Photo Retouching Software Review

Perfection. It’s a characteristic we all strive for. We want the perfect job, the perfect body and the perfect family – basically, a perfect life. But what if the perfection we strive for can be automatically applied to the pictures we take of our life? With the magic of photo retouching software, you can do just that. All it takes is a click of a button and a few tweaks here and there to make your family picture look like something out of a J. Crew catalog. It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or professional photographer; photo retouching software can help turn ordinary family portraits, senior pictures or even everyday events into magazine-quality images. Not all photo enhancement software is created equally, and there is a big difference between photo editing and photo enhancement. We’ve written articles on photo retouching software to ensure you get the best in enhancement features.

Photo Retouching Software: What to Look For

When looking to purchase photo retouching software, you have to remember that photo retouching is not the same as photo editing. Photo retouching software doesn’t have filters, clone stamps or selection tools. What it does have are options to slim faces, enhance a nose, whiten teeth or smooth out wrinkles. Photo retouching software is all about perfecting a portrait. Our favorites in the bunch are ArcSoft Portrait Plus, Perfect365 and Portrait Professional. These top three photo retouching tools have ranked the highest in these criteria:

Functionality
After a long photoshoot, the last thing you want to do is individually edit each picture you shot. With the best photo retouching software, you can import photo batches and enhance all of the pictures at the same time with slight adjustments here and there. You also have the chance to disregard changes by viewing the images side-by-side in built-in “before and after” previews. Auto-detect features and adjustable facial-feature points make editing a ton of photos easy.

Because there are so many options when using photo retouching software, it is nice to have the option to customize adjustment settings and have preset adjustments. That way you can use the program's template settings for quick retouching situations or to save settings you have customized for future pictures.

Enhancement Features
The enhancement features available in a photo retouching software really make or break your photo’s end result. Look for airbrush settings like image coloring, skin tone smoothing and spot removal. For an added layer of glam, you’ll want settings to whiten teeth, enlarge eyes, deepen smiles, thicken eyelashes and apply makeup. The best programs can even go as far as reconstructing parts of the face – nose reshaping was our favorite.

Help & Support
Photo retouching software, as with any other software, has a little bit of a learning curve. A good help and support system from the manufacturers is essential. You’ll want online tutorials, FAQs and a user manual to make sure you’re utilizing every feature the software offers. We also appreciate those companies that include live chat support.

Possibly the best part of using photo enhancing software is the changes look so subtle and natural that no one will even notice your photos have been touched up. You can create magazine-quality family portraits, senior pictures or headshots with photo retouching software as your secret weapon.

At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™