How to Smooth Skin in Lightroom? Easy Steps in 2024

Having smooth skin in photos can make a big difference, especially in portraits. It helps create a polished and professional look. Removing all the blemishes, pimples and smooth skin can be achieved by following simple steps in Adobe Lightroom. In this article, we’ll explore how to achieve smooth skin using Lightroom, a powerful photo editing tool known for its user-friendly features.

Step 1: Removing Spots with the Bandage Tool

Our first job to get smooth and clear skin in Lightroom is to remove all the visible pimples and spots manually so that when we apply further settings for retouching and smoothening skin, it gives better results. Think of the Bandage Tool in Lightroom as a little eraser for spots on your skin in photos. It helps take away any tiny marks or imperfections, making your skin look nice and clean.

• Click on the Bandage Tool icon. Sometimes, it might be called “Spot Removal” in Lightroom.

• Select the heal bandage and adjust its settings like size etc depending upon the size of pimples and blemishes.
• Now apply this healing bandage to all your visible spots. If you want to be super careful, you can zoom in on the photo. This helps you see the small details and make sure your skin looks smooth.
• Every now and then, zoom out and look at the whole picture. Make sure you get rid of all the spots. The goal is to have a picture with no little marks.
• Using the Bandage Tool makes your photo look fresh and clean, ready for the next steps in making your skin look even smoother.

Smooth skin In a Lightroom

Let’s smooth the skin in Adobe Lightroom: 

To make your skin beautiful, soft, and smooth, you have two options. Option 2 is my favorite and option 1 is famous. So, as a gentleman, I’ll explain option 1 first.

Option 1: Using the Adjustment Brush and Sliders

• Click on the brush icon to activate the Adjustment Brush tool from the toolbar. Make sure the brush is the right size for the area you want to smooth. You can change the size using the slider or keyboard shortcut keys.

• Paint the whole skin you want to smooth. Now it’s your skill to select in a perfect way by avoiding eyebrows and beard etc to keep it natural.
• After selecting the skin it will look like this, if it’s not, you can check the ‘show overlay’ option.

• Now, look for the sliders. There are a few important ones:
  • Clarity: This controls the sharpness of the skin. Move it to the left to make the skin softer.
  • Texture: Adjust this to make the skin smoother. Slide it to the left for a softer look.
  • Sharpness: If you want to reduce any harshness, move this slider to the left.

• Again, you can zoom in for better results. Avoid smoothens too much that it looks fake and edited. A good photographer should maintain a balance between things.

Option 2: Easy Way with Auto Face Selection and skin smoothening:

Now comes my favorite and most easy method of skin retouching and smoothening in Lightroom. If you’d rather let Lightroom do most of the work for you, there’s a super easy option called Auto Face Selection. This tool is like having a smart helper that can quickly make your skin look smoother without you doing much. Here’s how you can use it:

1- Go to “Masking” in the right toolbar of Adobe Lightroom and Click on the face of the person you want to make the skin smoother. Lightroom will automatically recognize and highlight the face. In my case, there is only one person in the picture so I am selecting “ person 1”.

2- Now check the face skin and body skin options in the sidebar and let the Lightroom do its job.

3- Adobe Lightroom has pre-built presets. “Soften Skin” or “Soften Skin Lite” is also one of them. You just have to click the effects near the brush tool in the masking tool. Click “Effects” and select “Custom”. You will find the Soften Skin or Soften Skin Lite option at the bottom. Personally, Soften Skin Lite is my favorite and recommended from my side.

4- Automatically clarity will be jumped to zero and sharpness will be jumped to 25. Take a moment to look at the photo. If you feel like some areas need a little extra attention, you can use other tools or go back and make manual adjustments.

5- “Amount Slider” will appear when you apply this preset. You can adjust the amount of softness of the skin according to your requirements. Now, you can save these settings as your own preset for quick results in the future.

Quick Summary of How to Smooth Skin in Lightroom

In summary, achieving smooth skin in Lightroom is a straightforward process:

• Start by using the bandage tool to remove blemishes.
• Choose between a manual approach using the Adjustment Brush and Sliders or an easy automated method with auto face selection.
• Compare the before and after images to see the transformation.

Final Words:

Smooth skin enhances the overall quality of your portraits. Lightroom, with its user-friendly tools, makes the process accessible to everyone, whether you prefer a hands-on approach or a more automated solution. Experiment with these techniques to find the perfect balance for your photos, and enjoy the professional and polished results in your portraits.