Every AI upscaler I try smears skin into plastic, and I finally figured out why
I have tested about 9 different AI upscalers on the same set of 140 portraits I shot at a wedding in Denver, and almost all of them turn faces into wax. The reason is nobody bothers matching the model to the photo type. A model trained on anime or product shots will melt pores and freckles because it was never taught what real skin looks like at 200 percent zoom. I started splitting my batch by lighting, and the muddy indoor shots needed a totally different setting than the bright outdoor ones. My keeper rate went from maybe half to 80 percent just from that one change. If your upscales look like plastic dolls, check what the model was trained on before you blame your camera. What are you all using for low light portraits, because I still have not found one that handles noise without sanding off eyelashes.