Portrait Software Help!

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Rick M

Senior Member
Can anyone recommend a decent program under $100. I'm not really into portraits but would like some decent software to at least do occasional family shots. The specific issue is that my son suffers from severe acne, whats out there to address this?

Thanks for ant input!
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
It isn't specifically "portrait" software... It's just basic graphic software. Photoshop is an example.

The Ultimate Photo Editor - Corel PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate

I'm dating myself...but back in the day, the quintessential graphics software used to be Corel... until they got sold to a network company... :eek: The price for the above is incredibly cheap...

Basically there's a feature that uses a brush metaphor to pickup the surrounding pixels, and use those pixels like paint to brush out/over other offending/different pixels. They also use the metaphor of a spray can to do the same where you select "good" color, and then spray paint over the offending pixels... like air brushing out the blemishes with skin tone color...

Good luck...
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
I've had good success removing acne using PS, but giving your question I suspect you don't have a copy. The student version of CS6 PS is only $126 over your $100 limit and if you have a kid/grandkid in any type of school you qualify for this version. Or if you don't care much for having the newest version of PS, you can buy CS 5.5 Photoshop for a very reasonable price, possibly at or below your $100 target.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I've not invested in full blown Photoshop, but I'm running Photoshop Elements 11 ($49 from Amazon) and it has a lot of the different healing features that PS has. That, along with Scott Kelby's book on Elements for Digital Photographers which has some great tips for doing the type of touch-ups you're talking about (at least the Version 8 book I started with did), still brings you in under budget. Download the trial and give it a shot.
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
The one I remember is called Portrait Professional, but I can't remember the web site it's from . Just do Google on it. There are free programs out there, too, for portraits. Google "portrait software" and see what comes up. :)
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Thanks everyone! I just downloaded the trial of Portrait Professional, I'll see how I like it and post some results!
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Seems like corel PSP X5 is on sale at 39$ and has a portrait retouching function. It also comes with Nik filter effects. The only thing is that I'm not sure it does convert D600 raws yet. But I've read somewhere that it might even if the camera is not yet in their supported models.

For that price, I'm almost tempted to try it myself. But I use CS 5 and have downloaded Lightroom 4 for evaluation… So I'm undecided.
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
I tried Portrait pro and liked the trial, so I sprang for the full version at $49.00. Here is a quick touch up of a snap in front of the tree. Lighting was not great, was for experimentation only, the shadow reducer worked well though!

DSC_1349_4668.JPG
Nick edit.JPG
 
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Just-Clayton

Senior Member
Hey Rick. My son has the same problem. I have had the Portrait professional for a year and I set it up to take out blemishes only. I reset everything else to original picture.
DSC_0189 (683x1024).jpgDSC_0189_pp (683x1024).jpg You can also use the touch up brush at the top of the screen.
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
fotojack said:
The one I remember is called Portrait Professional, but I can't remember the web site it's from . Just do Google on it. There are free programs out there, too, for portraits. Google "portrait software" and see what comes up. :)
Click to expand...

Wow!!! I just downloaded Portrait Pro... That's incredible. I sorta feel dirty using it. It's almost like cheating... :D

Now I've gotta dig up 5 or 8 years of portraits and re-look at them...
 
C

Carroll

Senior Member
15% off coupon code for any version of Portrait Professional

IPRU-NROM-GTKE-EEQX

There are also other discount codes on the internet.
 
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Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I also use Portrait Professional, one thing to keep in mind is the regular version does not support 16 bit so I upgraded to the Studio version. I do the normal fixes and then on the skin master slider bring it down to about nothing and you're there. If the acne isn't too bad the healing brush and a little cloning in CS6 works very well. I can do pretty fast Photoshop touchups and do my final smoothing in Lightroom.
 
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