> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ MARCH 2017[ 064 ]
Step Two: Zoom in and scan over the
image to identify any blemishes with
very little texture surrounded by areas
of similar color. These areas can be
removed easily using the Patch tool
(nested below the Spot Healing Brush
tool [J] in the Toolbar). Drag a selec-
tion around the area that needs to
be fixed, drag the selection to a more
ideal area nearby, and release the
mouse button. Photoshop magically
removes the blemish.Step Three: Prepare for frequency
separation. Make two duplicates of
the Background layer by pressing
Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) twice. Dou-
ble-click the names of the layers in
the Layers panel and rename the top
layer “Texture” and the second layer
“Color.” The Color layer is where we’ll
make all of our color adjustments and
the Texture layer is where we’ll work
with the detail of the image. Turn the
Texture layer off by clicking on its Eye
icon in the Layers panel.Step Four: With the Color layer active,
go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Select
a Radius where the texture of individ-
ual pores is gone, yet the details of the
image are still visible. Click OK. Each
image will be a little different. (Note:
You’ll need to use a lower Radius for
the low-res practice file.)