The Bottom Line
- Speed, ease of use
- Impressive, realistic results
- Manual controls that let you adjust the automatic results
- Not only tackles blemishes and glare, but can adjust face shape
- Complements PhotoShop well
- Even when upgrading and purchasing the software, you'll lose work done in trial mode
- Would be great to have separate controls for the portrait subject's hair, as well
Description
- A great downloadable program that quickly and easily touches up photos
- Quality results that work well with complementary tasks in PhotoShop
- Great for columnists to make those all-important mugshots not so scary
Guide Review - Portrait Professional
I first tried the free trial version of Portrait Professional. It downloads quickly, and you can jump right into your photo work. After opening your photo of choice, Portrait Professional asks you to pull the corners of markers to appropriately outline eyes, nose, face shape, eyebrows, and lips (open or closed mouth options). Then sit back and let the software do the rest: After contacting a remote server, the program quickly produces the retouched result. Shine is gone, skin is glowing, freckles and blemishes faded.
But you're not stuck with the result you get: Manual controls enable you to adjust every aspect of the work. Make the eyes wider, adjust the size of the nose, retouch a specific blemish, tinker with lighting. This can be quite fun to fiddle with. The automatic result is quite impressive, though.
Bear in mind, though, that if you process a photo in trial mode you need to purchase the software in order to save it. And in the purchase process, you need to close the trial software to download the paid upgrade. Thus, you'll lose your work in the trial program. In the purchase process, you're given a code to acess the freshly downloaded program; this enables you to process as many photos as you like. If you get a new computer, the company promises to give customers a code to work with the new download.
All in all, Portrait Professional is a great choice for journalists, bloggers, and those who just like sharp, clean photos.