portraits
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The best lenses for Fujifilm X mount
If you have an interest in portrait photography, and if you can afford it, the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R is a no-brainer. Images are sharp edge-to-edge, even when wide open, and out-of-focus areas are buttery smooth. It's not quite as fast to focus as the 50mm on this list, but optically this is perhaps the best Fuji lens money can buy. READ ON: The best lenses for Fujifilm X mount
MIT project transforms selfies into pro-style portraits
As it stands, you can spice up your selfies with Instagram filters and other edits before beaming to the interwebs. But what about making a truly compelling smartphone self-portrait? Well, a team of researchers from MIT -- alongside folks from Adobe and the University of Virginia -- created an algorithm that could allow you to accurately apply the stylings of critically-acclaimed portrait photographers to everyday self-made snapshots. According to MIT grad student YiChang Shih, "style transfer" from the likes of Instagram and other filter-applying apps isn't well-suited for complementing facial features. Instead, this software uses existing works (Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, and Martin Schoeller are cited as examples) and makes an appropriate match with the captured image. Eyes, beard, skin and lighting are all compared to make an ideal pairing before applying the artistic details. "You can't get stylizations that are this strong with those kinds of filters," says Adobe's Robert Bailey. "You can take a photo that has relatively flat lighting and bring out portrait-style pro lighting on it and remap the highlights as well."
Beautune is a capable OS X editor for making portraits
The digital era has given us a bountiful selection of apps to improve portraits we take. Photoshop, long the favorite for improving and retouching, is being challenged by a variety of apps that complete a single task -- improve portraits. Beautune, released today in the Mac App Store, is a US$49.99 Mac app for correcting flaws in portraits. It's good for executing the kind of "repairs" we see on magazine covers. The work starts when you import a photo. Closeup view work the best, as you want as much resolution as possible. You go through a series of steps to adjust the face, eyes and mouth. An advanced menu is available for cropping, sharpening, defocusing and adding effects and frames. You can share your work with others via email and several popular social networks. It's easy to get carried away with Beautune, as it is with many image-editing tools. Overdo it and you'll leave your subject's skin pasty and unrealistic. Used with care, you can clean up an image so it looks great for a staff photo, Facebook or just sending to family and friends. In terms of pricing, Beautune sits about in the middle of portrait apps. Perfect 365 is $39.99 and is mostly automatic in operation, but offers less control. At the other extreme is Portrait Professional, which is normally $79.90, but is currently on sale for $39.95. That's a terrific bargain for such a powerful portrait editor. At the sale price, Portrait Professional would be my first choice. I have used all three programs, and they're all quite capable. However, Perfect 365 and Beautune suffer from feature limitations when compared to Portrait Professional. Yet all the programs can improve a photo if used with care. You can check some sample photos out at the Mac App Store. Beautune requires OS 10.6 or later. It is available in the Mac App Store, or directly from the Beautune website. Beautune can certainly do the job, but at the sale price, Portrait Professional would have my vote as the best portrait editor currently being offered.
