Manufacturer: Anthropics Technology Ltd.

System Requirements:

Computer: Intel Mac with OSX 10.4 or later or Windows computer with Windows 2000, XP or Vista.
Memory: Minimum 512MB RAM (1GB Recommended)
Price: $79.95 (Portrait Professional Studio - $119.95)

Until the recent past, if one wished to become a portrait retoucher, there was a learning curve that began with practicing sharpening graphite leads to needle-like points and the honing of surgical scalpels.

Once these techniques were learned the novice was prepared to begin practicing on outtake negatives to smooth complexions, eliminate blemishes and soften crow's feet and smile lines in an effort to create flattering portraits. This entailed viewing the negative under magnification and required what can only be described as a controlled palsy as the retoucher attempted to duplicate the grain of the film stock with a deposit of graphite grains and scraping away emulsion to reduce highlights on the nose and forehead.

Staring at negatives through a six-inch-wide magnifier for hours at a time was very hard on the eyes, but the negative retouching department in the lab in which I worked had the quietest, most relaxing atmosphere in the building. We were elite. We did things few others could. We were the saviors and fixers.

Then came Adobe's Photoshop, and all of a sudden the old way of retouching was a thing of past. Pencils, dyes, needles and knives went in the trash. Anyone want a great airbrush?

Photoshop is a great tool for the digital photographer, but it does have its price, and, depending upon the use to which it is put, the learning curve can be formidable. Enter British software developer Anthropics Technology that has come up with PortraitProfessional, a solution that is hundreds of dollars less costly and about ninety-nine times easier to use than Adobe's Photoshop.

PortraitProfessional will suit most of the retouching needs of both amateur and professional portrait photographers.

Available as a downloadable trial version at http://www.portraitprofessional.com , one can try PortraitProfessional v.8 on for size, though the trial is hamstrung and you cannot save the results.

The application will lead the newcomer through every step of the automated retouching process.

Briefly:

Before your eyes the portrait retouch process takes place.

This is all totally no-brainer, point and click stuff. Almost completely foolproof...if one does step out of line there are gentle on-screen pointers that bring you back on track. AND the interface and keystroke commands will be familiar to any Apple/Mac user.

If you wish to go further than the automated process, tools are available to do most of the things that can be done in the way of traditional retouching that one would do with Photoshop. The writer would only caution about going too far - remember, as in poetry, less is more. No fifty-year-old would feel truly flattered by appearing as a fifteen-year-old, and the facial lines abhorred in feminine portraits are viewed as indications of character in the male.

Caveats:

This is not the tool for swapping backgrounds, working in layers or adjusting levels, but it IS hands-down the easiest, most affordable automated portrait retouching solution available.