Smooth skin in Photoshop

This Photoshop tutorial will teach you how to create a smooth skin effect. The results will look like the smooth skin you see in magazine covers. This tutorial may take some time to complete depending on your image. Some knowledge of quick masks is needed in this tutorial. I have used a free stock image which is available at: www.sxc.hu

Smooth skin in Photoshop

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop.
Duplicate the layer by selecting Ctrl + J.




Step 2

Take the Zoom tool (Z) and zoom in your image a couple of times.
Select the Spot healing brush tool with an appropriate brush size and paint over the spots and blemishes you see on the face.
You can also use the healing brush tool for this step. The healing brush tool is similar to the clone stamp tool, as you have to select a sample by holding down the Alt key, and then paint over the areas of the image. This tool is different from the clone stamp tool as it blends in with the surrounding areas.




Step 3

This step removes wrinkles from the image. Skip to the next step if your image has no wrinkles. Select the patch tool and drag a selection around the area of wrinkles. Then move the selection to an area that contains no wrinkles. For more information checkout the remove wrinkles from image tutorial.


Step 4

Reset the colour palette by selecting the “D” key.
Select the brush tool with an appropriate brush size and select the “Q” key to enter quick mask mode. For more information on quick mask checkout the tutorial.
Now paint over the areas of face, but leave out the eyes, mouth, nostrils and eyebrows. You should get a red painted face like below:



**If you make a mistake you can use the eraser tool.


Step 5

Exit quick mask mode by selecting the “Q” key again. Then choose Select > Inverse. Your image should look like below:




Step 6

Select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose 4 pixels for the radius the click ok. You may wish to experiment with radius in your image.



You should now have smoother skin on your image.


Related tutorials
Change hair colour
Whiter teeth
Change eye colour
Add lipstick
Increase nose size