Facetune is a powerful portrait editor for iOS
It's amazing how many editing tools that used to require Photoshop are migrating to inexpensive iOS apps. Facetune, a US$2.99 app for the iPhone can take any portrait and retouch complexion, eyes (even changing eye color), remove stray hair, add hair where it is missing, change hair color and whiten teeth. Blemishes can be removed, and complexion can be smoothed. Once you are done, you can add some built-in filters, then share the photo via your favorite social network or email. The app starts up the first time with some on-screen help, but most of the functions are pretty obvious. It was easy to improve a photo taken with the iPhone, especially since close-ups with the iPhone camera suffer from a bit of barrel distortion, leaving faces looking heavier than real life. Of course Facetune can fix that, or exaggerate it, so like any photo editor, you can leave reality behind or just make subtle improvements. I especially like the patch tool. Click on a mole or blemish and the app takes some pixels from an adjacent part of the face to replace it. If you don't like the area you selected, you can change where the pixels are being sampled. The final edit looks natural. Facetune has a competitor called Perfect365 (free). It performs the same functions, but in a different way. Perfect365 analyzes the image and lets you apply a number of templates to clean up the portrait. It also has some manual tools. Both apps are very effective at what they do. Perfect365 is a bit more automated, while Facetune gives you more hands-on editing tools. I think the only caution I would add about any of these programs is that it is easy to overdo. Faces can become pasty or ghost-like. Having a face too perfect just looks fake and is not usually flattering. Facetune is great for cleaning up photos you might use on Facebook, or on any photo you want to share. You'll also likely find many friends will be sending you their photos for you to enhance. The app is a clever and powerful tool that does what it advertises and really can improve portraits. If you have a need to do some retouching right on your iPhone, Facetune is an excellent choice. Facetune is designed for the iPhone and iPod touch. An iPad version is on the horizon with some additional features. The app is optimized for the iPhone 5 and requires iOS 5 or greater. Check the gallery for some sample photos. %Gallery-193200%
Photo Shaper for iOS is a nice way to create a memorable portrait
There aren't a lot of apps that specialize in portraits, but Photo Shaper (on sale for US$1.99 on the App Store) does just that. The app is simplicity itself. Take a photo using the camera controls in the app, or grab something from your Camera Roll. The app mattes a circle around the photo, and gives you a wide choice of backgrounds. When you are happy, you can share the photo with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or, of course, email. The results look professional, and I think the app would be good for creating profiles on social networks, or just adding a unique look to any portrait. %Gallery-179189% The only thing I didn't like is that you have to position and size your photo before the matte appears. It would be more logical to actually see what the image will look like, then make the adjustments. It's not enough of an issue to avoid the app, but editing in-frame would be the best way to do it. The app requires iOS 4.3 or greater and is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Daily iPad App: Perfect365 touches up faces in a snap
I'm really impressed when powerful applications or techniques migrate to iOS and seem to work as well (or better than) as they do on the desktop. A good example is Perfect365 HD. This iPad app lets you take a photo of a person and modify it, 'improving' their facial structure, lips, eyes, nose, cheeks -- just about any part of the face that may need a nip here or a tuck there. Basically, the app gives any person a one click makeover. It's plastic surgery without the risk. Portrait photographers and advertising agencies have been using these techniques for years, but usually the work is complicated and takes a long time. Perfect365 can do it in a click or two. Facial recognition features identify the parts of the face and with a couple of clicks your can turn your significant other into something a bit beyond their normal look. You can be subtle or extreme. Images can be from your photo albums, or you can activate your camera and take the picture any time you want. When you're done, the enhanced image can be saved back to your photo album, or sent to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr. I tried the app on some pictures of people I had stashed on my hard drive, and I must say the results are pretty amazing and easy to accomplish. Some friends really liked the enhancements, some found it all a bit creepy. I found subtle changes were the best, cleaning up complexions or whitening teeth. The app provides a before and after view so you can see exactly what has changed. I have some examples in the gallery. The app sells for US $4.99. I've used some Mac applications that are far more expensive but give similar results, although they offer more control and features. There's an iPhone version of the app that is now selling for $1.99. If you're a casual photographer with friends that aren't happy with their 'look' I'll bet this app will please them and make you popular at the same time. With the holidays here up you may be taking a lot of photos, and I think you'll be pleased with Perfect365. The app requires iOS 3.2 or greater. Arcsoft, the company that created the app, also has a Mac OS X version coming with, you guessed it, more control and more features. Check the gallery for some before and after photos. %Gallery-139899%
Reader UI of the Week: Luis' UI
Each week, WoW.com brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs. Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send your screenshots, along with info on what mods you're using and some background information, to readerui@wow.com. Welcome to another exciting installment of Reader UI of the Week, the greatest user submitted user interface column on WoW.com! This week, a gorgeous compartmentalized UI invaded my inbox, and I had to share. As frequent readers of this column are well aware, I am also a huge fan of using portraits in off-kilter, non-traditional ways. What do you know, Luis' UI does both of these things. Read on, friends!
