DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

The Best AI Software for Portraits in 2022

Dec 21, 2022 by David Williams Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

best ai portrait software 2022

AI is here to make our lives easier while getting stronger editing. And it’s improving on a day-to-day basis. So far, we’ve compared AI Upscaling, AI Sharpening, and AI Noise Removal. The results have been quite interesting. AI is driven by Machine Learning (ML), which is in a constant state of flux. The algorithm is constantly evolving as more training data flows in. Usually, it changes for the better, but as with any development, they sometimes just break and have to start all over again. This means that our results vary across tests and types of “retouching”. And today is no different.

I’ll begin by qualifying what I’m doing:

The subject is Kersten Luts, host of the Camera Shake podcast. He took this self-portrait as part of his Three Heads in a Row project (@threeheadsinarow). When I tested the different software using this image, I opened the raw file straight into the software, not into a plugin. Kersten shot this photo with a Nikon D750 and a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. The light in Kersten’s hand is an Interfit Badger Unleashed 250w. Kersten shoots these self-portraits tethered with a Tether Tools cable and has a monitor on the desk beside him to see the image preview.

Let’s get started

Adobe Photoshop

adobe photoshop portrait neural filters

Adobe Photoshop has Neural Filters, which are usually great for automated, AI-driven adjustments. In this case, they’re not.

Each time you move the slider, you have to wait for the photo to re-render. There is no preview available before the finished result appears. So it somewhat tricky to anticipate what each adjustment does before actually doing it.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of adjustments available to us. In the ‘Portrait’ section, there are three available categories:

  • Skin Smoothing
  • Smart Portrait
  • Makeup Transfer.

The Skin Smoothing category contains just two sliders: Blur and Smoothness, both make changes to an automatically applied Mask. The next category, Smart Portrait, is where I’d expect to find some serious AI tools to make professional portrait adjustments, but instead, we have what I’d call a more ‘quirky’ set of tools to move eyes and increase smiles. It’s these tools that I’ve highlighted in the example screenshot because there were no ‘professional’ tools available in Neural Filters.

Adobe Photoshop contains the original, amazing tools we use to retouch portraits, but there’s nothing much going on as far as AI tools go.

PortraitPro Studio Max

portraitpro studio max

PortraitPro Studio Max 2023 by Anthropics is incredibly powerful and intuitive. The controls available affect parts of a series of masks generated by AI, as seen in the example screenshot.

The adjustments are instant on the image preview, making it extremely easy to nail the correct adjustment. The categories are broken down effectively, and each tab can have its influence turned on or off with one master button.

Besides the controls, there are presets which are all self-explanatory. Those make for a quick, one-click edit. You can also create and save presets if you so desire.

The fact that far more controls are available in such a simple format makes this an incredible piece of AI portrait editing software. We don’t have the ‘basic’ sliders to edit the raw image, but we have everything we need beyond that.

Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo portrait ai

Luminar Neo by Skylum has a lot of  AI in it. It packs an incredible amount of power and tools into one place. Under the Tools/Portrait panel, we have a few tools:

  • Portrait Bokeh AI
  • Face AI
  • Skin AI
  • Body AI
  • High Key

The Sliders in these tools allow a huge range of edits and adjustments to our portrait. Ljuminar bases those on AI recognition of the subject and the subsequent masks. When you make an adjustment, you get an instant preview that then renders into full resolution. This means you can see the adjustment effect while the AI engine completes the render.

Outside the Portrait tab, you have many other Tools and Presets available. Those tools may be relevant even if you are not a portrait photographer.

Topaz Photo AI

topaz photo ai portrait

Topaz Photo AI is a powerful AI tool combining all the plugins from their range. This includes Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, and Gigapixel. The problem is that these are all technical AI tools rather than creative ones.

When it comes to portraits, Topaz does a fantastic job of making them bigger and sharper, but there’s virtually nothing in terms of creative AI edits available. In Topaz Photo AI, we have one slider – Recover Faces. It seems to do a bit of smoothing and not much else. Topaz won the previous round of our AI battles, but they’re not winning this one.

ON1 Photo Raw 2023

ON1 Photo Raw portrait

ON1 Photo Raw 2023 gives us basic adjustments like you’d find in Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw, along with some AI-powered presets for portraits.

You can target the skin, face, eyes, and mouth. These adjustments are all effective and powerful. Sadly, the automatic adjustment was frankly quite ridiculous. The face became cartoonish, but once I turned the automatic mode off and made my own adjustments based on the AI masks, the result was very good.

ON1 also provides AI Adaptive Presets – you can make further adjustments to the overall scene, things like background and toning. This is a great feature missing from other software, and it truly makes AI meaningful to creatives, allowing us to focus more on creativity while taking away the menial tasks.

The Verdict

There’s usually a trial available on the software tested here, so be sure to give it a go yourself. I made My tests around one image and from the perspective of a complete overview of the software. It’s also worth noting that AI and Machine Learning technologies are constantly evolving, so what is the best today may not be the best next week. Each algorithm is only as good as the data feeding it. That said, here’s the verdict:

  • Winner – PortraitPro Studio Max 2023
  • Close second – Luminar Neo
  • Third – ON1 Photo Raw 2023

With my tests concluded, I would vote to hear if you had a different experience. Which is your favorite AI for portraits?

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Photoshop plugin veterans Alien Skin Software is changing its name to Exposure Software Default ThumbnailDouble Portraits – Portraits of Projections of Portraits The best photo noise removal software in 2022 The best photo sharpening AI in 2022 – compared

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Luminar Neo, ML, Neural Filters, On1 Photo RAW, portrait, portraitpro studio max, Topaz Photo AI

David Williams: from diyphotography.net

About David Williams

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

« Canon adds focus breathing correction support to several popular f/2.8 and f/4 RF zoom lenses
Retouchers rejoice with new cursor border adjustment feature for Photoshop »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Nanlite announces powerful AC-powered FC500B and FC300B LED lights
  • The Laowa Aurogon is a full-frame 10-50x super micro APO lens kit
  • Watch: Amateur astronomer captures a rare giant fireball on Jupiter
  • AI-generated deepfake nude images of school girls shake Spanish town
  • The Nikkor S Plena is a 135mm f/1.8 Z mount portrait lens

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy