PortraitPro 23 Studio Max

● Standard edition $59.95/£49.95, Studio $89.95/£79.95, Studio Max $179.95/£154.95 ● www.anthropics.com/portraitpro/

PortraitPro 2023 is the latest version of one of the best-known portrait enhancement tools. Where general-purpose photo editing programs like Lightroom and Skylum Luminar are steadily incorporating more advanced portrait tools, PortraitPro continues to maintain its lead with advanced face sculpting and digital makeup tools that its rivals can’t quite match.

This software works both as a standalone program and as a Photoshop plug-in. It can also work alongside Adobe Lightroom Classic, but must be configured as an external editor.

The standard edition is the cheapest, but for a modest extra outlay the Studio version adds important features such as Raw and DNG file support and that integration with Photoshop and Lightroom. The more expensive Studio version is really designed for high-volume work with full-powered batch processing.

PortraitPro 2023’s list of features is formidable, and includes the company’s own ClearSkin 5 skin smoothing technology and an extensive set of face-sculpting tools that go beyond simple face slimming to offer eye widening, nose sculpting, facial expressions and even head tilts.

The digital makeup effects are equally impressive, allowing for endless experiments with palettes and looks, and it’s also possible to add hair volume (see before/after) and even change hair colour.

Best of all, PortraitPro is not difficult to use. Its tools are arranged logically in a sidebar to the right of the screen and you can work simply with ‘master’ sliders or drill down as deep as you need to go with detailed adjustments.