Absolutely required purchase!!! I love these plugins, they are the best!! Great detail on the workings of some of them :)

Thanks Rob, good insight!

Now I really want your actions for this! Haha. These plugins have been invaluable on getting me back to photography. I have dry eye syndrome which cut down my ability to use a screen for long amounts. These plugins helped me spend less time skin retouching and more focus on my color grading. I get through so much without the extra eye suffering.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

I’d be willing to share my actions, there’s nothing complex or proprietary about them. But first I gotta go through and make sure I don’t have any weird values on them because sometimes I tweak them per-project. Glad to hear they have given you some relief and allowed you to focus more on other components!

@thalaster

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto That'd be great! I'd appreciate it.

When I bought my pc two years ago, it was bundled with the RTX-3080 GPU. I used to think it was such a waste with Lightroom and Photoshop. Now with Retouch4me and Neural filters, I am thrilled to slay these complex tasks in seconds. If it's taking too long, look at a new GPU to help.

I made the purchase of five apps largely based on the quality of other videos that you've done and how thoroughly you cover them thanks for the tip hope it works well to speed up my workflow, editing is so time consuming to achieve what pleases you then looking back it took too much time and you didn't make what you needed to make.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Hey Michael, if you're looking for time these will definitely go a long way. Spend some time running them independently to determine what you like in terms of intensity from each, then bring em together for some actions!

Just subbed mate! I think i might just have to purchase a few of these. 100% will take the Heal. The portrait volumes looks great. Whats your favourite.. Do you find the dodge and burn does enough.. Its very subtle and also more expensive than the other plug-ins.

Really curious about these, as thoughts are they are geared towards fixing face issues, so more portraits, how would you say it fairs against editing other skin areas? I have started shooting a lot of swimwear, so by nature a lot more skin to edit with smoothing and blemishes etc, do the plug ins work across these areas or do you still have to do this more manually?

These guys have a $100 or more plugin for each variant of an adjustment we use in CC. This is free enterprise at its finest, and it is clear they intend to create the perceived needs that contributing to their coffers fulfills.

I hope they make a plugin for Affinity Photo because I am out of the Adobe monopoly now. I know you can use their apps separately but atm you only get all the masks and editable layers with PS.

@Dewabarasunderan

8 ай бұрын

Duplicate layer, use Plugins, then mask?😅

@chrisogrady28

8 ай бұрын

@@Dewabarasunderan sounds like faffage

Dodge and burn: I still have to do micro dodge and burn myself, a fair bit of it to fix pimples on a chin and the bags under the eyes often need further fixing. Healing: some forehead bumps with makeup over them (for some reason it can't see them). For some reason it removes pretty much all natural spots on someone's skin like pigment spots. It can't differentiate. Hair... It leaves messy hair like messy hair. Fly aways, verticals, tiny hairs below a lip. Lips, simply always need manual editing. And sometimes some dark spots in the neck and in the outer edges of the lips.

have you tried the new mattifier? Thoughts?

For your HEAL-heal-DB action, does the second Heal pass source from the RAW file or the first Heal? I'm assuming you get a "cleaner" result by doing a double pass.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Well, most of my actions run flat with no duplicated layers. I do have a few that run with new layers between the filter and save as TIFFs so I can go back in to restore beauty marks. With that, that action is using the results of the first heal. I run the 2x because the low resolution one tends to patch larger areas than the high resolution, so by doing both you get a broader heal before the DB layer.

Some of their tools are best combined with doing a mask of some sort. I combine my actions them with PS's subject selection to mask in/out the subject/background as needed - i.e. the Clean Backdrop Plugin should mask out the subject and the Portrait Volumes plugin should mask out the background so they only affect the relevant areas If I had the Skin Mask this might be used in place depending on the use case

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely, those sorts of actions can be great when there is subject isolation.

