Quick Tip: How to Smooth Skin Without Losing Texture in Photoshop
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Photoshop
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Estimated Completion Time: 20 - 30 Minutes
Download Source Files
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
There are several ways to smooth skin in Photoshop. All to often, however, skin can appear too smooth, fake, and synthetic. Today I will demonstrate a straightforward technique to help you smooth skin fairly quickly while preserving the texture of the pores. Let’s get started!
Final Image Preview
Take a look at the final image that we will be creating.
Original Image
Before we begin, let’s take a look at the original image.
Step 1
First, open your image and duplicate your background layer. Simply drag the layer onto the new layer icon in the bottom right of the layer palette. Now set the blending mode of this newly created layer to "Vivid Light."
Step 2
Now, let’s invert this layer. Do this by pressing Cmd + I or Image > Adjustments > Invert. Then, apply a Gaussian Blur by selecting Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Applying a blur filter to an inverted picture will make it look shaper. Use the slider until you can see the pores on her face.
Step 3
Now let smooth the skin! Go to Filter > Other >High Pass. Move the slider until you are happy with the smoothing. You may notice some ghosting and other weird stuff around the eyes – just ignore it for now. Concentrate on the cheeks, forehead and nose.
Step 4
Almost done! Create a new mask for the layer and fill it with black to hide the image. Switch your color to white, select the mask and start drawing on the skin with a soft brush. Start at the cheeks, move over to the forehead, the nose and stop on the chin. If the effect is too strong for your liking, just lover the opacity of the brush and you’re good to go!
Final Image
We’re finished! I hope that you learned a few new techniques here. If you have a different approach, let me know in the comments!
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By Rainer Hietsch
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Oh and I almost forgot
Rainer Hietsch… 25 year old photographer with 10 years experience with Photoshop.. REALLY!!!! Well I’m 49 and I’ve been using Photoshop since it started and I’ve just spent 10 minutes producing the kind of result I would have expected to see.
If you want to see the result WITH texture retained, then please email me and I’ll send you a copy
andrew723@btinternet.com
there are very very storng logic in side this idea …..
if you wanna reduce the spot , put an i nverse spot(white light spot are needed ) over the original spot and of course ……only the area over the original spot are needed
“Without Losing Texture”
oh really?
This tutorial is wrong.The autor made a mistake because he made a confusion with the steps.
First when he apply Gaussian Blur on step 2 the image that appears is whats happen after High Pass filter.
This is the wright way to do this Technic.
Duplicate Background
Put Background copy in Vivid Light. Invert Layer Background Copy and apply High Pass Filter, Usually a setting between 5 and 15 will do, but try and see what matches your image.
Them apply the Gaussian Blur with half of the value that you give to High Pass, if you use 3 on High Pass them use 1,5 on Gaussian Blur.
Then Alt+Clic on the Layers panel icon Add Layer Mask( is the 3 one counting from the left) this will force Photoshop to Add a Hide All Mask. Them Paint on the mask the areas that you want to reveal. That´s It
If you Know how to work with Smart Filtres them after invert the Layer Backgrond Copy go to:
Menu > Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.
a nice quick and simple tutorial, obviously tutorials for better results are out there but for a beginner, this is perfect, thanks for sharing!
looks extremely plastic
If you were a graphic “artist” and showed this image to your boss you would and should be fired.
People says that is terrible, I think the background of the photo doesn´t help too much, :)
not clear after other and high pass.go to other and high pass then moving slide not working in photoshop cs5 version.then nothing happen.
Tried it, didn’t work. José’s example works better but if you were using this method you still have to blend finished results so it doesn’t look so plastic as well as you the cloning and other airbrushing techniques.
Nice and quick one….keep it up
I found this tutorial to be very informative and this technique to be a keeper. There is more than one way to skin a cat and this one works for me. With some adjustments in the amount of blur, or even the pressure of the brush I got fantastic, realistic results.
For those that threw out insults at the author – so what if his looks different to what you perceive as a good result – the technique described is just a starting point, a basic tutorial that you should adapt. Insulting and swearing etc show your immaturity and I for one hope you get banned from this site.
To Rainer – thank you for the effort. I now have a method that I can adapt to my photos and my situation. Nice one!
Steve
thanks this tutorials are really great … soo nicee.. o love them
Stop making tutorials and go back to flipping hamburgers at Mc Donalds
Chill out dude. The fact that he got his tutorial on PSDtuts is saying something.
