Kodak DIGITAL GEM Airbrush
Kodak DIGITAL GEM Airbrush provides a quick way to smooth skin without the need for complicated masking. It lets you control image detail at three levels: fine, medium, and coarse. It effectively preserves fine detail in the subject's face, such as eyelashes and eyebrows, although there is inevitably (and deliberately) some loss of other detail such as wrinkles and blemishes.
DIGITAL GEM Airbrush is designated a "professional" plugin and it works on both 8-bit and 16-bit images, as do the professional editions of DIGITAL ROC, GEM, and SHO. It lets you record a procedure as a Photoshop action and use it for batch processing subsequent images. Also available are pre-written action scripts designed to supplement the product. The Air Dimensional script helps to bring back the dimensionality of the image by adding shadows without affecting the plugin's smoothing effects.
Comment
This useful tool from Kodak's Austin Development Center (KADC) is aimed at wedding and portrait photographers rather than the general user, but there is no reason why an accomplished amateur should not use it.
DIGITAL GEM Airbrush produces demonstrably striking results, being able to transform a portrait image into a flattering likeness by removing wrinkles while preserving other details.
Tech info
- Plugs into: Photoshop 5.0 onwards; Elements 1.0 onwards; (Windows only) Paint Shop Pro 7 onwards
- OS: Windows 98 onwards; Mac OS 8.6 onwards
- Price level: Approx. $100
Kodak
Kodak's Austin Development Center was formerly Applied Science Fiction (hence the web address). It continues to develop new technologies with commercial applications for the digital and photographic industries.
From the same vendor:
- Kodak DIGITAL GEM
- Kodak DIGITAL ROC
- Kodak DIGITAL SHO
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