Silky Smooth Skin

[ivan watkins]

I know that most people want to retain some skin detail but I would like to know. How does one create silky smooth skin as seen in this photo?
http://www.jmtfoto.com/Models/main.p...serialNumber=1

For starters I can tell by the shadows that they are using a ring flash.. so that is lending itself somewhat to the look. But what steps are required to create barbee doll smooth skin like in the picture above?

Sincerely,
Ivan

[ivan watkins]

By the way, I have photoshop 7 and so I can't use the information in the following online tutorial http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=209

[Dave.Cox]

A common way to do this is to add a blur. After you repair any blemishes, make to additional copies of the layer that has the skin that you want to soften. On one of the new layers, apply a 40 pixel gaussian blur, to the layer, and set its blend mode to darken. Set the opacity of this layer to 40% On the other new layer, apply a 60 pixel gaussian blur, and set its blend mode to lighten. Make sure this is the top layer in the layers stack. Merge these 2 new layers together, and adjust the opacity until you like the look over the skin areas. Add a layer mask to the layer. Set the foreground color to black and paint on the layer mask over the areas that you want to remove the blur effect. It's best to use a medium soft brush for this.

Oh, and this procedure will work with PS7