PS Tutorial: Portrait Retouching and Skin Brightening

Step 1 – Duplicate the layer (blemish work)

1️⃣ In the Layers panel, select the original Background layer (Background) and press Ctrl + J to duplicate it. Name the copy “Retouch”.

Once the copy is made, keep the original layer underneath for comparison later.

Step 2 – Heal the skin

Use two healing tools together:

• 🛠 Spot Healing Brush: click once directly on the blemish.
• 🛠 Healing Brush: hold Alt (Option on Mac), click to sample the surrounding skin, then brush over the blemish.

💡 Tip: work at 100 % – 200 % zoom for more accuracy.

Step 3 – Channel-based smoothing (from the Blue channel)

① Copy the Blue channel

Open the Channels panel (Ctrl + 3) and right-click the Blue channel → “Duplicate Channel”. Blue holds the most detail, which suits the High Pass step that follows.

② High Pass filter

Go to Filter → Other → High Pass and push Radius to its maximum (depends on image resolution; usually 8‑12 px). The aim is to exaggerate pores and rough texture.

③ Apply Image

Open Image → Apply Image and set the following (keep the defaults):

④ Clean the non-skin areas with a white brush

Create a new white layer, choose a brush with hardness 0 and 10% flow, and paint white over the eyes, eyebrows, mouth and other non-skin areas so they aren't processed by mistake later.

⑤ Invert and load the selection

First invert the Blue channel with Ctrl + I, then Ctrl + click the Blue channel thumbnail to load it as a selection.

⑥ Back to RGB, brighten with Curves

Hide the Blue channel layer and return to the composite RGB view. Add a Curves adjustment layer and on the RGB channel move the midpoint up slightly (about +10) to raise overall brightness.

Step 4 – Dodge and burn on 50% grey (detail work)

① Build an observation group

1. Right-click in the Layers panel → “New Group” and name it “Observe”.
2. Inside the group, add a black-and-white layer: duplicate the current image → Image → Adjustments → Desaturate.
3. Add another layer filled with black and set its blend mode to Soft Light.
4. In the same group add a Curves adjustment layer and pull the curve diagonally up to boost contrast (lower the layer opacity if it gets too dark).

② Turn the group off and create the 50% grey layer

Below the observation group, add a new layer (name it “50% grey”), fill it with #808080 and leave the blend mode at Normal.

③ Blend the shadows with the brush

Turn the observation group back on so it's visible.

• Brush hardness 0, flow 10%, size set to the facial area (5‑10 px).
• Use dark grey (#404040) to brush lightly in the facial shadows.
• Use light grey (#b0b0b0) to brush lightly on the highlights.
• When you're done, turn the observation group off (the grey layer you painted stays).

This makes the later high/low frequency separation smoother.

Step 5 – Frequency separation (detail and colour on separate layers)

① Stamp the layers and name them

Select the topmost layer in the Layers panel (the one containing all the retouching) and press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create a stamped layer.

Duplicate that layer twice, name them “Low frequency” and “High frequency”, and put both into one group called “Frequency separation”.

② Low frequency

• Hide the high-frequency layer.
• On the low-frequency layer run Filter → Noise → Dust & Scratches with Threshold at 0 and Radius tuned to how blurred the eyelids are (about 2‑3 px).

③ High frequency

• Show the high-frequency layer and hide the low-frequency one.
• On the high-frequency layer run Image → Apply Image (source layer: the same high-frequency layer) and keep the defaults.
• Change the high-frequency layer's blend mode to Linear Light.

④ Combine

Turn the frequency separation group back on. Leave the low-frequency layer at Normal with opacity around 65 %; the high-frequency layer is already Linear Light, so drop its opacity to about 35 % for soft, detail-preserving brightening.

Step 6 – Detail clean-up (brows, eyes, stray hair)

• On the high-frequency layer use the Clone Stamp tool to sample clean skin near the eyebrow and sweep away the stray hairs around it.
• Use the Dodge/Burn tools to redraw the brow shape (flow 8‑12%) so the eyebrows look natural.
• If the eyes show obvious noise, leave them for Step 7.

Step 7 – Remove noise from the eyes

1. Select the Lasso tool (L), click around the left eye, then hold Shift and click around the right eye to combine the selections.
2. Duplicate the selection to a new layer (Ctrl + J) and name it “Eyes‑denoise”.
3. Run Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation on that layer and set Saturation to -50 (leave everything else) — that visibly reduces colour noise in the eyes.
4. Create a clipping mask (Ctrl + Alt + G) so this step only affects the eyes.

Step 8 – Strengthen the lip colour (paint a deep red lip)

1. Use the Pen tool (P) to trace the outer lip line, then Ctrl + Enter to turn the path into a selection.
2. Duplicate the selection (Ctrl + J) into a new layer called “Lip line”.
3. Trace the inner contour with the Pen again, load that selection and press Delete to remove the inside, leaving only the lip line shape.
4. Add a new layer, fill it with deep red (#b71f18), set the blend mode to Soft Light or Overlay and opacity around 45 % for a fuller lip colour.

Step 9 – Colour correction (overall lift & neutralising the yellow cast)

① Blue curve to suppress yellow

Add a “Blue curve” adjustment layer (switch the channel to Blue) and lift the middle slightly to weaken the overall yellow cast.

② Overall brightness

Add an RGB curve and move the lower-left point up slightly so the shadows lift and the whole frame gets brighter.

③ More contrast

Use Image → Adjustments → Levels or a Brightness/Contrast adjustment to raise contrast moderately so the skin has more depth.

④ Final tweaks

If the result still reads dark, add one more “Curves” layer on top of the output layer and move the left midpoint up about 10‑15 for a brighter image.