Portrait Professional 10

[John B Walker]

Portrait Professional 10

I downloaded the trial version and was very impressed so have bought the program for £29.

Have only used it on family portraits but it makes an amazing job especially with the ladies portraits. A very short learning curve too.

The trick appears to be subtelty.

Anyone else using this software?

[Colin Southern]

To be honest John, I've never liked the results I've seen from it ... even on their website their "showcase" shots (which you'd think would be exemplary) all have over-blurred and plastic looking skin.

[arith]

I've just had a look and they sure find some rough lookin models to work on. Don't think I need it cos I hardly ever take portrait photo's.

[John B Walker]

I've just had a look and they sure find some rough lookin models to work on. Don't think I need it cos I hardly ever take portrait photo's.

Well - it's certainly improved a few of my clan.... The effects aren't strong enough for my self-portrait though

As i've said, the trick is to use it in a very subtle manner. The demo pics are overdone.

[rob marshall]

I've used it, but I don't do many portraits. I did this one a couple of years ago. You have to be careful placing the markers for the features, otherwise you can end up with distortions. It can also make the skin seem plastic as Colin said.

[rpcrowe]

I USE IT AND REALLY LIKE IT... Even the default values are pretty good but, I usually modify the default to be a bit more subtle.

The main thing is that the females I use this on really like it quite well. I had a professional model ask to pose for me for free because of the job I did on her face with Portrait Pro. The Portrait Pro shows the female as what she would LIKE to see when she looks in the mirror. If that's not quite what is actually in the mirror image, that is no problem

[Colin Southern]

I still reckon I can retouch an image by hand and get a better result

[rob marshall]

I still reckon I can retouch an image by hand and get a better result

I'm sure you can, Colin. It's the same with all of these add-on packages. Underneath it all they often use the features in PS to do their work, they just make it easier and quicker to do it. Silver Efex Pro is the same. You can get the same results with just CS5, but it takes a lot longer, and needs more skill.

It's like many things in society - people lead busy lives, and not having much time they are attracted to products that offer a short-cut.

[John B Walker]

I'm sure you can, Colin. It's the same with all of these add-on packages. Underneath it all they often use the features in PS to do their work, they just make it easier and quicker to do it. Silver Efex Pro is the same. You can get the same results with just CS5, but it takes a lot longer, and needs more skill.

It's like many things in society - people lead busy lives, and not having much time they are attracted to products that offer a short-cut.

I agree 100% Rob. It would be great to have the time and skills to do it all from scratch but in the case of PP, I don't do enough portraits to warrant honing my skills in this direction. By using it very subtely I, and more importantly my subjects are very pleased with the results - for very little effort on my part too.
John

[Colin Southern]

Horses for courses I guess. Personally, my "pursuit of perfection" over-rides the "need for speed" though; and the skills to do a better job by hand really only take a few hours to learn (and - at a guess - perhaps 20 minutes on average to retouch a portrait, assuming there are no major issue with it (like hair through eyes etc).

I think my biggest issue with it is - going by the images on their website - it's just "not there yet" in terms of quality. To my eye, what they're showcasing just looks too artificial, with poor skin & eye enhancement -- personally, I wouldn't be happy passing on a result like that to a paying customer.

Perhaps I should post a DNG and we could have a comparison to see how a variety of areas are handled by PP10 -v- CS5 "by hand"?

[John B Walker]

Perhaps I should post a DNG and we could have a comparison to see how a variety of areas are handled by PP10 -v- CS5 "by hand"?

Hi Colin,

I'm sure the CS5 "by hand" would win outright. If I wanted to produce a high quality portrait then as you say CS5 is the best way to go. However for tidying up family 'snapshot' type images, PP10 works well for me. It's just not worth spending more than a couple of minutes on these as with the best will in the world they're never going to be studio portraits.
Most of my photography is now for stock so I need to focus most of my time in this direction.
Cheers
John

[dogald]

I use it occasionally, but you have to be very careful not to over do it . One can easily make someone look like a wax work model.