Beauty Box by Digital Anarchy - A Lovely Package

There are many tutorials that teach you how to retouch photos to tone down or eliminate facial blemishes. A picture is supposed to last a lifetime and most blemishes are temporary, so cleaning up the rough spots on your subject’s face is fair.  Any good portrait photographer does it, and they always have; that or they soften the shot by putting petroleum jelly or a woman’s nylon stocking on the lens.

Some photographers think retouching and “beautifying” your subject is the same as lying. One said to me, “… and that’s why online dating services suck – nobody shows or tells who they really are.” Not having considered retouching software as contributing to broken hearted single folk, I immediately had to crack open a fresh beer. (I was going to anyway, but this gave me something to think about while searching for the opener and, by then, I’d moved on.) 

Okay, now that the moral, ethical and romantic aspects are out of the way, we can get busy … no, wait, that’s sounds like a “love thang,” too. We can now go over the features (yes, better, whew). In a nutshell, Beauty Box improves the look of your subjects and can automatically smooth facial imperfections.

Beauty Box is available as a plug-in for Photoshop and After Effects. Its automatic face recognition algorithm works pretty darn well to create masks on the fly. Their manual says that, unless you’ve got very high-contrast lighting on the face, creating a mask manually will probably not give you better results. The danger for many plug-ins is that, when they’re applied non-judiciously (ooh, big word!), they draw attention to the results and scream, “I’m over-processed!” Folks then start trying to figure out the corrections and lose sight of the shot’s artistic merits (providing there were some); that, or it just looks bad. Beauty Box is smart enough to apply an appropriate amount of smoothing. 

What this means is that, for instance, if the subject has a large, angry pimple, expecting Beauty Box to fix it is unrealistic and it will leave traces of it (which is better than nothing). It also means that, for substantial problems, you should use the healing brush or other tool in Photoshop first, then run Beauty Box. The software is designed to improve the subject’s appearance but not fix every problem regardless of severity. It softens or eliminates fine lines, evens out pigmentation issues and generally gives the skin a better look, like an instant toner and moisturizer.

You don’t have to be a photographer or Photoshop wizard to get great results right from the box. For basic touch-ups and optimizing your subject’s looks, it’s a snap and delivers very natural skin tones and textures.

There are six control groups: Smoothing, Main Controls, Manual Mask, Advanced Mask, Image Detail and Color Correction. The one most folks will want to know about first is the Main Controls group (see screen capture) and its two buttons: Auto Mask and Show Mask (see screen capture). Auto Mask is the default and you have to un-check the radio button to take command.

The two controls in the Manual Mask group are: Set Skin Color and Add Skin Color. Given how well the software analyzes skin tones, unless there is a substantial issue, let it do its thing. If a shot’s lighting is too hot and you’re past any fixing it with other controls, Add Color can be a great tool. 

If you have a subject that has above average complexion issues, you can often shoot “hot” by overexposing a stop (or so – your mileage may vary) to “bleach” some of the skin tones and blemishes. Beauty Box’s Add Skin Color lets you put back tone and finish the retouching. This is something that you need to play with to get it right, or you could wind up with a mess – don’t do this on a deadline unless you’re experienced with it. 

You can also use the Adjust Hue, Saturation and Brightness sliders for color work. They even say in the manual that, “If you are doing hard core color correction, then we suggest doing that work in Photoshop before applying Beauty Box.” If you do it in the package, you can limit color correction solely to the mask area.

I also use Picture Code’s Noise Ninja and noticed that some of Beauty Box’s controls (like Preserve Edges) are similar. In a way, what Beauty Box does is much like a digital noise reduction plug-in. I’d approach using both with caution as some effects might multiply each other.

Another very cool feature are the three Snapshot buttons – real timesavers, these. You can make adjustments, click 1, 2 or 3, click Save and that rendered version is put in memory to avoid losing your work if you’d like to try a variation. You simply click the View button to see it and compare versions, then click Load to use your final choice. That’s a hugely cool feature you rarely see.

They seem to figure that an eight megapixel file is going to be average, and they advise “average” Smoothing settings for that. Small images require lower settings, and big images need higher ones. Smoothing is the master control and there is no average setting, though, as the software looks at the proportion of face size to total pixels and makes an educated guess as to how much Smoothing to use. So it appears that average means the amount it usually will use on a given area. 

Keep in mind that this package, like most any plug-in, can be used for good or evil – over-applying makes people look plastic and obviously retouched. Good retouching doesn’t totally eliminate pores and other naturally-appearing features – it tones them down. Not seeing pores on someone’s face is more disconcerting than seeing large ones. 

Just as valuable is the manual. Each section has three or four pictures and illustrations showing proper control usage, the original photo along with one done right and under- and over-processed pictures. They point out facial features to look for – such as eyes with low contrast – and how to judge color tones. For those who want full control, the manual has in-depth instructions and illustrations on reading the mask, which appears as a negative. The manual PDF is worth downloading as a primer on retouching.

As always, there are way more features than space or time allows to review. Also, the pictures below are just a few to show some of the settings on someone with some above average problems, hence only portions of the face are shown. Also, the cross-hatching is Digital Anarchy’s watermark for unregistered software.

The Skinny: (5 is best, 1 is worst)

Ease of use:  5, Usable right out of the box with good results

Features: 5, I’m sure there are things it could use, but I can’t find anything it needs

Documentation: 5+, Outstanding and a good resource for anyone

Performance: 5, My machine is problematic (i.e. flaky) and many plug-ins cause random crashes; Beauty Box was rock solid

Usage Results: 5, I’ve got to give it that rating because, if you don’t see the results you want, and you can’t use the manual and coax it out of this software, it likely can’t be done the way you want it

Who’s It For: Anyone who either shoots a lot of portraits and needs something to streamline their workflow, or who has a lot of friends they intend to keep for life, or who needs a good photo for an online dating service

Value for Price: $99 is a fair price if – A. you use it regularly or $100 is an easy flip for you; B. You won’t use it all that much but can’t master manual Photoshop retouching techniques, don't have time or lack patience; C. You’re tired of showing pictures to your mom that you took of her and hearing her complain about your pictures, her hair, her wrinkles, your camera, your photography skills, your … .

PHOTOS::::::::

This first photo shows the original and the same picture with Smoothing pushed to max. It did smooth the skin, but notice the plastic-like effect. Not having pores showing is a bit creepy - kind of like Jude Law as the android in "A.I. - Artificial Intelligence."

This shot below shows the original and the same shot processed using 50% smoothing and no other changes. That's just a hair too much, but at this size it's still acceptable. Notice how many of the effects of age are decreased but not totally eliminated. Again, this is a bit much, but still not bad on a website.

This shot shows the control panel and the mask area that comprise the full screen. The user's manual is quite detailed about "reading" the mask to make adjustments. Below this picture is a full screen shot of the controls.