Wedding and portrait photographers have gained many amazing tools in recent years, and they have revolutionized the entire post-production process, from cloud backup to color-correction, to advanced retouching. We can now use AI to perform many tasks, such as culling and basic color correction, and it’s saving photo editors both hours and and dollars!
Recently, generative AI has been one of the newest advancements in artificial intelligence, but the results have been…mixed… You’ve probably seen some of the AI-generated imagery; sometimes it can be impressively realistic, and other times the results are actually disturbing.
Today, we are answering the inevitable question: is generative AI ready for the challenges of professional portrait retouching? PortraitPro appears to demonstrate that the answer is, YES! So, in this article, we are going to talk about PortraitPro 24, which is, as its name suggests, is the latest version of the portrait retouching software. (As of July 2024) It has built on its existing platform of AI-based retouching, now adding generative AI for various tools in the retouching process.
We already use PortraitPro 23 regularly, and we’ve loved the PortraitPro software for many years! AI is already being implemented for things like subject detection. It could determine the general age and gender of al the subjects in your portraits, and then outline every facial feature. Now, we’re about to see how it uses generative AI to actually perform retouching tasks themselves.
As new milestones keep getting reached with AI, we are continually revisiting these favorite tools, as we are eager to save even more time, while delivering even better results to our wedding & portrait clients.
The results of our latest testing so far have been impressive, once again, so let’s dive into this update and see what PortraitPro 24 is all about…
Generative AI and Portrait Retouching | How Good Is It?
Just 1-2 years ago, AI-generated imagery was a gimmick, with downright bizarre results. Today, however, we are far beyond that early stage, and the capabilities of generative AI are rapidly improving even as you read this.
Beyond creating fantasy, dreamscape imagery from scratch using just a prompt, generative AI is now capable of incredibly realistic results when it comes to editing existing photos, too.
For portrait retouchers in particular, generative AI can be used to perform some of the most complex, time-consuming tasks. For anyone who is familiar with the traditional clone stamp tool, you know just how tedious it can be to do something as simple as remove reflections from a subject’s glasses, or remove stray hairs from a backlit portrait, etc.
Thankfully, generative AI is indeed ready for professional use by portrait and wedding photographers. It has learned how to retouch such complex things, and it does it amazingly well. (And, no, don’t have to worry about the AI giving you eleven fingers, or generating elbows where they don’t belong, lol!)
We do always recommend being careful with these types of tools, of course, and the AI won’t always get it perfect on the first try. However, the bottom line is that the learning curve has been reduced yet again.
Portrait Pro 24 New Feature: Smile Replacement
To get technical, generative AI in PortraitPro 24 is being used primarily to perform 2-3 new tasks: filling in soft or blurry detail based on the existing image data, or, it can “create” new details in certain situations such as generating a new smile, or reducing/removing the glare on subjects’ glasses.
The results can sometimes require a little bit of additional retouching, as mentioned, but the speed and efficiency are still light years ahead of traditional techniques. For example, if the teeth being in-painted aren’t the exact lightness you want, or if the lips/gums around the teeth don’t have a perfect transition, you’ll want to erase those effects.
Optimally, what I would like to see is a way to use the generative AI to merely “fix” minor aspects of a smile, such as a singular chipped or missing tooth. Still, the process of replacing an entire smile and then masking out parts you don’t want is still infinitely easier and faster than trying to master the clone stamp tool, a skill that can take a lifetime to perfect. PortraitPro 24 makes it an intuitive process that takes 5-10 minutes, tops.
Here is one more example of the subtleties involved in advanced retouching, and how easy it is to master the overall learning curve even when there are complications: (see below) Once in a while, there might be a reflection on someone’s glasses that you want to keep. The “Remove Inpainting Effects” tool makes this task almost effortless; again, just a huge win for portrait photographers. The near-total lack of a learning curve for this level of retouching capability is truly amazing.
PortraitPro 24 | Portrait & Wedding Photographers’ Must-Have Tool
Basically, here is why PortraitPro is doing these jobs so well: the generative AI is fine-tuned specifically to do these specific tasks. It doesn’t have to worry about generating entire hands, arms, feet, etc, from scratch. That may very well be possible soon, but for now, this AI model/engine is highly specialized.
PortraitPro made its own exclusive AI model that is entirely focused on one specific category: retouching for portrait and wedding photographers, of course. This allows even high-end professionals to trust the software, and use it to save time in post-production.
Collectively, the new generative AI adds to the existing, already amazing tools that we’ve grown to love. Especially with the Studio Max version of PortraitPro 24, it has never been easier to have a round-trip workflow. This means you can start in Adobe Lightroom, for example, and effortlessly take a whole batch of images into PortraitPro, perform subtle retouches, work on advanced details, and even adjust the lighting, (one of our favorite features!) …and then return to Lightroom, seamlessly.
Quite literally, PortraitPro 24 takes the whole process that either took hours, or was virtually impossible, and reduces it down to just a few minutes, sometimes mere seconds per photo when editing greater volumes!
Because there are now multiple forms of AI being used in PortraitPro, the whole software workflow goes together to create an incredible overall value for anyone who is looking to save time and/or money when it comes to retouching.
Or, you’ll unlock new possibilities that you never had before, if you previously didn’t even have a budget in the first place, or you couldn’t surpass the steep learning curve of traditional retouching skills, which can take years to fine-tune.
Here is a quick overview of everything notable in the PortraitPro 24 update:
Retouching/Editing Updates & Improvements
- Mouth Inpainting & Teeth Replacer
- Glasses Reflection Remover
- Face Recovery
- Skin and Hair masks
- New Gender and Age detector
- Advanced Batch Mode Control (Studio Max Only)
Workflow Improvements:
- Seamlessly switch between faces in group shots
- Effortlessly share presets
- Utilize a streamlined preset search box
- Explore more image save options
- Apply multiple presets to each picture (Studio Max only)
To read more about what is new in PortraitPro 24, check out their website here. If you already have a version of PortraitPro, you can upgrade to the latest version here, starting at $44.95 for the Standard version.
Disclaimer: Using AI To Alter People’s Real Faces
As usual, we must include our disclaimer as professional portrait photographers and retouchers: whether you are a professional or hobbyist photographer, you should discuss retouching with your subjects before you do anything more than the most faint blemish removal.
Our rule of thumb is, if it’s just one zit or something that will be gone by the time the client sees the photos anyways, it’s OK to remove it without asking. Beyond that, always remember that all human beings may be sensitive regarding their physical appearance, so, just talk about retouching first. They might specifically ask you to retouch something, or they might simply give you general approval to make them look good, without making it “obvious”…
As the power of AI increases every year, indeed every month, it will be important for us as human beings to only use these powerful tools for healthy, positive reasons.
Our goal as portrait & wedding photographers is to make people feel good about themselves, naturally. This is why we focus primarily on things like posing, lighting, and evoking genuine smiles or other emotions.
Conclusion | Download PortraitPro 24 And Try It For Yourself
Of course, we highly recommend PortraitPro 24. If you’re still on the fence, though, you can take it for a test drive without having to pay any money, unlike most camera gear! In this case, indeed, you can download a trial of PortraitPro 24 and use its full feature set to see how you like it. All editions of PortraitPro 24 are currently on sale at 50% OFF, plus, use the code TE9236 for an exclusive EXTRA 15% DISCOUNT.
