PL 4: Would be nice to have a portraiture module

DxO PhotoLab Feature requests
1

I am learning how to use Photo Lab 4, and was wondering ab out the reasons why this great app does not have a portraiture module for eyes, mouth, teeth, and skin?

2

Have you tried the portrait presets?

3

I think he may be referring to specific features for eyes, teeth, blemish removal, skin toning, etc.

Mark

4

For skin tint, the HSL wheel can be used to narrow the color range. Unfortunately, it is not available as a local adjustment.

5

Eyes can be done pretty effectively just using control points, particularly the sat/vib colour, micro contrast etc. Same for teeth and lips.

Skin I find rather more difficult in PL4 alone

Currently I use the tools in Nik ColorEfex to deal with skin tones which is pretty good

Alternatively, I also use the Portrait Module from ON1 to do full portraits (eyes, teeth, skin etc)

2 Likes
6

I have PL4 Elite, but I haven’t noticed if there is a “portrait” effect I can use to lighten and sharpen the eyes and teeth, plus adjust the skin tone/smoothness, and so on. I do adjust the skin tones within ColorEfex, but that’s about it.

I am not a professional photographer, and the photos I take are of a general subject: photos of the Auroras, some of people (usually family members), pets, and wildlife.

I use a 2019 iMac running under Mojave to do photo editing, and have been using Photo Lab/Nik package, plus the portraiture module of OneOne PhotoRaw. I decided not to update the OS, since it would render CS6 unusable.

At the beginning of the editing of DNG, or Canon CR3 files, I use a standalone Adobe CS6 (DNG files only), and then switch to either the NIK plugins, or to Photo Lab. If the image is a portrait, I use the Portraiture module within OneOne’s Photo Raw 2020.

Then, if I want to resize the edited photo and make it ready for internet posting on JPEG format, I again use CS6 because it has one of the easiest and most efficient ways to size the image, and then make it “web ready” in a very short period of time. The final image is very small (perhaps 250kb in size), but still has the maximum resolution possible.

I understand that Luminar 4 has a portraiture module, and so OneOne’s Photo Raw, but I don’t want to use numerous apps to edit my photos. What is wish to do in the near future is to delete CS6, and use Photo Lab/Nik to do all my photo editing, and in my view there are two modules Photo Lab is lacking:

  1. A portraiture module.
  2. A pulldown menu that can be used to size the image and then make it “web ready” as easy to as with CS6 and other apps.

I would prefer to stick to PL/Nik to do all my photo editing, because I don’t want to use the Adobe CC apps with their monthly fees. I am just wishing for an app, hopefully DXO’s Photo Lab, to have the two modules or features mentioned above. That way I should be able to edit my photos without having to switch back and forth between apps. The fact is that I could do all the editing using CS6 and the NIK plugins, but there is no future for CS6 anymore. A lot of people are waiting for software developers to create an app to replace CS6. I am waiting…

7

As much as I rarely take portraits, the preponderance of tutorials online suggests this is a common style of photography and competitive products do include features specific to this genre. So I find it hard to argue against such features coming to PhotoLab.

I would, however, prioritise other things higher. Not just all the stuff I want (:wink:) but any widely supported feature requests that would also be of value to portrait photographers.