Portrait Professional?????

[Ralph III]

Hello,


Has/does anyone, especially professionals,use Portait Professional? I am considering buying it as it can make enhancements quickly which could take hours in Photoshop for me.


You can adjust most all the sliders to "0" but in the promo itusually adjusts to mid point+- 47. If you use the program how much do you typically adjustand what? What would you consider too much?


Lastly, is there any way of controlling the amount of eye lightening the program does?


Thanks, Ralph

[Sean Setters]

In my personal experience, it isn't worth the price. I used a previous version, and the results were always a bit over the top. You can adjust just about every correction/change it makes, but as for me, I could never find the right balance of change vs realism. It was far easier to do the corrections in Photoshop while maintaining the quality of the image.

[clemmb]

As a part time proffesional I have not been able to justify the cost of photoshop so I am using PSE(Photoshop-Elements). I find PP(Portrait Professional) a usful tool but do not use it all the time. I rarly use the face sculpting function. I have set up my favorite settings and can adjust from there. Much of the skin, eye and teeth adjustments I can do in PSE but can do them quicker in PP. The face sculpting, if it can be done in PSE, I do not know how. About the only face sculpting I do is to open eyes a bit if someone is squinting and sometimes pull the upper lip down some for an exposed gum line. I am carful not to change how a person truly looks.


Concerning eye lightening, I am not sure exacly what you mean. If the eyes are a bit dark I usually take care of this in PSE. The PP I have is a think two rev.s back. I know the newer rev allows you to change eye color but I do not know what other eye controls it has.


Hope this helps.


Mark

[2slo]

I dominor adjustments in Bridge, its easy (bunch of sliders) and came with PS. In regards to price, Educational versions are a hoop cheaper. I've heard of folksoccasionally takingcollege a course just for better software prices. Luckily my daughter wanted the software.

[Ralph III]

Hello Clemmb and others,


Thanks for the input!


My concern, as noted in another forum, was in regards to Portrait Professional possiblybeing too powerful? It almost seemed gimmicky? You know, too good to be true.I definitely prefer being able to maintain as much the original as possible. It however, can adjust skin tone/texture, lips, and eyes veryquickly. I have some shots where the sun blew out the side of faces and was only able to do so much in Photoshop Elements 5 as I have. In addition, I had to make some adjustments with lips, one was a lip biter, andwrinkles as really shownoutdoors.Portrait Professional handled all of those issues veryquickly and nicely.


The face sculpting is something I would avoid unless very minor.In regards to eyes with the program; it makes the colorand white of the eyes pop, "brighter". I cannot figure out how to adjust that feature if needed,even with setting everything to "0" as allowed.


What type of settings do you normally use with Portrait Professional if you don't mind my asking?


Does the program work with RAW images and is there much degradation in using it to enhance photos?


Lastly, though little off topic,is it worth upgrading to Photoshop Elements 8 as I now have Elements 5?


Ralph

[clemmb]

Ralph


Here are my default settings. I have the face sculpting and show picture controls settings at zero. I do not work in raw so I do not know if it can handle it. I also have PSE-5. I once downloaded PSE-6 for a 30day trial. It had bugs in it so I removed it. I am thinking of maybe getting my son the student to buy PS for me. Maybe later this year after a few weddings.


Mark


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[Ralph III]

Mark, thanks a lotfor the help! Ralph

[Freeday]

I have not used this program, but if you are trying to stream line the process I would recommend Lightroom. You can develope a photograph, then use those settings and have them applied to every photograph in the folder. You can quickly pop the eyes with a tool, remove spots and make other spot adjustments. however I like a sharpening mask better in PS.


You can also batch process in PS if that would help with the workload also.

[clemmb]

I would recommend Lightroom. You can quickly pop the eyes with a tool, remove spots and make other spot adjustments.
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Can you do face sculpting in lightroom like in portrait professional?

[Freeday]

I assume by face sculpting you mean deleting texture for smoother skins. LR does have atool to soften skins but essentially all it does is declarify the image. I rarely use this tool and instead useCS4 for this.There is an awsome action by TRA that creates silky smooth skin very easily.