Apple Mac
Spruce up your portraits using a range of AI enhanced retouching tools.
We tend to share portraits every day via social media sites. However, capturing a portrait that we’re pleased with can be a challenge. If the camera is too close, lens distortion can stretch the shape of our face in unflattering ways (thanks to barrel distortion). High-definition shots produced by the latest iPhones can reveal lines and wrinkles that don’t tally with our perception of how we look. Fortunately, we can counteract common problems by retouching our photographs in PortraitPro 19.
What’s new?
Version 19 of PortraitPro sees improvements across a range of tools such as Fix Lighting. Unflattering lighting can cause harsh shadows that accentuate features such as bags under the eyes. A strong light source can create shiny hotspots, giving us a sweaty appearance. Studio photographers use diffused soft lights to reduce contrast. You can mimic this flattering effect of studio lighting using the Fix Lighting tool. You can also fake a studio look thanks to the app’s ability to replace the original background with a less distracting studio backdrop. Another new feature is the ability to colourise hair, enabling you to experiment with a new look before committing! The new Clear Skin 5 technology uses deep learning technology to faithfully replicate the look and texture of existing skin, maintaining freckles and moles while removing temporary blemishes such as acne and shiny hotspots. Older versions of PortraitPro could blur smile lines when removing age-related wrinkles. Clear Skin 5 helps preserve these key details.
Face Sculpt
PortraitPro 19 enables you to hit the ground running thanks to its ability to recognise key facial features such as the eyes, nose and mouth. It then provides a
series of sliders that enable you to quickly adjust a wide range of properties. Adobe Photoshop’s Liquify filter also recognises facial features and lets you adjust the shape and position of the eyes, nose, etc. However PortraitPro 19 has a more comprehensive collection of portrait-enhancing tools that are helpfully grouped into categories such as Face Sculpt, Skin Smoothing, Makeup, and so on. If you shoot a selfie on an iPhone, lens distortion may cause your face to bulge forward. The Face Sculpt category’s Lens Correct slider enables you to counteract barrel distortion for more accurate proportions. Its Head Forward slider does a good job of lifting jowly skin that’s begun to droop with age. As with Photoshop, you can make a sulky subject smile with a swipe of a slider. PortraitPro’s Expression slider produces a more convincing smile than Photoshop as it causes the eye muscles to adjust as well as the mouth, as they would do with a genuine smile. While we’re focusing on the mouth, there are three sliders that enable you to alter the spread and whitening amount of the teeth.
The eyes have it
When we first glance at a face, we tend to notice the subject’s eyes, so PortraitPro 19 has a category of sliders designed to enhance these key features. As well as the usual fixes (such as Remove Red-eye and Whiten Eyes), you can make subtle but effective changes such as Add Reflection. This gives you access to a host of reflection overlays (such as light from a window frame) that helps give the eye a shinier and healthier appearance. It’s this level of control that gives PortraitPro the edge over Photoshop’s portrait retouching tools. You can even get more creative by adding a wide range of virtual contact lenses.
The advantage of retouching your shots in PortraitPro is that all the key tools are in well-organised and easy-to-find categories. New step-by-step walkthroughs help you get to grips with these tools quickly. If Photoshop is your main workhorse, you can pay a little more ($109.95) for the Studio version. This enables you to access PortraitPro from within Photoshop and Lightroom as a plug-in. The Studio version also supports camera Raw files, enabling you to produce even better quality results. GEORGE CAIRNS
A comprehensive and effective collection of easy-to-use tools that will give your portrait a professional polish.