In the article, One click Supermodel Results in Lightroom, we covered what images are great for a Supermodel look. Then, using the Lightroom version of Perfect Skin, we applied a superfast One-Click preset to produce a killer look. But sometimes an image may need a little editing first. Removing flyaway hairs or a blown-out highlight on the nose is what Photoshop was created for. Here’s how we are going to take a skin-damaged image and give it a Supermodel look.

Getting our Photoshop workspace in order

Let’s start by opening an image inside Photoshop. Click on the background layer and create a duplicate of this layer by pressing keyboard shortcut [Win] Ctrl +J | [Mac] Cmd +J. This will give us a backup of the original image. Right-mouse click on the new layer and convert the layer to a Smart Object. Perfect Skin will now function as a Smart Filter, allowing us to edit settings and make changes on a copy of the image. Our workspace is in order, now let’s apply the Perfect Skin filter.

Applying Perfect Skin as a smart Filter

From the Filter menu, select Athentech and choose Perfect Skin. When Perfect Skin loads, you’ll notice it has the same 16 built-in presets, ranging from gentle skin to high fashion, face shaping, flawless skin enhancements that the Lightroom version has. Clicking the Adjust tab allows you to make changes to the preset. If you find yourself making the same changes over and over, save these changes as a custom preset by clicking the Create tab. Click Save to apply the effect and return to Photoshop.

Power of Perfect Skin as a smart Filter

So far, the Lightroom results are the same as the Photoshop results. Here’s where Smart Objects and Smart Filters show their power. Notice the dark circles under the model’s eyes? The full version of Perfectly Clear has a one-click option to remove Racoon Eyes (the dark patches). For the sake of argument, let’s say I don’t have the full version. This is how we use Photoshop to fix the dark patches.

Double click on the Smart Object layer to open the original image. We are going to create a new layer, select a sample color of her skin and paint away the dark circles at about 15 percent opacity.

The skin is looking plastic, so let’s add a little noise to replicate skin texture. From the Filter menu, select Noise and choose Add Noise. Keep the setting low, around 3 percent.

To blend the skin, apply a small about of Gaussian Blur by selecting it from the Blur option in the Filter menu.

Save and Close the Smart Object file to see the results on the main image. Notice we didn’t have to re-apply the Perfect Skin filter. The Smart Object took care of that for us.

 

Bonus Video: Perfect Skin workflow in action on a difficult image

 

Supermodel Skin Retouching Steps

  1. Duplicate the Background layer to preserve the original image.
  2. Make the new layer a Smart Object for easy editing after we apply the filter.
  3. Apply the Perfect Skin filter as a Smart Filter so we can change the settings after we applied them.
  4. Select a preset (Supermodel in our case) and save.
  5. Return to Photoshop and double click on the Smart Object to open a copy of the original image.
  6. The original image appears.
  7. Create a new blank layer to paint on the skin tone.
  8. Add noise to the skin tone layer.
  9. Apply a small about of Gaussian blur to blend it in.
  10. Save and return to the main image to see the results.

30-Day fully functional trial

The trial period lasts for 30 days after your first use of Perfect Skin. It is a FULLY functional trial with zero limitations and no watermarks. Try it out on your images!