What is your opinion about Portrait Studio pro? A plug in like this one wondering how you think it compares, was thinking of upgrading but seeing this wonder if it’s worth switching. Thanks for your work.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

I'm assuming "PortraitPro Studio" (on version 23 atm), is the same thing. I haven't tried that in like 4-5 versions or so. I largely stopped using that because a) the skin smoothing regularly blended into the hair / past skin edges and b) the interface / processing speed was awful and everything had to be done within it's plugin window. I did think it was impressive when I first used it though, moreso for what you could do to bodies, not faces.

I would like to see a direct comparison between this plugin and using the Glamour Portrait preset in Lightroom then tweaking a little from there.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Download the trial and compare them.

How many computers can you use this on with purchase?

The plugins look great, I just wish they didn't try to spread them out into so many (or at such high of a cost!). There just seems to be so much overlap (A blemish software, dodge and burn software, eye software, Skin masking software, Portrait contrast software, Skin tone software, Teeth whitening software) and they all come at such a high price. While I'm sure the results are worth it (it does look great!) it's almost 1500 bucks to get the whole suite. I would have loved to have seen alternate pricing available for non-commercial work, or at least a bundled suite of the software like other companies do. It's just a hard one to justify, despite how good it works!

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

The separate level of control is the same thing that makes them powerful and efficient in batch processing, or compatible with other options/tools/workflows. It’s tough to make an argument for what to group together when every photographer has different needs and preferences, plus that sort of thing exists, with tools like Luminar Neo. But, with less control comes less predictable results.

@MikeRollerson

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto I totally understand that -- I think my "gripe"(?) with it is that it seems very spread out unnecessarily. While I'm totally fine with them splitting off tasks into different apps (most of the major plugin packages do this -- stuff like Nik, Topaz, On1, dXo), I think the fact that each has a rather high cost (Understandable for professionals, but prices out any enthusiasts and smaller-time business photographers) is what makes it a tough sell. I love being able to customize them, but not when it seems each aspect is split into multiple plugins. I own the packages listed above and a few others, and I love them! I'd love this Retouch4Me plugin also, and it seems to do something that others (like PortraitPro) don't do.. but that ~$150-200 price is the sweet spot and this comes in at 5-10x that price. It would be nice to have a non-commercial license available at a lower price, and the higher end business/commercial license at the premium price, even if some features like batching were only available on the higher end one. I'll be sure to check it out some more since it looks great! But it just out-prices me

@waynedennyphoto

Жыл бұрын

@@MikeRollerson If it helps, the entire suite isn't necessary. I've been using the heal and D&B ones, and they're absolutely fantastic (the D&B in particular is so wonderfully subtle, it's the best plugin I've used). To be honest, the others seem a bit gimmicky, although the clothing wrinkle one looks promising once some of the bugginess gets taken care of.

@MikeRollerson

Жыл бұрын

@@waynedennyphoto Thanks! I'll dig into each of them a little bit and might do that. I guess my only issue there (if you want to call it) is knowing that there are other tools in the set that would help with my regular photo editing (like the backdrop cleanup one, the wrinkle one, etc..), I don't have access to. I'll check them out and it looks like they have a demo for a few? It really does seem like a nice add-on, it's just the cost is a little prohibitive unless it's your main job

@Dewabarasunderan

8 ай бұрын

​@@robhallphotoYou are making 0 sense here and are totally missing the point. How the plug-ins work ("level of control") has zero to do with how they are sold. They could nevertheless offer a cheaper bundle, a non-commercial license aso...

Thanks for the update on Retouch4me! When does the Black Friday deal expire?

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

They haven’t made an end date clear.

