Using the Skin Smoothing Neural Filter in Photoshop

Are you looking for a quick easy way to smooth skin, without all the fuss of frequency separation or actions? Have you tried using the Skin Smoothing Neural Filter in Photoshop? Let’s have a look at what it can do for you.

What are Neural Filters?

They are AI-generated non-destructive filters you can try and apply to your images in Photoshop. There is a range of filters for various techniques for portraits, landscapes and other genres of photography. many of these are beta tests, that you need to download to use and then rate so that Adobe can see what is working and what’s not, what people are enjoying and so on.

Where do I find Neural Filters?

So once you have your chosen image open in Photoshop, go to Filter > Neural Filters. A pop-up box or panel should open. You can then select and try various different filters from the list. You may need to download it for the first use, but once it’s downloaded you’re fine.

How do I use it

Neural Filters are actually pretty easy to use. On the Skin Smoothing filter, there is only Blur and Smoothness to slide. You can state whether you’re happy with the end result. I preferred to output to a new layer. I set mine to both 100 and then on the new layer in PS I actually dropped the opacity (75%) until I was happy with the overall effect.

If you find that the Neural Filters are grayed out, unlock the bottom or original layer, or make a duplicate layer to work with.

Final thoughts

Considering it’s only a beta, I thought it did a pretty neat job. I found that mucking about in the filter was a pain, but putting both sliders up to full, and then changing the opacity was much quicker and gave a more pleasing result.

At 100% the filter had a little too much ‘glow’ and halation effect for my tastes, but at 75% it looked quite good. It’s still a little soft, but it has all the detail that’s required. A little more correction on a layer mask wouldn’t hurt either, especially around the nose and eyes.

I think I still prefer my own personal recipe, but if you’re new to skin retouching, or just need to use it occasionally, it is definitely worth experimenting with.

Please note: No other edit was done to this piece apart from the Neural filter.

The Skin Smoothing isn’t the only Neural Filter you can play with. Try the Smart Edit for faces; the Depth Blur is another great one to try too.