How to use Adobe Photoshop to Smoothen Skin

Step 23

Click the “Add layer mask” icon that you see in the layers palette.Next make the foreground color white and the background color black by pressing the “D” key.

Figure 23.

Step 24

Next, switch the fore and the background between them by pressing the “X” key.Next select the “Brush Tool” and set the following settings: size 50 pixels, set the hardness to 100%. When using the brush you must check to see that your mask is active. All you have to do next is to “paint” the areas that are blurred and that must remain sharp. In the “Layer Mask Display options bar” you can select the color you will paint the areas with and the transparency of the mask.

Step 25

There are several things you must take into consideration when creating a clean mask. First, change the brush’s size frequently (use the “[” and the “]” keys to decrease or to increase the brush’s size).

Step 26

When using a clean mask on large area, use a large brush at maximum hardness (and when masking a smaller area, set the hardness to 0% and use a smaller brush). Always zoom in to see exactly what you are doing and to make sure you do not miss a spot or over-edit the image.

Figure 24.

Step 27

When using Photoshop to smooth a person’s skin, one of the most important things is not to forget to mask the areas that must remain sharp (the person’s mouth, eyes, hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, the contour of the nose). When masking these areas, always use a smaller brush, with a low opacity level.

Figure 25.

Step 28

You are now finished. If you have followed carefully the steps, you should see the differences between the initial and the resulting image. Every problem of the skin should have disappeared and it should have a beautiful, smooth appearance.

Step 29

You can play around with different values for different settings, as you may need to change some of the above presented values when working with pictures in which the face occupies a larger or a smaller part of the screen.

Figure 26.

Step 30

When you are satisfied with the results, you can save the final image. Go to the File menu > “Save As…” and enter the file’s desired name and file format (.jpeg if you are done with it, or .PSD if you want to save an editable version of it that Photoshop can later open).

Figure 27.

How to use Adobe Photoshop to Smoothen Skin

Step 17

Once you have set a source area, you can start eliminating the blemishes from the picture. Do this by moving the cursor over the areas that need corrected. If some areas have a different aspect, you can change the source area by following the steps above.

Figure 17.

Step 18

After you have eliminated all the blemishes, you can proceed to the next step: smoothing the skin’s overall aspect. It is recommended to create a separate layer to work on. Click the Create New Layer option (you will find it in the Layers Palette) and name it “Smooth Skin”. By giving each layer a different name, you will differentiate between them and you will always know on what layer you are working on at that moment.

Figure 18.

Step 19

Merge all visible layers on the active one (do so by holding down the Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E key combination). By merging all layers, you will have also included in the image you will be working on the layer you used when you have eliminated the blemishes. So you will be working on the edited version and not the initial picture.

Figure 19.

Step 20

In order to proceed to smoothing the skin, you have to use a Median filter (you can also use the Gaussian Blur filter. But using the Median is more recommended because the edges are better taken care of. Using the Gaussian Blur filter will fog all the skin’s edges, making the final picture look less sharp).

Figure 20.

Step 21

Select the “Median” filter by selecting it from the Filter gallery > Noise > Median. After you have selected it, set a value of 50% to “opacity” and a “radius” of around 10 pixels.

Figure 21.

Step 22

You can see that the skin begins to look way smoother then before, but there still are some blurred areas around the eyes, lips, hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, as well as the edges of the nose. These margins must be sharp (you only want to smooth the skin and not to blur the image away). Using a mask will allow you to ignore those margins.

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How to use Adobe Photoshop to Smoothen Skin

Step 11

Set the Source option to “Sampled” and be sure to have selected the “Aligned” check box that follows (this option allows you to have a source area that follows the mouse cursor when you select an area on the picture).

Figure 11.

Step 12

Here is how the “Aligned” option works: let us assume you have selected an area in the image as source. When you click in the picture to remove a blemish, the program remembers the distance it first used (between the source and the removed blemish) and it will use the same distance (calculated in pixels) and the same angle the next time you use the “Healing Brush Tool” to remove another blemish. Using the “Aligned” setting allows you to take samples for the retouch from nearby, so the final outcome will look more natural.

