Step by step Smooth operator

Zap zits and other blemishes with our step-by-step guide

01 Zoom in

Get portrait.jpg from the disc, or from bit.ly/ start-40. In Elements, go to File>Open and find the start file. Click Open. Select the Guided Edit mode’s tab. Grab the Zoom tool from the toolbar and click on the image. You can see the pores in our subject’s skin, and a spot below her mouth.

03 Be selective

The image looks soft, so click the Reveal Original button to make it sharp again. Click on the Blur Brush button. Tap ] to get a larger brush, or [ to for a smaller one. Click and spray over the skin to selectively re-introduce the effect of the Smart Blur filter. Don’t spray over details like the eyes.

05 Banish blemishes

Click the Increase Contrast button to make facial features stand out more. Select the Spot Healing tool, then click over unwanted spots with a suitably sized brush, and the Tool will replace them with smooth skin. Don’t remove freckles, as these give the model character.

02 Be smart

Go to the Touchups section. Select Perfect Portrait. To retouch the skin, click on Apply Smart Blur. The default Radius of 1.5 and the Threshold of 32.2 are enough to soften the pores, but the eyes are now slightly soft. Click OK to apply the blur. We’ll fix the eyes in the next step.

04 Soften facial hair

When blurring the skin you may find it useful to press Cmd/Ctrl and + to zoom in. Hold down the space bar to temporarily activate the Hand tool and drag the image to find new areas to smooth. Let go of the space bar to continue blurring. Also, blur out fine hairs around the mouth.

06 Brighten the eyes

Click the Brighten Eyes button. Tap the left square bracket to shrink this tool to a suitable size, then spray over the whites of the eyes to lighten them. Click on Add Glow, then click the Diffuse Glow filter’s OK button for a flattering pro-mist filter effect. Click Done.