How to Smooth Skin in Lightroom: A Comprehensive Guide
Smoothing skin is one of the most common retouching tasks for portrait photographers. And while Photoshop is renowned for its advanced retouching capabilities, Lightroom is actually the better choice for basic skin smoothing.
Why? Because Lightroom is designed for speedy batch editing, while Photoshop is built for in-depth, targeted adjustments. According to a 2021 survey by Fstoppers, the average pro photographer spends 60-80% of their editing time in Lightroom and only 10-20% in Photoshop.
Lightroom‘s Brush Mask tool makes it incredibly fast and easy to smooth skin across an entire set of portraits. In just a few clicks you can soften complexions while still retaining natural skin texture for a realistic look.
In this article, I‘ll walk you through my 5-step Lightroom skin smoothing workflow. You‘ll learn:
- How to harness the Brush Mask and Range Mask tools for precise skin selections
- The secret behind Lightroom‘s built-in Soften Skin preset (and how to tweak it)
- Techniques for fine-tuning skin texture and tone
- How to create your own go-to skin smoothing preset
- Limitations of Lightroom‘s tools and when to use Photoshop instead
If you‘re ready to start enhancing your portraits with cleaner, smoother skin, let‘s dive in!
Step 1: Select the Skin with the Brush Mask Tool
The first step is to create a mask that targets just the skin and nothing else. Lightroom‘s Brush Mask tool was purpose-built for this very task.
To access it, open the Masking panel by clicking the circle icon in the toolbar below your image (or press Shift+W). Then choose Brush from the Add New Mask menu.
In the Brush settings panel on the right, configure your brush for skin masking:
- Use a large brush size to cover the skin quickly (you can also use the [ and ] keys to resize)
- Set Feather to 0 for a hard edge brush that will snap to skin borders
- Put Flow and Density to 100 for maximum opacity
- Turn on Auto Mask to automatically detect edges between skin and hair, clothes, etc.
Now, zoom out so your subject‘s face is small on screen. Click and drag your brush across all the skin areas. With Auto Mask enabled, Lightroom will do its best to find the edges and select only skin.
If you need more precision, try the Range Mask feature. With your brush mask active, click Add Range Mask in the Masks panel and choose Color. Then click on your subject‘s skin to sample its color. Lightroom will create a color-based mask that selects only areas matching your sample point, giving you cleaner edges along hairlines and clothing.
Don‘t worry if your mask spills over onto the eyes or lips a bit – we‘ll clean that up later. The goal is to get the majority of skin masked quickly.
To double check your work, click the Mask Overlay icon at the bottom of the Masks panel. This tints your mask red so you can see exactly what‘s selected.
Step 2: Apply the Soften Skin Preset
With your skin masked, you‘re ready to start smoothing. Luckily, Lightroom has a premade Soften Skin preset that applies several skin-friendly adjustments with one click.
Find the Effect menu in the Masks panel and open it. Choose Soften Skin from the list of presets.
The Soften Skin preset makes the following slider changes:
- Texture: -35
- Clarity: -15
- Dehaze: +30
Here‘s what each one does:
Texture controls the prominence of medium-sized details, like pores, fine lines, and skin irregularities. Decreasing Texture fades these features for a smoother look.
Clarity adjusts overall midtone contrast. Lowering Clarity produces a softer, dreamier look, while raising it increases edge definition for a punchier effect.
Dehaze boosts contrast like Clarity does, but in a more targeted way. Adding Dehaze restores definition to skin‘s natural contours, which can get lost when Texture and Clarity are decreased.
The Soften Skin preset‘s combination of decreased Texture and Clarity with increased Dehaze provides a nice balance of smoothing and shape retention. Here‘s a before and after example:
As you can see, the preset noticeably evens out the skin and reduces the appearance of pores and fine lines. However, it still maintains the overall dimensionality of the face.
Keep in mind the preset‘s values are just a starting point – they won‘t be perfect for every subject. In the next step, I‘ll share how to dial in just the right amount of smoothing for your specific portrait.
Step 3: Fine-Tune Skin Texture and Tone
The Soften Skin preset is a good launch pad, but the ideal smoothing strength depends on your subject‘s age and skin type. A 20-year-old with baby-smooth skin will need a much lighter touch than a 75-year-old with heavy wrinkles and sun damage.
