Removing or Lessening Wrinkles

This is a great trick for removing wrinkles, with a little twist at the end (courtesy of my buddy Kevin Ames) that helps make the technique look more realistic. This little tweak makes a big difference because (depending on the age of the subject) removing every wrinkle would probably make the photo look obviously retouched (in other words, if you’re retouching someone in their 70s and you make them look as if they’re 20 years old, it’s just going to look weird). Here’s how to get a more realistic wrinkle removal:

Step One:

Open the photo that needs some wrinkles or crow’s-feet lessened or removed. Start by duplicating the Background layer by going to the Layer menu, under New, and choosing Layer via Copy (or pressing Ctrl-J [Mac: Command-J]). You’ll perform your “wrinkle removal” on this duplicate layer, named “Layer 1” in the Layers palette.