ON1 released a bunch of stuff today. There is a lot to unpack, so let’s begin with a summary of what my friends in Portland unveiled.

• ON1 Portrait AI: An all-new portrait editing tool using the latest in machine learning to find every face in portrait photos and make them look fabulous. ON1 Portrait AI runs as a standalone application or as a plug-in to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Affinity Photo, Corel Paintshop Pro, Capture One (coming soon), or Apple Photos. Introductory price: $59.99 (limited time only)

• ON1 Photo RAW 2021: The next version of ON1’s flagship photo browser, organizer, and editor has been announced. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 fully integrates the new Portrait AI tool. Also included are intelligent organizational tools, masking and brush improvements, and a new Color Replace filer. Coming in October 2021. $79.99 upgrade for previous owners, $99.99 for new customers.

• ON1 Mobile Enhancements: ON1’s mobile app got a notable upgrade today. More editing filters have been added, including Dynamic Contrast. Local adjustments and edge-detection masking are new as well. ON1 Mobile is a free app for Apple iOS and Android. Free.

The new ON1 Portrait AI and updated ON1 Mobile are available today. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 arrives in October 2021. Subscribers to ON1 Photo RAW 360 will receive the 2021 update free as part of their subscription.

What’s Cool

With three new product announcements, there is so much to cover. I’ll talk about the features that catch my eye, the ones I think are the coolest. Click the links to get full details from ON1.

ON1 Portrait AI

If you’d used the Portrait module of ON1 Photo RAW in the past, Portrait AI kicks it up a notch. Well, a lot of notches, really. Portrait photographers are going to love this. Speaking as a non-portrait photographer, on the occasions I do capture portraits I really appreciate tools like Portrait AI.

• AI Automatic Retouching for Every Face — Automatically finds each face in your photo, analyses them, and adds just the right amount of retouching, based on your preferences.

• Independent Adjustments per Face — Each face in your photo has independent controls and adjustments. For example, you can use different settings for the bride and groom in a wedding photo.

• Frequency Separation Based Skin Retouching — The skin retouching uses frequency separation to maintain natural skin texture while reducing color and tonal changes across the skin. It creates flawless but natural-looking skin.

• Improve Face Shape and Lighting — Correct common errors in lens choice and lighting by adding fill-light to lighten the face or resculpt the face to thin the jawline or balance out eye size.

The AI Automatic retouching means you can batch process an entire shoot. Let the AI do the work. Also, all the edits are non-destructive. You never give up control. If you want to fine-tune the look for each face, you can.

Portrait AI runs standalone or as a plugin to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Affinity Photo, Corel Paintshop Pro, Capture One (coming soon), or Apple Photos.

ON1 Photo RAW 2021

Photo RAW is ON1’s flagship product. It is a fast photo browser, a photo organizer, and a very powerful editor. It’s been an important part of my photo workflow for years. These are just a few of the new features in Photo RAW 2021 that have me excited:

• Smart Organize — The New Smart Organize mode in Browse lets you take control over your cluttered photo archive. Not only can it find duplicates, but it can find and group photos that have a similar appearance, location, or time.

• ON1 Portrait AI — Portrait AI is fully integrated into ON1 Photo RAW. Flawless retouching is just a click away with the new Portrait AI tab inside of Edit. It uses machine learning to find every face in your photo and make them look great, automatically.

• Custom Brush Shapes — From hard-edged geometries for painting straight edges to organic shapes and even textures, choose from a variety of custom brush shapes or even import your own.

• Plug-in Support for Affinity Photo and Corel Paint Shop Pro — Now you can extend your workflow in Affinity Photo and Corel Paint Shop Pro by access Develop, Effects, and Portrait right inside the apps you use.

• Replace Color Filter — Easily change the color of an object to any new color. It’s perfect for tweaking or totally changing the color of eyes, flowers, buildings, and apparel.

ON1 Mobile

ON1 introduced their mobile app along with ON1 360 in the summer of 2020. The mobile app has come a long way in a short amount of time. The new features that catch my eye are:

• New Filters — Dynamic Contrast (yes!), Curves (yes again!), HDR Look, and Glow are added to the Effects editing portion of the app.

• Masking Tools—Total control over where your effect is applied to the photo. Paint with your finger or use gradients to apply effects to select areas of your image. Masking brushes have edge detections and the tools work with Apple Pencil and Android Stylus.

• Search and Filter — Find photos in your photo library based on a variety of criteria specific to photos and the metadata embedded in them. You can search based on any text associated with a photo, likes, star ratings, and just about any other metadata value in an image.

What’s Intriguing About ON1 in 2021

I find two things quite interesting in these announcements. First is the expansion of plugin support. ON1 products have always played well with Adobe products. In more recent years, Apple Photos joined the fray. Now, Affinity Photo, Corel Paintshop Pro, and Capture One (soon) enter the picture.

I think this is a smart move. Some photographers use the flagship ON1 Photo RAW as their home base for their photography. Others don’t. Changing your photo asset managers is a major undertaking (I speak from experience). Expanding the plugin support means more photographers can leverage ON1’s tools in a workflow they already have established.

The second intriguing thing is the reintroduction of smaller, standalone tools to ON1’s lineup. A month or so ago, we saw ON1 Resize emerge as a distinct and separate product. ON1 HDR and ON1 Effects are offered standalone as well. That trend continues with the release of Portrait AI.

ON1 recognizes that some photographers need point solutions for their editing. Need a better portrait editor? Snap ON1 Portrait AI into your workflow. Need professional-grade image upscaling? Add ON1 Resize as a plugin. ON1 works where you work. Photographers can pick and choose just the tools they need, and often at an attractive price point.

Also notice that Photo RAW continues as the “mother ship” housing all of the modules and tools in a single application. The new Portrait AI is there, Effects and Resize are there, HDR merging is there. If you are a photographer that uses Photo RAW as your home base, you’re in a happy place.

Pricing & Availability

ON1 Portrait AI is available from the ON1 website at an introductory special for just $59.99 (regularly $79.99). A fully functioning free trial of ON1 Portrait AI 2021 is also available for download today, no credit card required. ON1 Portrait AI will be integrated into ON1 Photo RAW 2021 which is coming in October.

ON1 has also made ON1 Photo RAW 2021 available for pre-order today. For a limited time, owners of any previous version of any ON1 product can pre-order ON1 Photo RAW 2021 for $79.99, and receive the standalone and plug-in version of ON1 Portrait AI and start using it today. ON1 Photo RAW 2021 can also be pre-ordered with a 1-year membership to ON1 Plus, and also receive ON1 Portrait AI today for just $129.99. ON1 Plus is the #1 training resource for ON1 and photography and includes over 25 courses, ebooks, 100’s of presets and bonuses, and much more.

For those who like the convenience of subscriptions, ON1 Photo RAW 360 Software and Service subscribers will automatically receive ON1 Portrait AI, the new ON1 Photo RAW Mobile updates, and ON1 Photo RAW 2021 as part of their plans. ON1 Photo RAW 360 always includes the latest version of ON1 Photo RAW and starting plans are available as low as $7.99 per month.

A single purchase of any ON1 products include Windows and macOS versions and support for 11 languages.

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Photo Gear I Use

• Sony A7Rii

• Sony A6400

• Sony FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS

• Sony FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS

• Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS

• Really Right Stuff Tripods

• Haida M10 Filters

• Formatt-Hitech Filters

• ThinkTank Camera Bags

The entire list is in The Gear Box.