Fortunately, Lightroom makes it easy to adjust the preset to taste. Grab the Amount slider at the top of the Effect panel and drag it to the left to lower the overall intensity.
For more granular control, tweak the individual Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze sliders:
- Drag Texture to the left for more smoothing, or to the right to restore natural skin detail
- Pull Clarity lower to further soften contrast, or raise it to bring back midtone definition
- Boost Dehaze to emphasize facial contours, or reduce it to maximize the smoothing effect
Here are some suggested slider ranges for common skin types and portrait styles:
| Skin Type/Style | Texture | Clarity | Dehaze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young, smooth skin | -10 to -20 | -5 to -10 | +10 to +20 |
| Mature, textured skin | -20 to -30 | -10 to -15 | +20 to +30 |
| Dry, uneven skin | -15 to -25 | -5 to -10 | +15 to +25 |
| Subtle, natural look | -5 to -15 | 0 to -5 | +5 to +15 |
| Soft glam look | -25 to -35 | -15 to -25 | +25 to +35 |
Of course, these are just general guidelines. Let your eye be the judge and adjust the sliders until your subject‘s skin has the perfect balance of smoothness and realism for your creative vision.
As you dial in your settings, keep an eye out for telltale signs of over-smoothing:
- Blurred or smudged fine details like eyelashes, hair, and jewelry edges
- "Plastic" or unnaturally poreless skin texture
- Lack of tonal variation across the skin (i.e. an artificially even, flat complexion)
If you spot any of these issues, back off on Texture and Clarity until you reintroduce some natural skin variation. It‘s also a good idea to zoom into 100% to check your work as you go.
Finally, grab the Erase brush from the toolbar and paint over any areas where you want to remove the smoothing effect completely, like the eyes, lips, hair, etc.
Step 4: Save Your Own Skin Smoothing Preset
Once you find a smoothing formula that works well for your subject and style, save it as a custom User Preset. That way, you can quickly recall your go-to settings on future shoots.
Click the Effect menu, choose Save Current Settings as New Preset, and give your preset a descriptive name.
To apply your preset to other photos, select them in the Library module, jump back to Develop, and choose your saved preset from the User Presets menu.
You can even sync your preset to an entire batch of photos at once to smooth every portrait in a shoot with one click. Talk about a time saver!
Step 5: Know When to Use Photoshop Instead
As powerful as Lightroom‘s skin smoothing tools are, they do have some limitations. Certain retouching tasks are simply better suited for Photoshop, like:
- Completely removing blemishes, scars, moles, and stray hairs
- Independently editing skin color and texture with frequency separation
- Reshaping facial features with the Liquify tool
- Dodging and burning to sculpt highlights and shadows
If you need this level of surgical precision, perform your base raw edits in Lightroom as normal. Then right-click your photo, choose Edit In > Edit in Adobe Photoshop, and use Photoshop‘s advanced retouching tools to perfect the skin.
Just remember, Photoshop‘s retouching workflow is far more complex and time-consuming than Lightroom‘s. So reserve it for hero shots that demand flawless skin, rather than your everyday batch edits.
Smooth Operator
With its intuitive masking tools and the Soften Skin preset, Lightroom makes it a breeze to smooth your subject‘s skin at the level that suits your creative vision, from subtle and natural to complete digital makeup.
The Brush Mask lets you efficiently target just the skin, the Range Mask provides precise edge detection, and the Amount slider gives you complete control over the smoothing strength.
By fine-tuning the Texture, Clarity, and Dehaze sliders, you can customize the effect for different ages, skin types, and portrait styles. Then save your signature look as a User Preset to speed up your workflow.
While Photoshop is still the skin smoothing champion for ultimate control on individual photos, Lightroom is by far the faster choice for batches. In most cases, you can handle 90% of your skin retouching directly in Lightroom, and only 10% will require Photoshop‘s heavy lifting.
The best way to master skin smoothing in Lightroom is to practice on some test shots. Experiment with different slider and brush settings to discover your personal smoothing sweet spot. With time, you‘ll develop an eye for how much softening looks realistic yet flattering for each unique subject.
Your portrait clients will love how great their skin looks, and you‘ll love how quickly you can enhance an entire shoot. It‘s a win-win that will keep subjects booking you again and again. So start smoothing and watch your portrait game soar!