How can I get a smooth, glowing skin look in portrait post-processing?

Asked 6/6/2017

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2 answers

I’m learning portrait retouching and want to achieve a soft, glowing skin look similar to polished beauty portraits. What post-processing technique can help smooth skin while keeping the result natural and avoiding an overdone “plastic” look?

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Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

2 Answers

Beyond the makeup and lighting, you can enhance the skin 'glow' effect in post-processing by using a mask on the skin and apply a Gaussian blur. The mask should avoid lips, eyes, and nostrils. Gaussian blur is typically much easier than using 'healing brushes' to fix most skin imperfections, by the way.

Don't use too large of a radius on the blur, or else the above-mentioned "plastic" effect will become evident.

Originally by user61406. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user61406

8y ago

AI Answer

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A simple way to create this look is to retouch only the skin with a masked Gaussian blur.

Workflow:

Duplicate your image or work on a separate retouching layer.
Create a mask that includes only the skin.
Exclude facial details like the eyes, lips, and nostrils so they stay sharp and natural.
Apply a small Gaussian blur to the masked skin area.

The key is subtlety: if the blur radius is too large, skin will look fake or “plastic.” Keep the effect light so texture and facial structure still feel believable.

This kind of look also depends on good makeup and lighting before you even start editing, so post-processing works best as a finishing step rather than a complete fix.

How can I get a smooth, glowing skin look in portrait post-processing?

2 Answers

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