Figure 12.

Step 13

There is one more check box you need to enable: “Use All Layers” (having it enabled means that the source can be from different layers as well and not necessarily the same layer you are working on). In the same time, the result of this action will take effect on the active layer (in this case, the layer entitled “Blemishes”).

Figure 13.

Step 14

Now get back to the beginning of the Healing Brush Tool’s option bar and you will notice a small black triangle. By clicking it, you will have access to other settings for the selected brush.

Figure 14.

Step 15

In the window that has appeared once you clicked the little triangle go ahead and set the brush’s size to a value around 20 (18 or 19 are also good depending on your picture). Also, select “soft edges” (so the corrections will be finely done) and a Hardness value of 0%.

Figure 15.

Step 16

Before starting to eliminate the blemishes from the image, you must select the source area. It is best if you select a different source area for each blemish you want to cut out. In order to mark the source area, move the cursor next to an area you can use as source and hold down the Alt button while pressing the left mouse button.

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How to use Adobe Photoshop to Smoothen Skin

Step 4

Now that all preliminary preparations are done, it is time to open the image (if you have saved it after the initial editing) or to start with an image you already have opened in Photoshop.

Figure 4.

Step 5

Go to the File menu and select “Open” to browse your hard drive in search for the picture you want to edit.

Figure 5.

Step 6

First of all check to see if the face in the picture has any imperfections that require editing. You will deal with the blemishes first (if your portrait is clean of imperfections, such as blemishes, the smoothing process is going to be easier and with better results). In order to clear the blemishes away, you will need to work with the “Healing Brush Tool” (you can find in the Tool bar and it has a patch icon).

Figure 6.

Step 7

Before you start editing the blemishes away, create a New Layer to work on (click the Create a New Layer icon in the layers palette). Rename this layer “Blemishes”.

Figure 7.

Step 8

Now select the “Healing Brush Tool” and open its settings (you will see the Healing Brush Tool’s option bar).

Figure 8.

Step 9

For removing blemishes out of am image having a human face occupying most of its center, you will need the brush’s size set to around 18 or 20 pixels and the brush to have a hard edge (represented by a black dot with a sharp edge in the healing brush’s option bar).

Figure 9.

Step 10

Next you will notice a drop down menu containing several “Blending Modes” for the brush: use the “Normal” setting. Next you will see another option called “Source”: leave it to Sampled, as it is the most frequent used (it will use the initial image a source, whereas the “Pattern” setting will require an external pattern).

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How to use Adobe Photoshop to Smoothen Skin

Portraits are some of the most common type of pictures, because lets us face it, people are all around us and it is very easy and convenient to take photos of them. When you first buy a new camera, you generally take pictures of those around you, family, friends, or even unknown people on the street. Also you can take your camera to all sorts of social events, anniversaries, friendly meetings or even in school. However not all portraits are as they should be. This happens for two main reasons: technical and subjective ones. You may not always be able to take a photo under ideal conditions (with the right light amount, with the best available lens). In the same time, not everybody has a perfect face or you happened to photograph them after a hard day when the tiredness is visible on their faces. Do now worry, as Adobe Photoshop has some powerful tools to help you correct minor problems in portraits. Everybody wishes a smooth skin and this tutorial will show you just how to edit photos in such a manner.

Step 1

First, you have to open Adobe Photoshop and load the image you want to modify. If you were new to Photoshop, you would better start working with an image that has a face in its center. It is best if the face occupies a large portion of the screen so that all details are visible (do not start editing small faces of people in the background – they are distant enough from the camera that you might not need to do this).

Figure 1.

Step 2

It is best if you start editing the image after you have performed all other modifications to the picture (resizing, cropping, etc).Also be sure you have a correctly exposed portrait to work on (chose a portrait in which face details are visible and hot hidden completely in shadows or in overexposed areas).

Figure 2.

Step 3

If you have a slower machine, you may want to work with smaller images (a reduces resolution), as Photoshop requires quite a few hardware resources. But do not make the image too small, as a larger image contains valuable pixel details. Always keep a balance between size and the desired work speed.

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