How to Modify a Face in Photoshop

Photoshop is a useful tool for making small or major modifications to any digital photograph. In portraits, you may want to remove the emphasis on blemishes or wrinkles that poor lighting creates, or add emphasis to eye color. When working on a person's face, it can be too easy sometimes to overdo an effect. Use layers when modifying a face in Photoshop. Adjusting the opacity of your modifications helps them blend naturally into the portrait, without it looking obviously "Photoshopped."

Instructions

Removing Wrinkles and Blemishes

1. Open the photograph in Photoshop. Click the "Zoom" button at the bottom of the window and type in a Zoom level to get a close-up of the face.

2. Click the "New Layer" button on the bottom of the Layers panel.

3. Select the "Healing Brush Tool" from the Toolbox. Click the arrow beside "Current Layer" in the Option Bar and change it to "All Layers."

4. Hold down the "Alt" button and click on an unblemished place on the face to use as a sample. Then drag the Healing Brush across any wrinkles or blemishes you want to remove. Use short strokes for long wrinkles. Take new samples when needed.

5. Click the arrow beside "Opacity" in the Layers Panel and move the slider to make the healed layer semi-transparent. Experiment with the level of opacity to find the best setting for the photograph.

6. Click the "Layers" menu, then click "Merge Down" to merge the healed layer with the original photograph.

Changing Eye Color

1. Open the photograph in Photoshop. Click the "Zoom" level on the bottom left of the window to zoom in to the eyes.

2. Click the "Lasso Tool." Carefully draw a circle around the iris of one eye. Hold down the "Shift" key and draw a circle around the other eye.

3. Hold down the "Alt" key and draw a circle around the pupil of one eye. Repeat this for the second eye.

4. Click the "Layer" menu, select "New Adjustment Layer," and then click "Hue/Saturation." Click "OK" in the pop-up window. This will create a new layer and also open the Adjustments panel.

5. Click the "Colorize" box in the Adjustments panel to put a check mark in the box.

6. Move the sliders for "Hue," "Saturation," and "Lightness" to change the eye color.

7. Adjust the "Opacity" in the Layers panel to blend the added color into the original photograph.

8. Click the "Layer" menu when you are finished, then click "Merge Visible." This will merge the new eye color layer to the original photograph.

References

• Photoshop Essentials; Reducing Wrinkles With the Healing Brush in Photoshop; Steve Patterson
• Photoshop Essentials; Changing Eye Color in an Image; Steve Patterson