This will be our first tutorial on the subject of re-touching a photograph in photoshop.

We will be working on a photo of a model and using a few techniques to smooth and
even out the skin.

Photo re-touching is a fine art used mainly in the media for magazines etc, that doesnt
mean though, that we cant get good results fairly easily using a few photoshop
techniques.

The starting photo we will be using :

The first technique we will be using is the clone stamp tool :

You use this tool by holding down ‘alt’ , selecting an area of the skin that is unblemished
but near to the blemish so the skin tone is similar. Click on the clear skin, let go of ‘alt’
and click over the blemish - this will replace it with the area you ‘alt’ clicked with:
Have a play around with this, zoomed in to the image and go around removing the big
blemish’s.

Once you have removed them, duplicate the layer you are working on and click Filter >
Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Blur this layer by around 0.6 pixels :
Now staying on that layer and selecting the eraser brush, delete around the eyes and lips
so these stay sharp :
Next, take the opacity of the layer down slightly, (right click on the layer, select blending
options) :
Now we will create an adjustment layer, on your layer pallete window click this button :

And choose ’selective colour’

This step is a bit harder to explain as you will need to play with the settings by eye, these
are the settings used in this example :
Once that’s done you should have something like :
As you can see from this comparison, a few simple touches can improve the skin texture
quite a bit:
Related Link: Chicago Children’s Photography Amazing child photography and baby
photographs from Chicago-based Shalimar Beekma

Step 1: Select the Problem Skin Tone.

Using Photoshop's selection tools, we outlined the problem areas in the skin tone
highlights. Feather the selection slightly to help blend the edges.

Step 2: Pick a Good Target Skin Color.

Using Photoshop's Eyedropper, select an example of skin color nearby in the same photo.

Step 3: Create a new Photoshop Layer and fill with your skin color.

Create a new layer in the Photoshop layer palette. Fill your selected area with the target
skin tone color.

Step 4: Set the Layer Blending Mode to "Color".

Step 5: Adjust the Layer Opacity (if needed).

Skin Tone Before and After.

How to smooth skin in Photoshop.

Retouching skin is rarely an easy task. There are no absolutes when it comes to making
skin look the “right” color, smoothing out wrinkles, or reducing blemishes and
blotchiness. This tip will take you through one popular technique for smoothing skin
texture for a younger, smoother look.

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Step 1: Duplicate the background onto a new layer.

Anyone who as taken one of Jason Hoppe's Photoshop retouching classes knows he is a
strong advocate for non-destructive retouching techniques. As usual, we'll preserve the
original photo by duplicating the background image onto a new layer. Simply drag the
thumbnail in the Layers palette to the New Layer icon.

Step 2: Apply the Surface Blur filter.

The Surface Blur filter was introduced in Photoshop CS2. Rather than blurring your
entire image, the Surface Blur filter provides a "smart" smoothing effect that protects
areas of contrast or detail. Notice in our example how the skin is smoothed, yet the pupil
edges in our subject's eyes remains crisp.

Choose Filter > Blur > Surface Blur

Blur the new layer to the point where the skin imperfections are no longer noticeable, but
no further than that. The Radius option specifies the size of the area sampled for the blur.
The Threshold option controls how much the tonal values of neighboring pixels must
diverge from the center pixel value before being part of the blur.

Step 3: Add a Layer Mask. Reveal eyes, eyebrows, lips, etc

To finish up this quick technique, we add a layer mask to our newly blurred layer. This
way we can use the blurred layer to smooth out skin blemishes while allowing the crisp
details from our model's eyes, lips and hair to show through. You can approach this step
in two different ways:

Option 1: Reveal everything on the blurred layer and carefully

expose the areas of detail from your underlying image. For this approach, choose
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All, or click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom
of your layers pane. The layer mask will be indicated by a white icon to the right of your
layer, and painting in black on that mask will expose your underlying image.

Option 2: Hide everything and carefully paint over your

original image with the smoothed skin layer. For this approach,
choose Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All, or Option/Alt-click on the Add Layer Mask
icon at the bottom of your layers pane. The layer mask will be indicated by a black icon
to the right of your layer, and painting in white on that mask lets you reveal your newly
smoothed skin.

Whichever approach you pick, you should end up with a layer like the one shown above
— a virtual halloween mask that smoothes out the skin, yet with holes that let the sharper
details of the original face's eyes, lips and eyebrows show through.
Tip: To keep your subject looking natural, adjust the opacity of the blurred layer to a
level that lets some of the skin's original texture peak through — usually between 50%-
80% opacity.

