by Using Photoshop to retouch the human face and body is a process that requires learning about the inner workings of channels, layers, masking, and many subtle techniques to get truly professional results. However, for iOS users, there’s a better solution for these particular tasks in the form of Facetune, a deceptively simple gem designed for fashion and beauty work that is capable of delivering some minor miracles with the utmost of ease.
The new iPad version is a study in clean interface design. After you import an image — and you’ll be warned if it’s not of a high-enough resolution to be effective, something you don’t often see in an iOS graphics app — a row of icons along the bottom of the screen takes you into the discrete editing modes. These are primarily designed to deal with the typical issues that arise in fashion and facial photography: skin blemishes and texture, red eye effect from flash photography, stained or discolored teeth, and other gremlins that often require hours of detailed, careful image editing.
Facetune offers a minimal set of controls for each mode, mostly focusing on the size and strength of the application brush. Even a seasoned image retoucher like this reviewer was astounded at the ease of use and overall quality of the primary tools – removing wrinkles and pimples becomes a truly effortless process, and while there are some compromises in terms of total tweakability, the average Jane or Joe will find the process and results nothing short of a revelation. You can tap a button to quickly compare the before and after results, which is a subtle – but nice – touch.
While there is a category for manipulating color correction values, it’s stuck on some basic presets, and we definitely bemoaned the absence of even basic Levels or Curves tools. The included graphic borders and frames are as simplistic as they get, and while workable, nothing to crow over. Just a few additions to the color correction controls would be a real boon to this otherwise very fine software.
The bottom line. If you spend a lot of time playing with pictures of people’s faces, Facetune is the best such tool you’ll find on the App Store. Now, where is the Mac version?
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