvious borders between corrected and uncorrected areas.
Feathering helps blend the fix into surrounding skin and sclera (eye white) for a seamless look.

8. Combine Red Ex with local adjustments

Pair red-eye fixes with these local edits for more natural portraits:

Slightly brighten the sclera with a soft, low-opacity brush to counter any grayish tint.
Add a subtle color boost or sharpening to the iris to restore vibrancy.
Use dodge and burn techniques sparingly to recreate depth in the eye.

9. Check for color spill and surrounding skin tones

Red-eye correction can sometimes affect adjacent skin tones.

Zoom out and check the full face after editing to ensure there’s no unnatural warmth or desaturation around the eyes.
Use selective color or HSL tools to correct any spill without touching the iris.

10. Batch process similar photos, but review each one

If you have multiple shots from the same scene:

Use batch processing to save time, especially for weddings or events.
After batch corrections, quickly scan each image at 100% to catch errors the automatic process might have made.

11. Work non-destructively

Preserve original files by:

Editing on duplicate layers or saving corrected images as new files.
If Ashampoo Red Ex integrates with an editor that supports layers, use layer masks so you can tweak corrections later.

12. Use keyboard shortcuts and workflow optimization

Speed up repetitive tasks:

Learn Ashampoo Red Ex or your host app’s shortcuts for zooming, switching tools, and accepting corrections.
Create a standard workflow checklist: global corrections → automatic red-eye → manual refine → local retouches → final review.

13. Test different algorithms or modes

If Ashampoo Red Ex provides multiple detection or correction algorithms:

Try each on a few sample images to identify which handles your typical problems best (e.g., flash portraits vs ambient-light shots).
Save presets when available so you can apply preferred settings quickly.

14. Fine-tune for different eye colors

Different iris colors can react differently to correction:

Brown and dark irises need less desaturation; light irises (blue/green) may require gentler adjustments to avoid a washed-out look.
When in doubt, err on the side of subtlety—small changes are less noticeable than overcorrections.

15. Final quality checks

Before exporting:

Inspect the eyes at 100% and at the final output size (social, print, web).
Check on multiple monitors or devices if color consistency is critical.
Export in the appropriate color space (sRGB for web, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB for professional print workflows).

Example workflow (step-by-step)

Open the highest-quality image copy.
Perform global exposure and white-balance corrections.
Run Ashampoo Red Ex automatic detection.
Zoom to 100% and refine missed/overcorrected areas with manual tools.
Restore catchlights and iris texture if needed on a separate layer.
Make subtle local adjustments to sclera and surrounding skin.
Run a final check at output size and export.

When to skip automated red-eye removal

Creative edits that intentionally color eyes (e.g., stylized portraits).
Images where reflections or artistic lighting make automatic correction likely to fail.
Extremely small or out-of-focus eyes where manual painting produces better results.

Troubleshooting common problems

Over-darkened irises: reduce correction strength or paint back texture on a new layer.
Grayish sclera: brighten with a low-opacity white brush and desaturate any residual red.
Halo or hard edges: increase feathering or soften the layer mask.

Useful companion tools

A general photo editor (Photoshop, GIMP, Affinity Photo) for layering and fine retouches.
Noise reduction tools if correcting high-ISO images.
Sharpening tools to recover micro-detail in the iris after correction.

Conclusion

Using Ashampoo Red Ex effectively is about balancing automation with careful manual refinement. Start with clean, well-exposed images, use automatic detection for speed, then fine-tune strength, preserve natural highlights and textures, and check results at 100% before exporting. With a few workflow habits—feathered masks, non-destructive layers, and subtle local adjustments—you’ll achieve fast, natural-looking eye corrections across large batches or single portraits.