Best Soft Filter and Blemish removal program thats free???

[jorge garcia]

So any recommendations for a program or two that will allow me to soften images and remove blemishes that is free???
i have Adobe CS4 master collection and Photoshop is pretty complicated. but if you have an easy tutorial or video on how to soften images and remove blemishes using PS or LightRoom or any of the other 15 programs i have and dont know what they do, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Jorge

[SusanH1970]

I believe you can do both of those things with Gimp.

[teaking]

If you already have photoshop then I would stick to that why put more programs on your computer than you need

For blemish removal use the heal brush search on google there are some great tutorials.

As for softening an image have you tried a high pass filter... sounds daft I know but it does work and is just one way to achieve a soft image. These are great links to how it works: 3 Fantastic Uses of the Photoshop High Pass Filter | Phototuts+ & Image Retouching: Advanced Skin Softening - photo.net

It may be worth looking how layer masks work as you may want to use them with softening.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I believe you can do both of those things with Gimp.

Ah, I see you've edited your original post to state you've got photoshop.

The spot healing brush, healing brush, and patch tool work wonders for blemishes. If you google "skin smoothing in Photoshop" a ton of youtube videos will come up. There are tons of ways to do it.

[autofocus]

Jorge, you already have a free option on CS4. I use the Reduce Noise Filter tool: Filters>Noise>Reduce Noise. I use it at the following settings:
Strength - 10
Preserve Details - 0
Reduce Color Noise - 100%
Sharpen Details - low % (this done at 3%)
Remove JPEG Artifact - box checked

Procedure: Best to do as your first edit and follow with the History Brush over the eyes and mouth to bring them back to original state

If you've already done a bunch of edits, and decide to do this step, simply circle the eyes and mouth with your Lasso Tool, select Inverse, and do the noise procedure noted above.

This is a simple smoothing procedure that, to me doesn't look artificial like so many others...and it's free. The subject is my daughter...her normal skin happens to be very good, but you still should be able to see the difference between the side by side images

Vince

[autofocus]

Jorge, concerning the above, I neglected to mention that if you hold down the shift key (PC's) you can circle multiple locations with the Lasso Tool. So both eyes and the mouth can be lassoed before you hit Inverse from the Select drop down menu

Vince