Hey, I'm planning to build a new computer, for LR, PS. Everybody says, that good graphics card doesn't matter in PS. I also often use R4Me, and i feel that it uses graphics card to process images. Do you think, that buying better graphics card, will make them go faster? When i have 20+ images that i want to use action with R4Me plugins it takes ages on my laptop, and I have to them in parts because it crashes.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

1st, yes R4M uses GPU, I hear mine blazing every time it runs, and improving GPU utilization is the primary reason for the performance increases since initial release. But, it’s impossible for me to know the bottleneck in your PC, so here’s my recommendation. Run R4M action with the performance tab of task manager open. Dodge and Burn, with high resolution on, on a close up portrait tends to take the most time. Then in the performance tab you’ll see what PC component is being taxed the most by the plugins. So if your GPU is running hard (high %), that is where you can upgrade to see the most improvement in speed. But I can definitely say that CPU and GPU upgrades will make the biggest difference. I have a friend running 12th Gen Intel CPU and his DB action takes like 10 seconds, whereas it’s about 30-40s on a closeup on my machine with 8th Gen Intel. We have very similar GPUs.

Out of curiosity, is there a reason the 'High Resolution' check box doesn't show on mine? I have a top of the line MacBook, so having the horsepower shouldn't be an issue. I love these plugins, been using them since you recommended them last year. Even though I only use the Heal and D&B. But those are spectacular at what they do.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

I haven't seen that or heard of that, I'll check with the dev though!

@timk8258

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto I think you're using old versions of a few of the plugins. The current versions of heal and d&B don't have high/low res, they all have the headshot/half length/full length/auto settings instead. I believe the "headshot" setting is the same as the old "low res" and full length = "high res"... they just changed the nomenclature because it was confusing. Then I guess the mid length is a new in-between mode, and you can just leave it on auto and let it pick for you as well.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

@@timk8258 Interesting, I've always been prompted for updates and done them, but haven't had any prompts for Heal/DB

@RayValdezPhotography

Жыл бұрын

late last year they got rid of the high res thing with the updates.

I'd be curious what you think of Evoto AI, Rob. I've really been enjoying it and think it handles skin quite nicely. It also has an amazing backdrop cleaner that you can easily batch process. And it's fast! The main downside is it uses credits instead of a flat rate or subscription. Still, I like the results enough that I've decided to bite the bullet...

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

I’ll check it out!

Having to retouch 3-5k people every yr (2-10 photos per person), this has made my life easier.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Nice! School photography?

@nessandromendoza797

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto yes!

@kjcka5g

Жыл бұрын

@@nessandromendoza797 is this the main plugin you use for school photography? Do you use any others? Thinking of trying one...not sure which one though.

@aussie2uGA

Жыл бұрын

Have you found anything to autocrop school images?

By far one of the best investments I’ve made.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

So happy to see this. I have to admit, due to my critical nature I always feel like a shill when I speak so positively about these plugins, but they really have been the biggest timesaver in my workflow since I’ve been working in the field. So it’s nice to see others confirm that impact!

I'm attempting to purchase Retouch4me (healing app first) and I'm getting a notification saying that the 3D LUT creator creates the code?? Did you have to purchase that first?

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Nope I have never purchased / used / downloaded the 3d LUT.

Yea but what are the versions? Like version number differences?

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

There are no versions.

What audio mixer you using? 😊

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

I use a Motu M2. Normally I go direct into Audition when recording at my desk but when I screen capture I go into Streamlabs OBS. EQ + Multiband compression in post.

Issue with using heal as a batch function, I have models with various birthmarks etc which heal removed and i have to restore each time, so often I can't use batch sadly 😢

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

I have actions / systems specifically designed for this. Either A) I will duplicate the target folder and run the actions on one and save. Then I will reopen them and drop the untouched copy on top, mask in the few beauty marks and save. or B) I will run an action that puts all the adjustments on a copied layer and saves as a tiff. That way I can reopen, erase the adjustment on the birthmarks / beauty spots, and then flatten. Is it ideal, no, but there have to be compromises for automatic processes. Ultimately the time difference in running a brush stroke on a couple beauty spots is still a fraction of the time of a complete retouch.

