This tutorial is written for Photoshop CS3 but there are alternative instructions for Photoshop CS2 or older. If you are using Photoshop CS2 or older, please follow the instructions listed for Photoshop CS2 or older. If you haven't tried out Photoshop CS3 yet, we recommend downloading the trial and following this tutorial with it because you'll learn how to use Smart Filters.

Professional Skin Smoothing Photoshop Tutorial

To begin this Photoshop tutorial, open a high resolution portrait that you would like to apply skin smoothing to.

Once you have the image opened, zoom into 100% so that you can see the full details of the skin while editing.

Photoshop CS2 or older: Duplicate the layer twice to create three layers. To duplicate a layer, press Ctrl+J or choose Layer > Duplicate. Skip the rest of this step.

To use smart filters, we'll need to convert this to a smart object. In the Layers palette, right mouse click on the layer and select Convert to Smart Object.

You should now see a small icon on the bottom right of the layer thumbnail. This indicates that the layer is a smart object and smart filters can be applied.

Applying the High Pass filter

Photoshop CS2 or older: Select the top layer and follow the rest of this step.

This technique works by separating the high pass and low pass data so that they can be modified separately. A low pass is simply a blur and a high pass is the opposite (the sharpness and details). We'll begin by adding a High Pass filter. Choose Filter > Other > High Pass.

The High Pass filter window should appear. Set the Radius to 3 and click OK.

Photoshop CS2 or older: Change the blending mode of the top layer to Hard Light. Skip the rest of this step.

Your image should look gray now and we need to make it blend into the image. Because we used smart filters, we're always able to change the settings of the filter. In the Layers palette, you should now see the High Pass smart filter listed below the layer. Beside the High Pass text is a button that you can double-click to edit the blending option. Go ahead and double-click on that icon.

The Blending Options window will appear. In this window, change the mode to Hard Light. Your image should look overly sharp right now and this is normal because we haven't applied the low pass effect yet.

Here's what your image should look like with the High Pass filter. It looks very sharp because we basically added additional sharpness to the image with the High Pass filter. In the next steps, we'll add a low pass filter that will even out the sharpness of the image.

Applying the low pass with the Surface Blur filter.

Photoshop CS2 or older: Select the middle layer and proceed with the rest of this step.

Now we need to add a low pass filter to even out the sharpness. While we're doing this, we're also smoothing the skin but only on the low pass of the image. We still have our high pass filter to preserve the fine details that will keep the skin looking natural instead of plastic.

Choose Filter > Blur > Surface Blur.

Here's the window that should appear. In the Surface Blur filter, edit the radius and threshold so that the skin looks slightly overprocessed. Make sure that the skin tone looks even but not so much that the details start to disappear.

Here's what the image looks like after applying the Surface Blur filter. Most of the details are still there but the skin is very smooth.

Photoshop CS2 or older: Reduce the opacity of the middle layer.

Now we need to reduce the opacity of the Surface Blur filter. In the Layers palette, double click on the blending mode button beside the Surface Blur filter.

In this Blending Options window, you can change the opacity to reduce the effect of the smoothing. While looking at the preview, adjust hte opacity so that the skin looks natural. The lower the opacity, the more details that will appear so only reduce it until it looks natural. If you reduce it too much, the smoothing effect will be gone.

Finished Results

Here are two 100% crop before and after effect of this skin smoothing tutorial. As you can see, the skin looks a lot smoother but the texture of the skin is still visible. When looking at professional photography, you'll notice that the skin looks smooth without looking plastic. The skin texture that makes skin look natural is what marks the difference between an amateur and a professional retoucher.