I’m not saying this is the best tut in the world, but no need to say he should work a crappy part time job.
I agree with you Nath
I found that, for a picture that size, using a gaussian blur of 4.1 works very well.I also suggest adjusting the levels just slightly on a duplicate layer of the final image so that it has more contrast, then blending it down with a soft light filter at an opacity of 40% and a fill opacity of 60%.
That was just my experience, though. This tutorial really did help keep the texture of the skin. The healing brush can’t do that :P
I just don’t understand who told that do exactly the way it is described ? This tutorial gives you a way to do it. Its up to you how much unnatural or plastic it will look. Those who are not happy with this tutorial please provide your approach to dream skin.
I tried some of its technique along with mine. And its up to you how you want your model should look. In photography also you can see rough unedited and also smooth skins . It depends on purpose for which you are creating it.
As per me it is very shortcut tutorial I have ever came across. Very nice.
This is merely a tweaked version of Mizuno’s tutorial which was created years and years ago. Google it. So many tutorials are tweaked versions of that one. The skin is far from ideal and doesn’t look natural.
And as for techniques to smooth skin without this kind of blurring technique, try D&B but not with the dodge and burn tool. You can go the 50% grey layer route or the curves layer route. It’s too long to get into but the results are very natural. It is time-consuming. Google it. I prefer the 50% grey layer method but I do use the curves method on occasion.
This should never have been accepted. The result is terrible. The funny thing is that the wannabe retoucher omitted her neck so her face looks too smooth above her aging neck LMBO. Don’t say “without losing texture” in one breath and in the next use gaussian blur. It’s laughable.
A lot of professional retouchers do blur the skin with gaussian blur among other blurring filters. But, the decent ones reduce the opacity of the blur layer much more than in this tutorial. Before ever doing a blur layer, other skin issues should have been addressed namely color correction, look at the undereye area, it’s freakin’ orange.
I think I was too harsh, there are many retouchers in this oversaturated industry that produce plastic skinned models. Adriama Lima was in a Maybelline ad once and her skin was so smooth, it looked like it was dipped in plastic. It looked terrible yet the editor saw fit to use it. Her scleras were so white, they almost blinded me.
Andrew Lee,
it is impolite to say the way you do!!!
Nice approach, may work in some cases – but you may as well go nuts with the healing brush tool on a new layer and add a mask. The result doesn’t look satisfying, and honestly, the original picture looks way better.
And btw, it’s generally a mistake to think you can “smooth without loosing texture”. That’s a nice catchphrase, but either it’s smooth, or you got texture. Not talking about little touchups, but this whole “skin smoothing”-stuff might be the easiest way to f*ck up a photo…
Much lower quality tutorial than I would have expected to find on PSDTuts. It looks no better than slapping a gaussian blur and and layer mask over the original. Not impressed.
nick work,but some color on the end of lips doesn’t look much pretty it litter bit yellowness.. that all…..we love you work. keep it going.
Whilst I understand that there’s 101 different ways to achieve the same effect in photoshop, is way is not, any way,to achieve the look.
High pass filter creates and is used for emphasizing details etc, so using it to achieve a soft look doesn’t fit, use this effect if you want to bring out any detail. Vivid light kinda burns and dodges, neither of way should be needed in this effect.
For everyone who’s crying “it’s a starting point” it’s a starting point in the wrong direction.
I’m sorry for a quick tip, they need to be useful, accurate and easy to do (not that this is hard)
I actually can’t find anything positive to say about this tutorial, just because it’s free doesn’t mean you should accept sub par tutorials. The internet is saturated with these things, up your game Tut’s network!
Seriously, guys, the man tried. If this is what he’s satisfied with, then share his happiness with him. Don’t be a douchebag and act like this tutorial is total crap–it isn’t. There are people who can learn from this. If you want to be helpful instead of hateful, tell him there are better ways to do it. Instead of pointing out all of the faults of this tutorial, be proactive and make one yourself. Post a link to it.
And then shut up.
Well said..the person who posted this tute didnt say they were going to teach you how to completely fix the image, they just showed you how to smooth the skin..
thanks dude..!!