This is one quick way to create smoother, younger, skin in Photoshop.

The Image

You can get the image we're using in this tutorial from Free Range Stock here. The
technique can be applied to a beauty shot as well, you would just have to adjust the
settings on some of the steps to get a more extreme smoothing effect.
Step 1

If you look at the blue channel you will notice that it doesn't look so good. There are a lot
of JPG artifacts that you dont really see when looking at the RGB composite but its good
to fix it for a variety of reasons. Importantly it will reduce the color noise in the image
and give us more flexibility when making corrections later down the line.

Duplicate the Background layer. On the new layer go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Enter 10 for the radius. Hit OK. Set the layers blending mode to color. Double click on
the layer to the right of the name to open the blending options. Under Advanced Blending
uncheck the R and the G. This makes the layer only affect the Blue channel no matter
what we do to it. Now go back and check out the blue channel. Looks better.

Step 2

Now I will use Curves to balance the color in the image. I suggest using Curves over
Levels for everything. Curves just gives you much more control.

Download my curve preset to your hard drive.

Create a new Curves Adjustment layer at the top of the layers palette, then click the little
button to the right of the Preset control, and select Load Preset and load the file.
Step 3

The technique that we are going to use to smooth out the face doesn't require very much
cloning at all. I do want to use the Healing Brush Tool (J) on any major freckles or
belmishes, in this case her 4 large freckles.
Create a new blank layer just above the Background copy. Select the Healing Brush (J)
and make sure that "Sample All Layers" is checked on the property bar. Paint over those
spots to remove them.

A good rule of thumb is to never modify your source image in any way. That is why we
used the healing brush on a new layer. You never know when you might need to go back
to where you started.

Step 4

Select the 3 layers below the Curve layer. Drag them down to the New Layer button to
duplicate them. Hit CMD+E to merge the 3 duplicates.

Select the Polygonal Lasso tool and click around her face until all the skin is selected. It
doesnt need to be too neat. Now go back and while holding ALT click around and
deselect anything that is not skin like the eyes, eyebrows, lips, and nostrils. Go back once
more and deselect any areas of detail that need to remain like the edge of the nose, her
dimples, her collar bones, and the edge of her chin. This is what my selection looks like
as a quickmask:
Hit SHIFT+CMD+I to invert the selection and then Delete to delete those pixels. You
won't actually notice a change becuase the layers below are the same as the layer we are
working on.

Step 5

Go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter 20 for the radius. Set the layer opacity to 75%.
Select and duplicate the same bottom 3 layers just like we did before. Hit CMD+E to
merge them. Put that layer just above the blurred layer. With the new layer selected hit
CMD+ALT+G. This creates a clipping mask which is indicated by the arrow pointing
down on the layer. This means that the layer on top will use the bottom layer's
transparency as a mask.

Step 6

With your new layer still selected go Filter > Other > High Pass. Enter 4 for the radius.
Now you can really see how that clipping mask is working, but not for long. Set the
blending mode of the layer to Linear Light and set the opactiy to 40%. Done!

Rollover the image below to see the before / after...

This will pretty much work on any portrait but the goal isnt to make the person look like
a model, its just meant to smooth things out a bit yet still look natural. That is why it
works well on everyday average people.

step 1

First let me say thanks to vimark from sxc for the stock picture, you can find it here
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/826463.

Before we begin I want to say that during the process of retouching a portrait we have to
keep two things in mind: first layers and second symmetrical.

By layers I'm refering to ways of manipulating images so at any time (even when you are
finished) you can go back to the original image. This is achieved by using new layers for
each process and never flattening your image.

Symmetry is the word that you must never forget. The human body is only as beautyfull
as it is symmetrical.

With this out of the way we can begin.

