How to smooth in Photoshop

[debrah17]

I'm wondering how to get a smooth airbrushed/painted look on an image that has texture. I'm attaching a photo. The detail on the left is the desired effect and the one on the right is the original.

Thanks- d

[Joeven]

Re: How to smooth in Photoshop

That's a pretty small picture but the easy way to do it is to use Topaz Clean. That's a plugin for Photoshop.

Joe

[klev]

Re: How to smooth in Photoshop

The short answer is take a better picture. Otherwise you're going to have to trace out every one of those edges and do a lot of painting to get the soft greyish tones on the second image. It's also important to note that the second image is of significantly lower quality in its present state. You see hard edges, yet the focus is bad or it's just zoomed in far enough to reveal the limitations of the lens and camera. Some people do paint bits of detail into low resolution elements, so it's not unheard of. It is however quite difficult. I can kind of do it on something simple like a smooth surface, but not very well.

[Repairman]

Re: How to smooth in Photoshop

Masking and airbrushing is the only way that I know to achieve the result you want. Time consuming because of all the masking you'll need to do first but quite simple as a process. If you have only shown a small portion of the target file you are in for a few days work - I do quite a lot of those working from far better originals so pay heed to Klev's point.

[debrah17]

Re: How to smooth in Photoshop

Thanks! Yes, it's extremely time consuming. Wish I could get a better shot, but I have to work with what I've been supplied and unfortunately it is only a small portion of it. Plus there are several more that need the same attention.

Sounds like I need to brush up on my airbrushing skills...

[yagovic]

Re: How to smooth in Photoshop

thanks for the information