Thankkk you very much!!! Your post was so helpful to me!!! :)
very good technique you are champ
It’s on the way, but it seems a bit unfinished. Looks like a rookie work. There’re several areas where it looses definitions. and, it needs some fine brush work. Anyway, a good job
this is an absolutely horrible example of smoothing skin, let alone advertising it as a way to do it without losing texture.
when i saw the end result photo , i mistook it for the before. imagine my surprise that the original photo is in much better condition than the final photo.
seriously… please hire a professional retoucher to do an actual tutorial on retouching.
rocksteady,
danno~
What’s the point of keep the texture when you’r loosing color quality? It’s an absolutely horrible example of face retouching, first because the colors are really unrealistic, and second because even talking about “smooth skin”, the face is not so smooth as it should.
Seriously, I can’t understand how PSD Tuts accepted this tutorial…
“how to SMOOTH skin, without loosing TEXTURE”
Isn’t that like saying how to SHAVE your head without loosing your HAIR….
It’s an oxymoron,
this looks like plastic, unrealistic at all. I don’t see why you just don’t clone stamp or patch up the rough areas. It takes less work and less time, and you get a real look still…
Use this tutorial as reference, not to follow it all the way until the end of the world.
Is a nice work ,but ..
Face is like plastic ,
I think if this is out of the current state is better..
TNX
The Final effect is awesome! But I don’t understand the Principles. Anyway, Thanks for the tutorial!
I’m sorry. The result is very strange
this was great i have gotten alot of people enjoying how thier photos come out. and it was simple to remember how to do it. great job
That’s the prettiest face smoother than i’ve never seen before, look so perfect
Just thanks a bunch for this tut, i really love it
Sorry people but I don’t like this one.
Try using the Surface blur instead of the Gaussian.
Go to the filter and choose blur/surface blur. Try 12 pixels for the Radius and 13-15 for the Radius. Click OK.
Click the ‘add layer mask’ icon to add a layer mask to the blur layer.
Get a medium brush tool big enough to cover the eyes, nose and mouth (not all at once)
On your keyboard hit D, then X to put your color to black. Then paint the eyes, nose, mouth and hair.
Drop your opacity down around 70% or whatever looks more natural to you. I think this way is better.
I love the result and booo about bad comments if you can do a better job jaja okay buy if you don’t know anything about skin correction and you want to do it, well this is for you !!!!! I love the tutorial and the results i get whit this tut is amazing !!!!!
very nice
Thanks for this tutorial. some helpful pointers
Final image still looks photo shopped and blurred, a key sign that you see in amateur face photo shopping. I prefer the use of the clone tool, set to different degrees of transparency. At least then you will get a perfect face that doesn’t look photo shopped. That is the goal, to clean up blemishes without making it LOOK LIKE IT WAS CLEANED UP… This image is just “ok”.
thank a lot
It’s very useful for me, I was need in my job to make smooth skin like that your tutorial…
now , I got it from your tutorial..
so thank again and again
Have a nice life friend…
Sorry, but this looks awful. The texture is completely gone which is ironic because the title suggests that the texture would be retained. Not only did the author forget to fix her neck too, but the whole thing looks very messy and discolored.
Better luck next time…This one’s fit for the trash.
…p.s. The only way I have found to keep skin texture while smoothing is through the lengthy process of dodging and burning after some careful cloning / healing.
Final result the skin looks a bit freaky and not very natural. Sorry.
thanks for tut………….
Nice tutorial – I remember the old technique of using the diffuse glow filter, then masking it and revealing the areas of your choice with the brush tool, a few less steps but not as controlled result… this is better.
BTW – I too am in my 40′s and I’ve been using PS for (I don’t know how long), however I’m of the opinion that age has no bearing on talent… and that if you can do it better then share it and stop being a dick (Andrew Lee!) it’s unbecoming and just shows you up as a selfish know it all.
Personally I enjoyed the tutorial, it was quick, to the point and does the job in less than 10 mins!!!!!!!
wow perfect!
nice tutorial, very helpfull..
wow. this is an amazing tutorial for photo model
Sorry but this is an absolutely terrible technique. It looks very obviously shopped. Skin is still too plastic; areas of high saturation seem to glow unnaturally; colors and tones have been diffused; etc. Never ever blur to smooth skin. Do you ever see magazines with faces that look like these? No.
Anyone who wants to get professional results, this is a good place to start:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=632906
Split frequency healing, cloning, and dodging & burning are the only tools you should ever use to “smooth” rough skin. Never go for the plastic look.