[Liz_in_Calgary]

Which one are you using? I tried to manually do some retouching in photo editing software and was less than pleased, so bought a product called Portrait Professional, which seems to do what I want. I am wondering what other folks are using? Some setting inside the camera? (the K-01 has a "soft" setting).

Liz in Calgary

[audiobomber]

I had a free version of Portrait Pro 6 and lost it in a hard drive crash. I found it a bit time consuming to use and results were variable, from great to just plain weird. The interface was improved in subsequent versions, to help with the time it takes to retouch, and the final results.

I just purchased the basic Portrait Pro 12, for $35 with discount coupon. I won't use it often because I'm not a portrait shooter, but it is a must-have for those times when I want or need it.

EDIT: I just tried to retouch a photo and the software produced an error message, indicating the K-3 file was too large. I was able to retouch a 14.6MB file. The website says the program should handle 30MB, so I created a service ticket.

[Liz_in_Calgary]

Thanks Dan, for the reply. Yes that is what I paid too. I am going to play around with it more. It doesn't seem to get along with portraits of folks with glasses.

Liz

[audiobomber]

Thanks Dan, for the reply. Yes that is what I paid too. I am going to play around with it more. It doesn't seem to get along with portraits of folks with glasses.

Liz

I don't think I've tried it with anyone wearing glasses, but I'm not surprised that it confuses the algorithm. I assume you can fix it manually by moving the target points around. With Version 6, you had to start from scratch, placing each target point for noise, eyes, eyebrows, etc. It was very tedious and not very accurate. Auto start, with before and after images, is a HUGE improvement. Now I just need to ensure it will handle a K-3 file.

[Liz_in_Calgary]

Let us know what happens with the ticket. I hope they will make a fix for you.

[Bear]

I use Pro Retouch 2 by RadLab. It is PhotoShop actions. And real simple to use. Check them out

[Roob-N-Boots]

I use Portraiture plugin for Lightroom 4 by Imagenomic. It's a little pricey but well worth it in time saved if you shoot mostly portraits. It is very fast and easy to use thanks to the great masking tool. They offer a free trail, check it out for yourself. Portraiture - Retouching Plugin for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture

I have never used Portrait Pro but from what I had seen on the internet the final results looked over processed and skin looked very fake.

[audiobomber]

I just tried to retouch a photo and the software produced an error message, indicating the K-3 file was too large. I was able to retouch a 14.6MB file. The website says the program should handle 30MB, so I created a service ticket.

They told me to upgrade to the latest edition, 12.0.3 and that worked. I can now retouch K-3 images.

I have never used Portrait Pro but from what I had seen on the internet the final results looked over processed and skin looked very fake.

The strength of the filter is user adjustable. For the amount I use a program like this, $35 makes a lot more sense than $200.00.

[rawr]

FWIW, I was travelling recently, away from my usual desktop setup, using just a netbook to do some basic image editing, and was using Picasa 3 to manage my JPEGs.

For removing facial blemishes or subtly smoothing skin, I was surprised to find that the 'Retouch' editing interface in Picasa 3 worked very intelligently and competently. Did what I needed to do very well.

[Liz_in_Calgary]

They told me to upgrade to the latest edition, 12.0.3 and that worked. I can now retouch K-3 images.

Thats great Dan! Thanks for keeping us informed.

Liz in Calgary

[Den]

I use Portrait Pro Studio 12. Does a descent job very quickly. (at least a good starting point)

[7samurai]

I use Portrait+ from ArcSoft. I bought it for a friends wedding primarily because it does batch processing and full body skin smoothing. Point it at a directory, set some settings and come back later. They have a new version that came out in December, but I've already ran into a bug with the teeth brightening. Otherwise it works well. It's not cheap, but I got it for less than the upgrade price. Google driven advertising kept dropping the price for me every few days until I bought. Love that Google drove the price down, but scary what they know.

[wildman]

I have onOne Perfect Portrait 8 running in PS.
Flexible and powerful but may be over kill for some.
In fact it's so flexible I have even used it on some of my bird shots just to give them an extra lift.

[robgo2]

Which one are you using? I tried to manually do some retouching in photo editing software and was less than pleased, so bought a product called Portrait Professional, which seems to do what I want. I am wondering what other folks are using? Some setting inside the camera? (the K-01 has a "soft" setting).

Liz in Calgary

I currently have 4 portrait retouching programs/plugins on my computer, and I can tell you that Portrait Professional is at the top of the class in terms of features and results. There are so many features and tools that the program can be a bit intimidating at first. But as with most things, once you gain familiarity, it's not terribly hard to use. The time spent retouching will depend on whether you are willing to accept the software's default settings. If you like to tweak everything manually, then you will spend considerably more time with each image. Still, the results are easily the best that I have seen.

Rob

[dstar]

I use Portrait Pro Studio 12.work very well plus you can use as plug in to Lightroom or PS . So many option and good support