 | |
| Original author(s) | Oleg Sharonov |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2020 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows, OS X |
| Type | photo retouching software |
| Website | retouch4 |
Retouch4me is a family of artificial intelligence-powered plug-ins for photography and video retouching, compatible with Adobe Photoshop; Adobe Lightroom, and Capture One (as external editors).
Retouch4me plug-ins were developed by Oleg Sharonov, the author of 3D LUT Creator (a tool for professional color grading). [1] [2] The plug-ins resulted from eight years of photo retouching experience and two years of studying deep learning. [3] The underlying neural networks were trained using professionally retouched photos, including the ones submitted by the community. [4] [5]
Plug-ins address specific time-consuming common retouching tasks: healing skin blemishes, background cleanup, cleaning up wrinkles and tears in fabric, enhancing eyes, whitening teeth, smoothing out skin tone, adding depth and dimension to portraits, and general dodging and burning. [6] The neural networks identify body and face, clothes and backgrounds, find issues, and correct them. [2] [3] [7]
The software is available as a stand-alone app for Microsoft Windows and OS X, and can be launched through Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and Capture One. A DaVinci Resolve Heal OFX video plug-in, announced in July 2022, applies healing in video. [4] Plug-ins are sold separately with lifetime licenses. [3] [8]
Plug-ins are applied individually and can be automated with custom actions in Photoshop. The user can adjust the applied effect, specify the area it should be applied to, and preview the result. [5] The calculations are performed on the workstation and don't require an active internet connection. The operations themselves take a few seconds. [6] [3] [9] [10]
In July 2022, Retouch4me announced the Heal OFX Video Plugin, a video retouching plug-in for DaVinci Resolve. Oleg Sharonov explained that the plug-in was developed to simplify the workflow for the users who employed the photographic Heal plug-in to retouch videos frame-by-frame. [12] [2] [13]
In April 2024, RetouchMe obtained the Technical Image Press Association award for the best AI portrait editing software. [14]
Retouch4me received positive reviews in professional media for nondestruсtive approach and preservation of skin tone, texture, and level of details. [3] [8] Patrick Hill from Fstoppers considered that the plug-ins raised the bar of AI automation in high-end photography. [10] Sean McCormac, the Photoshop User reviewer, pointed out that they take care of the most tedious parts of retouching work. [3]
DOCMA (Germany's popular print magazine on image editing with Photoshop and Lightroom) and TechRadar included Retouch4me in their forecasts on the future of photography as a notable example of AI-powered technology. [15] [16] A photography news aggregator PetaPixel named it the best plugin for AI photo retouching in its 2022 rating. [8] [17]
In computing, a plug-in is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program. When a program supports plug-ins, it enables customization.
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editing, and its name has become genericised as a verb although Adobe disapproves of such use.
Photograph manipulation involves the transformation or alteration of a photograph. Some photograph manipulations are considered to be skillful artwork, while others are considered to be unethical practices, especially when used to deceive. Motives for manipulating photographs include political propaganda, altering the appearance of a subject, entertainment and humor.
Raster graphics editors can be compared by many variables, including availability.
Scott Kelby is an American photographer and an author and publisher of periodicals dealing with photography and Adobe Photoshop software, for design professionals, photographers, and artists.
Aperture is a discontinued professional image organizer and editor developed by Apple between 2005 and 2015 for the Mac, as a professional alternative to iPhoto.
Adobe Bridge is a free digital asset management app made by Adobe Inc. and first released with Adobe Creative Suite 2. It is a mandatory component of Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe eLearning Suite, Adobe Technical Communication Suite and Adobe Photoshop CS2 through CS6. Starting with Creative Cloud, however, it has become an optional component downloaded via Creative Cloud subscription.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, usually called Lightroom, is an image organization and processing application developed by Adobe. It is licensed as a standalone subscription or as part of Creative Cloud. It is supported on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and tvOS. Its primary uses include importing, saving, viewing, organizing, tagging, editing, and sharing large numbers of digital images. Lightroom's editing functions include white balance, presence, tone, tone curve, HSL, color grading, detail, lens corrections, and calibration manipulation, as well as transformation, spot removal, red eye correction, graduated filters, radial filters, and adjustment brushing. The name Lightroom is a play on the darkrooms used for processing film.
Photoshop plugins are add-on programs aimed at providing additional image effects or performing tasks that are impossible or hard to fulfill using Adobe Photoshop alone. Plugins can be opened from within Photoshop and several other image editing programs and act like mini editors that modify the image.
Portrait Professional or PortraitPro is a portrait photography retouching software developed by Anthropics Technology and initially released in 2006. It automates the photo editing process with algorithms that manipulate facial features, remove skin imperfections, alter colors and tone, replace the background, and so on. It is available as a standalone application, as well as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, and Aperture plug-ins on Windows and OS X systems.
Bibble is a digital imaging program for multiple platforms by Bibble Labs, designed to assist photographers in post-production work and efficient optimization of images created in raw image formats. After Bibble was acquired by Corel, it was rebranded as Corel AfterShot Pro.
Mikkel Aaland is a Norwegian-American photographer, based in San Francisco and Norway. He is known for work in the early days of digital photography, as well as his twelve books on photography. He is best known for his 1978 book Sweat, an illustrated history of sweat bathing. His documentary photographs have been exhibited in major institutions around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and the former Lenin Museum in Prague. Aaland is the author of works of memoir, books featuring his own photojournalism as well as works on digital imaging and various Adobe Photoshop products.
Boris FX is a visual effects and video editing software plug-in developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The developer is known for its flagship products, Continuum, Sapphire, Mocha, and Silhouette.
Capture NX is a photo editing computer program developed by Nik Software in partnership with Nikon for macOS and Microsoft Windows.
The Nikon D5300 is an F-mount DSLR with a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer body and other new technologies, announced by Nikon on October 17, 2013. It is a mid-range camera with a crop sensor and requires a minimum camera 8.3 raw plugin for Photoshop to process its .NEF files.
Nik Software was a software development company established in 1995 as Nik Multimedia Inc. and based in San Diego, California. The company developed multiple image editing plug-ins and tools for digital image processing software applications. Nik Software was acquired by Google in 2012.
JPEGmini is a photo compression tool developed by Beamr Imaging Ltd released in 2012 for Mac and Windows.It designed to reduce the file size of images and videos with limited quality reduction.
Affinity Photo is a raster graphics editor developed by Serif Ltd. for iPadOS, macOS, and Windows, alongside Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher. Development of Affinity Photo started in 2009 as a raster graphics editor for macOS. Its first version reached general availability in 2015 with the Windows version launched a year later. It is a successor to PhotoPlus which Serif discontinued in 2017.
The Nik Collection is a suite of photo editing plugins intended for use with a host application, such as Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Photo or DxO PhotoLab.
Luminar Neo is a photo editing software application developed by Skylum available for Windows and macOS.