TUAW review: Create perfect self-portraits with Self Image
How many times have you tried to take a picture of yourself or you and a buddy with your iPhone, only to end up with your face well out of the frame? The folks who brought you the fun panoramic photo app, Pano, have just delivered their latest creation to the App Store -- Self Image is now available for just US$.99. Self Image uses sophisticated face-detection algorithms to let the iPhone camera know when it has a face or two in the field of view, at which time it begins a countdown to get you ready for a photo. The app is simple to use -- you launch it, press a button marked with a "1" if you're taking a photo of yourself, "2+" if taking a photo of yourself with a friend or two, or "self-timer" if you want to just take a photo with a self-timer. If you're taking a self-portrait, Self Image searches for a smiling face (or faces, if you are with friends), and then begins a three-beep countdown when it finds one. When the picture has been taken, it is saved to your camera roll. In practice, this works very well provided your face is properly lit. In dark conditions, Self Image might have trouble finding your face, at which point you'll want to find some light. Self Image is definitely tuned for human faces. I tried unsuccessfully to get it to recognize my cat's face, and I only succeeded in annoying the cat. Be sure to take a look at the gallery below for some screen shots of the app in action, although unfortunately the only portraits you're going to see are of my face. Arrrrgh. %Gallery-85719%
Atlantica Online opens Van Gogh's Gallery, adds the Minstrel Paganini to their mercenaries
When Atlantica Online adds a new update, you know it's going to be a unique tie in to the history of the world. This update is no different, as Atlantica adds a brand new, reality bending dungeon to their mix -- Vincent Van Gogh's Gallery.Van Gogh's paintings have been collected by his friends, and have been put on display together in a local church. But, when the paintings start to react with one another and open doors into other dimensions based on Van Gogh's work, it's up to the players to find out what's going on and what drove Van Gogh to madness before his death.Other aspects of this expansion include the addition of the Minstrel Paganini (the woman shown above), a brand new music wielding class based on the 17th century violinist Niccolo Paganini. The level cap is also being increased from 120 to 130, which also means that a few of your mercenaries will bet getting upgrades as well!All in all, this looks to be a trippy addition to an otherwise solid free-to-play title. We applaud the use of Van Gogh's paintings as the new dungeon because, quite frankly, it's a pretty unique concept. Enjoy your decent into madness, Atlantica players! Don't cut off your own ear!
Mondolithic Studios creates oil portraits of virtual world characters
Here's another WoW/virtual character portrait studio -- we've covered a few before -- but I think it's the first place we've ever seen that will actually create an oil-on-canvas portrait of whatever character you choose. Most folks do it with digital art or illustration, but Mondolithic Studios goes the extra mile -- not only will they actually put a painting together, but they'll show up to photograph you in your element, too. Lots of artists use reference shots that you send them, but Mondolithic apparently aims for "combat photography," which means they'll have a toon in world with you to watch you do your thing.Interesting. There's only a few samples there at the moment, but they'll probably have more when and if business picks up. The style is quite interesting -- it certainly is oil paint, but rather than going realistic, it seems like it's designed more to mimic the actual look of the game, with a few weird polygon angles and designs.Unfortunately, there's no mention of price at all (you have to email them for estimates), but odds are it isn't cheap. Then again, if you're in search of a one-of-a-kind oil portrait of the character you've sunk so much time into, this just might be worth the money you put into it.[Via Massively]
Custom character portrait gallery
Acaciaizm.com has a new gallery of character portraits commissioned by players on EU-Daggerspine and beautifully brought to life by artist Dalayur. The fanart on the official site is also breathtaking at times; the amount of talent in the WoW community never fails to amaze me.What's particularly interesting about Dalayur's work is that he charges in-game gold for it; the topic of virtual currency for real assets is hotly debated by theorists and academics, and in this case the result is a real picture of a virtual character, complicating the issue even more!