@paulchoccyt1303

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto Sounds like a fair solution

Image views too small to show what the software has done. Not enough before/after views.

I must be doing something wrong. When I hit the things I want it to run and then hit run, it only plays the first one in the line up….suggestions??

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

You’re clicking the checkbox, not the name - right?

@lauriewahlig2819

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto mmmm let me check! 😂. Also can you explain how you turned on/off the high resolution when you were making your action? What is your resolution usually? I am using a Sony A1 so wondering what is best to use for my retouching. I love these actions. It is amazing. And they are coming up with a new Frequency Separation!!!???

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

@@lauriewahlig2819en you make an action, you have to run it from the filters tab so that the sub-window pops up. There you can control whether the action will be in high resolution or not via the checkbox. Whichever you choose will be how the action runs in the future. As for when to use high resolution, it’s not relevant to the resolution of the file. Instead it’s about how precise you want the plugin to be, with greater precision (HR on) taking more time. I haven’t seen anything regarding a frequency separation tool/plugin, have you?

@lauriewahlig2819

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto THANK YOU!!!!!!

If you were to only purchase one of the plugins…. Which is your favorite

@robhallphoto

9 ай бұрын

Dodge and burn!

@KimmieB008

9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the quick reply, @@robhallphoto ; I really appreciate your input. So... I love the Dodge & Burn... and decided one more was in the budget. I am stuck between Portrait Volumes (bc I do a lot of high contrast sport shoots) and Heal (bc I also do a lot of portraits)... So which would be your SECOND choice? :)

@robhallphoto

9 ай бұрын

@@KimmieB008 Heal is probably the one to get if the goal is to save more time. Especially if your clientele frequently has skin issues (acne in teens). The Portrait volumes is nice but can be done in a minute or two manually.

How to install the panel?

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Download it and install it, it’s at the bottom of the products page.

@blackdiesel

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto How do I install a CCX file? When I 2x click I am asked what program to use. Disregard I will just continue to use the plug ins one at a time.

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

@@blackdieselI really can’t offer more insight, I double click the download files and hit run and the installer launches.

@blackdiesel

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto It must be installed through the cloud and I always disconnect from the cloud when I use PS. So I signed in and installed it.

Can this be a stand alone app?

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Yes, you can run them standalone, however that zaps all the sequencing/batching power. Good for a few shots but painstaking if you’re trying to apply to large galleries.

I used your affiliate links to make purchase. I can say the one thing this video review is missing for anyone interested in the program is the incredible hard frustrating installation process. Program seems like it is pretty good, but the installation of this program is pretty horrible. On a level of 1 to 10 on install. 1 being bad and 10 being user-friendly and easy. This program is probably a level 3. I still can not get all the operations to run in Photoshop. For the price of these programs, they really need to work on making the install process easier. I am literally almost ready to ask for a full refund and move on to other software. The heal and dodge and burn seem to be the only to that will actually run actions in photoshop. Skin tone correction and portrait plug in installing is a nightmare on Mac. Every time you try to run the action it takes you back to the purchase page even knowing everything is activated. Anyways... this program is not download friendly on Mac at all. Be ready for lots of headaches trying to get the software to work.

@MrBruceRoyal

Жыл бұрын

I'm having an issue getting the initial file to open. Did you have to purchase the 3D LUT creator before any of the plug ins?

All these pictures were edited before using the plugin. Huge fail

@robhallphoto

Жыл бұрын

Which portion of the video poorly demonstrates the plugins capability due to the existing edits on a photo? Cause the only one that deals with skin, had no skin editing done in advance. Fabric? previous edits irrelevant. Background? Previous edits irrelevant. Eyes? Previous edits irrelevant. Skin Mask? Previous edits irrelevant. This comment is a fail.

@Yupthereitism

Жыл бұрын

@@robhallphoto every picture you used really didn’t need much editing. Since that is the case, you aren’t really pushing the software to see how good of a job it really does and can do. Another fail from you