COMMON PHOTO PROBLEMS SOLVED
2
Blur the skin
Go to the Touchups section and click Perfect Portrait.
To start enhancing the skin, click the Apply Smart Blur
button. The default Radius of 1.5 and the Threshold of 32.2
are enough to soften the pores and make them less noticeable.
Click OK to apply the blur.1
Start Perfect Portrait
Open ty_elements14.jpg and switch to Guided mode
so that you can open the Perfect Portrait guided edit. In
Elements 13 you’ll find this in the Touchups section, while
in Elements 1 you need the Special Edits section. You’ll
now see a series of touch-up steps on the right of the screen.4
Reduce the facial hair
When selectively blurring the skin you may find it
useful to press Cmd/Ctrl++ to zoom in for a closer
look. Hold down the space bar to temporarily activate the
Hand tool and drag the image around to discover new patches
of skin to smooth. Blur the fine hairs around the mouth.3
Selective skin blur
The image is looking too soft, so click the Reveal
Original button. Click the Blur Brush button and press
[ or ] to resize the brush tip. Paint over the skin to
selectively reintroduce the effect of the Smart Blur filter.
Avoid painting over details such as the eyes and mouth.6
Lighten the eyes
Click the Brighten Eyes button. This summons the
Dodge tool and sets it to lighten highlights. Tap [ to
shrink the brush to a suitable size, then paint over the whites
of the eyes to lighten them. Click Add Glow, then click OK
for a flattering pro-mist filter effect. Click Done to apply.5
Remove spots
Click the Increase Contrast button to make the facial
features stand out more against the skin. Click the
Spot Healing tool button, then click unwanted spots with
a brush tip just larger than the spot. Don’t remove freckles
because these give the model character.