Like many of my fellow photographers, I do not particularly enjoy editing photos and I am always looking for new tools that can help with my editing workflow.
Recently I had the opportunity to test Portrait+ by ArcSoft. It is a simple photo retouching program that uses face detection software to apply various filters to enhance your photographs. The software is available as a download from the ArcSoft website for $179.00 and it has a 30 day free trial. Portrait+ is available as a stand-alone for Windows and Mac and also as a Photoshop Plug-in.
The software allows you to remove blemishes, smooth skin, brighten eyes, remove shine, correct skin tones and manipulate facial features. It has the ability to batch edit as well as detect up to 30 faces in one photo. The ArcSoft website has video tutorials to help you utilize their software complete with information on how to customize your portrait style, how to adjust facial feature points, how to remove blemishes and adjust skin smoothing area and more.
I tried out the tool on a few photos and was impressed by the results. What I liked most were the skin smoothing, eye-brightening, and skin tone features. Honestly, I do not think I would use the enhancement features such as slimming face, enlarging eyes, enlarging nose, because I try to do very natural edits to my images but if a client really wanted me to make these types of adjustments, with this tool I could easily do so.
While Lightroom offers similar editing capabilities, I found that using Portrait+ was a bit easier as far as adjusting skin tone and smoothing skin. The software has built in presets as well as the ability to allow you to manual edit, so you can adjust the intensity of any of the edits. What I think would be ideal is if this was available as a plug-in to Lightroom...(it would be one less step...hint...hint).
Here is an example where I did a slight skin smoothing as well as removed some of the red in her cheeks with the skin tone adjustment. I took a screen shot so you could see the software's interface (very easy to use and intuitive). The adjustments below are very slight but on my screen it is more noticeable.
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| Click on the photos for a better view |
In this example, I did basically the same adjustments.... a slight skin smoothing and to take a little bit of the pink out of her cheeks, a skin tone adjustment.
Below, I used the skin smoothing (which took care of some of the dirt on my son's face) and eye brightening (which really made his baby blues pop).
To see more examples of what this Portrait + software can do, check out their before and after gallery If you are looking for a program that is easy to use and offers a variety of adjustments, then I would recommend giving their 30 day free trial a go.
And for those of you ready to add Portrait + to your editing toolbox, use the code Portrait45 to save 45% on any program from ArcSoftware.
In addition to writing about photography tips and tricks here at Moms Who Click, you can also find me musing about my latest photography projects and client work on my website Kristina Rust Photography, Facebook Page and Google+.
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