Before and after:

step 2

First step is to lighen it a lot. I've done it by creating a very bright curves layer. With both
the background layer and the curves layer visible make a new layer and Apply Image
(CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) leave the name as it is (layer 1). Hide the curves layer and set
the blending mode for layer 1 to Soft Light and opacity depending on how bright the
image was (I used 50%).Again make a new layer and Apply Image, leave the name as it
is (layer 2).

step 3

Duplicate layer 2 and add some Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur). Not to much
cause we don't want it too blury, a 1 pixel radius should do it. There are some parts of the
face (eyes and mouth) witch we want sharp so having the blured layer selected, pick up
the Eraser Tool using a soft tip brush and erase the eyes and mouth areas.
step 4

One of the first things that people notice are those annoying skin moles. Select the
Healing Brush Tool with a soft tip brush (size should be a little bigger than the mole
itslef) and while holding down ALT click on a part of the face that is clean and situated
somewhat close to the mole you want to erase. Let go of the ALT key and brush over the
mole. Repeat this with all the moles. You can also do this step with the Clone Stamp Tool,
but the end result might not be as good as you want.
step 5

Another important part in photo retouching are the eyes. In our case the eyes have been
desaturated and I've decided to give them an angelic light blue color.

Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool make a selction around the iris, create a new layer and
fill (ALT+Backspace) it with the color of your choice (I've used #31a0c9) and set the
blending mode to Soft Light. Next press Ctrl+D to remove the old selection and make a
selection of the pupil, create a new layer and fill it with black. Set the blending mode to
Overlay.

step 6

It's time to give the mouth it's red color back. Hide all layers excepet the Backgroud
layer. With the Backgroud layer selected, make a selection of the mouth using the
Polygonal Lasso Tool; copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) it, turn the layers visibility back
on. You might also want to use the Clone Stamp Tool a bit around the mouth to make to
lips look bigger, but we will work on this in a few moments.

At this point you probably still won't be satisfied with the color of the lips so hold down
Ctr and in the Layers palette left click on the moth layer (the one you copy-pasted before)
and add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer (Layer>New Adjustment
Layer>Hue/Saturation) and give the mouth a red color that fits the photo.
step 7

Next we will give the hair a better look. To do this create a new layer and enter Quick
Mask mode (press Q). Using the Brush Tool (Soft edge) cover all the hair, you will need
to switch between brush sizes very often, do this by pressing [ and ] on your keyboard. If
you have masked too much you will need to pick up the Eraser Tool and erase the
unwanted areas.

Once you have covered all the hair area exit Quick Mask mode (press Q again) and you
will see that the area that you have brushed becomes a selection, it's actualy an inversed
selection so first thing that you need to so is to press Ctrl+Shft+I. With the blank layer
selected fill it with a color of you choice, I went for a blonde tone (color #706f4a) and set
the blending mode to Soft Light.

You will notice that the dark areas are not the color you want them to be so make a new
layer, enter Quick Mask and repeat the steps above, this time only for the dark areas. Also
use a ligher color than the oine you used before. Blending mode remains Soft Light.
step 8

Next we will take care of those dark portions of skin below the eyes. With the Healing
Brush Tool repeat the steps from the mole covering part of this tutorial. We can also see
some wrinkles below the eyes. Again the Healing Brush is the tool of choice, only this
time we will use a very small brush (about 2-3 pixles should do it).
step 9

An important aspect of the face is the nose and we want to make this thinner than it is. To
do this create a new layer and Apply Image (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E). With this new layer
selected enter the Liquify filter; Filter>Liquify. Using the Turbulence Tool (with the
following settings: Brush Size:40, Brush Density:50, Brush Pressure:22, Brush Rate:80,
Turbulence Jitter:50) brush from the outside to the inside to make the nose thinner.

Also you can use this to enlarge the lips a bit (this time you need to brush from the inside
to the outside).

Be careful not to exaggerate!

step 10

Remember what I was saying at the begining of this tutorial? We need to make sure the
face is symmetrical. By looking at the eyelashes we can see that her right eye appears to
have more eyelashes than her left eye. Working on the left eye only, this can be fixed
either with the Clone Stamp Tool or by making a selection of some eyelashes, copy and
paste, press V and use the arrow keys on you keyboard to postion the new eyelashes
between the old ones. Repeat untill you have roughly about the same amount of eyelashes
on both eyes.

I also want to make the portion above the left eye just a little bit brighter cause it's too
dark compared to rest of the face, this can be done several ways. One way is with the
Heal Brush Tool, but it might appear to blury in some cases so I recoment making a
section with the Polygonal Lasso Tool, feather (Alt+Ctrl+D) it one pixel, fill it with white
and set it to a good blending mode.

step 11

Finaly we need to give the photo a warmer color. You can do this with a Photo Filter
adjustment layer. The Density should be around 10% and make sure that the Preserve
Luminosity box is checked; obviously a warming filter should be selected.

You are done!