How to Airbrush Skin in Photoshop CS3
A quick look at a fashion magazine may leave a reader with one impression of the models -- airbrushed. When models look a little too perfect on the page, digital tweaking known as airbrushing may have occurred. With Adobe Photoshop CS3, no selling experience is required to airbrush skin. You can erase skin flaws with Photoshop's smoothing tools.
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Instructions
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1
Open Photoshop CS3, select the "File" menu and click "Open." Locate the picture with the skin you want to airbrush and double-click the file name.
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2
Click the "Eyedropper" tool in the middle of the "Tools" pane. Click onto an area of skin to use as the base for the airbrush, such as an area that looks healthy and glowing. Note that this color is added to the top-left square in the "Color Picker" at the bottom of the "Tools" pane.
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3
Click the "Brush" tool, which looks like a paintbrush and is located in the middle of the "Tools" pane.
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Pull down the paintbrush head, which is unlabeled but is the second from the left option on the toolbar at the top of the screen. It has a small number on it and a drop-down arrow.
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5
Click one of the airbrush brush heads, which looks like a scattershot. Slide the "Size" bar down to "15." Hover the cursor without clicking over the face. Determine whether the size is a good fit for airbrushing the skin; this will depend on how close up the picture is. Adjust size as needed.
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Position the cursor over the area of skin to airbrush. Press and hold down the left mouse button. Slowly drag the cursor over the area to airbrush to deposit the color over the skin. Release the mouse when satisfied or when ready to move to the next area of skin.
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Click the "File" menu and select "Save As." Type a new name for the image or a version number to preserve the original in case you want to start over in the future. Click the "Save" button.
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Tips & Warnings
At any time during the process of airbrushing skin, you can undo airbrushing changes by clicking the "Edit" menu and selecting the "Undo" option. The exact command will vary depending on what you've just done, such as "Undo Brush." Until you save the file, you can repeatedly "step back in time" within the program to perfect the results. Watch the screen to see the last changes, such as airbrushing under the eyes, reversed.
