Getting rid of blemishes and spots.

Open your image in Photoshop.

  • Create 2 copy layers of your background.
    • On layer 1 rename the layer to “low”.
      • Go to FILTER– select, NOISE and then select dust and scratches. Make the radius between 20 and 25.
    • On layer 2 rename the layer to “high”
      • Go to IMAGE – APPLY IMAGE under Layer select LOW, select SUBTRACT and change the scale to 2 and Offset to 128. Change the layer mode from normal to linear light.

    • Get the healing brush – ensure that the brush is on Current layer and on the high layer select the blemishes you wish to remove.

If at this point you are happy with the changes you have made to can is wish flatten the layers.

Smoothing the skin

Now that you have removed the blemishes we need to smooth the skin a little but still keep some definition.

  • Create 3 copies of your background layer
    • On layer 1 rename to “Smooth”
      • Go to FILTER select Noise – MEDIAN to 30
    • On layer 2 rename to “Texture”
      • Go to FILTER – OTHER-HIGH PASS increase the radius to between 10 and 15. Change the layer mode from Normal to Soft Light or Overlay.
    • On layer 3 rename to “Working” create a layer mask.
      • With a soft black brush with a flow of 100% and Opacity of 100% and a hardness of 18%
      • Turn off the Background and Smooth layers
      • Using a black brush and on the mask on layer 3 “Working” bush over the skin avoiding the eyes, eye brows and lips.
      • Continue to brush over other parts of the skin such as arms, hands, and leg etc,. The painting with the brush should be grey, this is just to show you where you are brushing.
    • Click the Background and Smooth layers back on and see if you like the finish. If the skin is too smooth lower the opacity of the Smooth layer or if the skin is not smooth enough lower the opacity of the Texture layer. This is all to suit your own taste.