How to Smooth Wrinkles on an Older Face

When you smooth older skin, the real risk is erasing the texture along with the wrinkles. Blur first, then switch the blending mode to Color so only the skin tone softens; take out age spots with the Healing Brush; and bring the detail back with High Pass plus Linear Light.

Step 1: Duplicate the background layer and blur it

1. In the Layers panel, select the background layer (Background) and press Ctrl+J to duplicate it as Layer 1.

2. With Layer 1 selected, choose Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur (Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur).

3. In the dialog set Radius to 10 px and click OK.

Note: the blur softens fine lines so the colour blend that follows looks natural. If the source is very sharp, lower the radius to 8~12 px.

Step 2: Set the blending mode to Color and adjust the advanced blending channels

1. Change the blending mode of Layer 1 to Color.

2. Double-click the layer name on the right (or right-click → Blending Options…) to open Layer Style → Advanced Blending.

3. In the Channels section, untick R and G and leave only the B channel (experiment depending on the skin tone).

Keeping only the blue channel takes the yellow-red push out of the skin and makes the tone read more naturally. Results vary with skin tone, so adjust as needed.

Step 3: Balance the overall colour with Curves (optional)

1. Select Layer 1 and choose Image → Adjustments → Curves (Image → Adjustments → Curves).

2. In the Curves panel, drag the anchor points to lift the shadows or pull the highlights down until the skin tone balances out.

(This step is not mandatory — you can finish the later steps first and come back to it.)

Step 4: Add a blank layer and remove freckles and spots with the Healing Brush

1. Click the New Layer icon in the Layers panel to create Layer 2, and place it above Layer 1.

2. Pick the Healing Brush tool (J) and tick Sample All Layers in the options bar.

3. Alt + Click to sample clean skin, then dab over the freckles and spots to remove them.

4. Recommended: always do this kind of repair on a new blank layer so the original stays untouched — you can hide that layer at any time to check the source.

Step 5: Stamp the layers, outline the skin with the Pen tool and delete the rest

1. Make sure Layer 2 (the repair layer) is the topmost layer.

2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E (on Windows Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E, on Mac Cmd+Shift+Option+E) to create a Stamp Visible layer, and name it Layer 3.

3. Select Layer 3 and use the Pen tool (P) to draw a path around the skin area — eyes, eyebrows, lips and nostrils excluded.

- When the path is closed, right-click it → Make Selection, set Feather 2 px and click OK.

4. Press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Shift+I) to invert the selection, then press Del to remove everything except the skin.

Why invert and delete? Keeping only the skin means the softening that follows cannot touch the eyes, lips or other details, so you avoid that unnatural blur.

Step 6: Blur the skin again

1. With the selection still active on Layer 3 (which now holds only skin), go to Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur.

2. Set Radius to 20 px and click OK.

3. Drop the opacity of Layer 3 to 75 % so the blur sits more naturally.

For a finer result, paint gently with black on a layer mask to reduce the blur locally — especially at the corners of the eyes and mouth.

Step 7: High Pass and Linear Light to bring the detail back

1. Select Layer 3 and press Ctrl+J to duplicate it as Layer 4.

2. On Layer 4, choose Filter → Other → High Pass (Filter → Other → High Pass).

3. In the dialog enter a Radius (usually 2–4 px; the example image below is a good reference) and click OK.

4. Set the blending mode of Layer 4 to Linear Light and drop the opacity to 40 %.

High Pass + Linear Light lifts the fine skin texture back into view, so the skin reads natural and tactile instead of plasticky.

✔️ Done!

You have now softened the wrinkles, balanced the skin tone and restored detail on an older portrait. If you want to take it further:

Fine-tune Curves so the skin tone matches the real lighting.
Paint locally on the layer mask to keep the detail in the eyes and lips.
Export: File → Export As → PNG/JPEG.

To repeat this on other photos, just copy the layer structure above (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) and apply it.

References

Online PS
Adobe official documentation
Photoshop tutorial sites