HIGH PASS SOFTENING
You can soften your subject’s skin using a great retouching technique that uses the High Pass filter to blur the image. Once applied, you can paint a mask to isolate the blur so it’s only visible over the skin. Here’s how…
1 HIGH PASS FILTER
Create a merged copy at the top of the layer stack by highlighting the top layer and pressing Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E. Click the Blend Mode menu at the top of the Layers panel and choose Overlay. Go to Filter > High Pass, set Strength to about 9px and click OK.
2 MASK THE SOFTENING
Press Cmd/Ctrl+I to invert the tones and create a softening effect. Next, hold down Alt and click the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers panel to add a black mask. Highlight the mask thumbnail, grab the Brush tool and paint with white to reveal the softening effect.