In this article I am documenting my post production worfklow involving Adobe Lightroom, Portrait Professional, and Adobe Photoshop. The amount of time needed to edit a photo using all 3 of these software solutions is significant, so I tend to only complete all 3 steps with only my top picks from each shoot. Normally I will do all of the work within Lightroom, which gives me a lot of control over the image, but doesn’t offer the touch up tools required to finish an image at a more professional level.

Once I have done some general image editing to get the color, contrast, and lighting where I want it I will export a copy of the image and open it up with Portrait Professional. You may have at least heard of Portrait Professional because they advertise in just about every photography magazine out there. I frequently see ads for them in Popular Photography. After trying out a demo version I purchased a copy for a decent price and use it mainly to smooth out skin and hair. It’s a partially automated system that also has some features that attempt to manipulate your subjects facial features to make them more pleasant looking. The settings allow you to change the size of the subject’s forehead, eyes, jaw, etc. Sometimes applying these types of “improvements” will produce some nice results, other times it will slightly disfigure the subject or leave noticeable issues around the area that was altered. I disable these features, but I can see why some people might want to use them and get a little creative.

After completing the skin and hair smoothing in Portrait Professional I will bring a copy of the image into Adobe Photoshop. This is where I will fine tune some left over blemishes, remove or edit any aspects of the photo that I don’t want. An example would be to change the color of an earring, or to remove an earring altogether.

All of these steps take me a little over half an hour to perform. The video accompanying this article was sped up to 5x the original speed and in real time lasts 36 minutes. The good news is the the Lightroom step can be streamlined so that once you have set up the settings for one image you can apply those same effects to similar shots in your gallery with a couple clicks. That cuts down the amount of development time significantly when working with a gallery of images. Lightroom presets also help speed up the process if you find yourself applying a similar style to most of your photos.

If you are in the market for a softbox, but you don’t want to deal with the setup and teardown process associated with them, then I suggest to you the PBL Photo Studio 40″ Umbrella Softbox. This umbrella comes with a permamently attached material used to diffuse the light. The interior of the umbrella has a reflective material (somewhere between silver and white) that bounces the flash back towards the light source, diffusing it in the process. As the light exits the umbrella it passes through material that further softens the light. The result is nice soft shadows in a very portable package.

Example images taken using 2 of the PBL Photo Studio umbrella softboxes. One placed to the left, and one to the right.

As I mentioned in the first sentence in this review, the major benefit of the PBL Photo Studio Umbrella Softbox is that it is very easy to set up. I can have it out of the carrying case/sleeve and set up on a light stand in a matter of just a few seconds. It goes up nearly as fast as a normal light umbrella, the only difference being that you will need to tighten a strap around your speedlight or studio light to prevent light from leaking out around the middle. The build quality of the product is about average. The center rod seems to be made of a pretty sturdy metal that should stand up to a little abuse when attaching it to your stand. The umbrella ribs are capped off by some blunt plastic bits, which is a wise idea since umbrellas have nearly taken my eye out on a few occasions.

The only negative aspect is the length of the umbrella rod. As demonstrated in my video review, the rod stocks out quite a bit, which limits how close you can get this softbox to a model. I believe that the product would be improved if they were to shorten the rod, or make it retractable.

The product comes as a set of two umbrella softboxes (all for $21). For the price alone I give this product a 10/10. The quality of the light is also very good.

Buy the PBL Photo Studio 40″ Umbrella Softbox from Amazon for $20.98

The Yonguo RF-602 has become a standard item for many strobist photographers looking for an affordable method to detach their speedlights from their camera hotshoes. It is perhaps the cheapest, yet still dependable, way to trigger your flashes reliably without having to mess with any settings. I’ve demonstrated this product at a couple workshops that I’ve hosted, and it’s clear that everyone loves them. I have been using them for all of my speedlight photography for the past year and I couldn’t be happier with their performance.

Because this product is so popular among photographers, many others have already published in depth reviews on the Yongnuo RF-602. Their articles provide a lot more depth on the specifications than I am willing to dedicate to this topic, so I highly suggest that you read one of these reviews if you want to learn more about the device.

• InsideTheViewFinder.com Review
• RMPhotographyNow..com Review
• IShootShows.com Review

There are 2 design flaws that I would like to mention, which are the reasons why this product is not getting a perfect 10 score from me. The first issue is that the transmitter does not have any way to secure itself to a camera’s hotshoe. It can easily slide off towards the rear of the camera with the slightest bump. This has caused me to drop it in sand on a beach a few times, which is never good for electronics. The second issue concerns the placement of the on/off switch for the receiver. It is all but impossible to switch it on and off when it is connected to a speedlight. Even Yongnuo’s own YN-560 speedlight is designed so that you can’t easily access the on/off switch. The switch needs to either be moved further forward on the unit, away from the hotshoe mount, or placed on the bottom side. I hope that Yongnuo comes out with an updated product to solve these two problems because that will basically perfect this product.

The Aputure AP-WR3 (also identified as the R7E) is a wireless trigger and receiver combo for Canon cameras. It allows you to remotely trigger your camera shutter button by using radio signals, which makes it convenient for setups where you don’t want to trip over wires. Aerial photographers who attach their cameras to kites, helicopters and planes rely hevily on this type of technology to snap photos. A much more common use is to use this type of remote to take your own photo, for example when you are setting up lights prior having a model or assistant being available to test on.

This is a pretty common item found in many photographer’s bags. It only costs about $20, so it’s inexpensive enough to have laying around just in case you ever find a need to use it. I purchased it for no specific purpose and found myself using it a week later to take long exposure shots in bulb mode, allowing me to trigger the camera without actually touching it. If this review and video doesn’t give you enough details, or if you are seeking a second opinion, check out this CameraLabs.com user review.

Buy the Aputure AP-WR3 from eBay for ~$20

The Opteka OSG14 is a 1/4″ honeycomb grid that attaches to just about any speedlight/speedlite external flash. It comes with the Opteka CL-2 clinch band (aka speed strap), which allows you to add the accessory to your speedlight unit without having to permanently attach Velcro to it. Opteka is responsible for a number of affordable camera accessories, offering items for nearly half the price of other manufacturers.

This item creates a spotlight effect, focusing light in a central area. It is useful for highlighting parts of a photograph, like faces, while keeping surrounding areas dark. In my test photos at 50mm, I noticed that the flash was creating a vignette effect effect on the outside corners of the image when shooting a wall 20 feet from my camera. I will need to prepare some more experiments to give a more detailed report on the abilities of this flash modifier, but honeycomb grids all operate just about the same so I don’t expect any surprises.

The Opteka OSG14 can be picked up from Amazon for as little as $13, which is a steal considering that it costs nearly the same as a clinch band accessory from a third party manufacturer. That band by the way is probably the only disputed weak point of this item, as some reviewers consider it to not grip the speedlight effectively. In my experiences, with proper application of the band will remain on the light as long as you don’t shake it around like crazy.

Get the Opteka OSG14 1/4″ Honeycomb Grid for $12.95 at Amazon.com