How Do You Photoshop Your Selfies... and Your Boss's Selfies?

Disclaimer: I am very vain and Photoshop is fun. If you're all about natural beauty (which I know is important!), know that this post is because I think it's fun and I take terrible pictures.

We've all been victims of poor lighting and bad angles. Zits and stray mustache hairs happen to everyone. Everyone has coffee teeth. Sometimes we squint with one eye when we laugh. If you're taking a selfie (or 100), it can be tough to get everything just right for IG. I used to think filters were the only way to go but then I discovered something wonderful - Photoshop. Now, I know there are a million tutorials out there for Photoshop, but this is me, an amateur who figured it out, focusing on just selfies.

Squinty Eyes and Double Chins

It even happens to people with no percent body fat - the neck skin/double chin. And laughing uneven eyes are normal, too! So how do we fix this?

After opening your picture in Photoshop, click "Layers" and "Liquify". This WILL be slightly tricky and you will need to take your time. Zoom in. Select the "Pucker" tool and make the brush size about the same size as the round part of your jaw or cheek. SLOWLY click over and over down the edge of your cheek/jaw on the side your actual face is on - not the outside. What this does is smash the pixels together and bring in the edge of your face. Note: this will work better with higher resolution pictures. For the double chin, click in between the line of your actual chin and your double chin. It won't get rid of the whole thang, but it will minimize it. This is the more natural-looking option.

Once you're happy with your face shape, we can address that squinty eye. Personally, I get this in every. single. picture. While still in the "Liquify" window, chose the "Forward Warp Tool". Stay zoomed in. Decrease the brush size to about the size of your iris. Click and drag from the eyeball part just above your lash line down (SLIGHTLY). Repeat across your whole eyeball, little by little.

When you're done with those, hit enter and it will take you back to the main window.

Bad Lighting

Yellow, overexposed bathroom selfies are kind of my Snapchat signature when I'm feelin' my makeup. However, this does not show off the makeup in a way that I am satisfied with. To correct the yellowness and massive flash from my very white forehead, stay in the main window. Under "Image", click the holy trinity - Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, Auto Color. This is a good base. From there, I usually go to "Image" again, and under adjustments, just kind of mess around with Exposure, Highlights/Shadows, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/Saturation, and Color Balance. After a few minutes of playing with all that, I like to add a little bit of noise. To do this, click "Filter", "Noise", "Add Noise". Only do the teeniest bit!!

Zits and Stuff

Did you know that Photoshop has a blemish removing tool? The symbol is a band-aid. It's cute. Just zoom in a lot on the zit, match the brush size to the zit size, and click. Easy as that.

Coffee Teeth

Fixing your teeth can be a little tricky (see the episode of Friends where Ross whitens his teeth too much). Remember, you still want them to look natural. So. Zoom in on your soon-to-be pearly whites and use the magic select tool (the wand) and click your most visible teeth. Two important things on this: 1) do not select your gums, just your teeth and 2) select the whole tooth or it will be patchy and weird. From there, your going to go to Hue/Saturation and desaturate them slightly (this will take away some yellow) and then go to Brightness/Contrast and lighten them up slightly. Please remember to not overdo it or it will look super weird.

Sharing is Caring

If you have any thoughts or feedback or extra knowledge, share it in the comments. The whole point of this blog is to help each other figure it all out!