#BB How To: Edit out Nail Wrinkles (Photoshop)

It's been a long time (very long!) since I've whipped up a Photoshop tutorial, in fact, I think the last time I posted a Photoshop tutorial was.... 1.8 years back?

Anyways, I'm taking you on a quick adventure today (because I'm in a rush!).... to save your nail polish swatch photos free from nail wrinkles... Yux.

Dem nail wrinkles!

Method 1: Clone Stamp Tool

Note: This is done ALL on the same layer (Window > Layers).

1. Open your image via Photoshop (I'm using an older version, Photoshop CS2). 

2. Select the 'Clone Stamp Tool'. To use the Clone Stamp Tool: hold down ALT + select the nearest 'wrinkle-free' area that you would like to 'clone'. 

3. After selecting the colour, let go of ALT and then start stamping. The (+) symbol shows which area it's cloning from, and (O) symbol is where the tool is cloning to. Play around with the areas, tool size and opacity until you're happy with your nails!

To adjust brush size -- right click.
To adjust the opacity -- for me, it's located at the top.

4. Ta-da! No more wrinkles on my ring finger!

Finished!

Method 2: Airbrushing method with Gaussian Blur

This method is for when the Clone Stamp Tool can't be used in the area due to a variety of reasons such as:

• There are too many wrinkles in the area that there are no wrinkle-free areas for the Tool to clone from;
• The photo of the nails has too many complicated tones due and all that other stuff. Meh.

1. Use the Eyedropper Tool to select the colour of the area you'd like to airbrush.

(I'm selecting this area so it can brighten up the redness around my cuticles too)

2. Create a new layer (Layer > New.. > Layer).

3. On the New layer, use the Paintbrush tool and brush on the colour (you've just selected in Step 1) onto the wrinkles like so...

4. With that New layer, selected Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

5. Play around with the Radius (pixel) slider until you get a nice, natural finish like this...

(Perfect natural finish on ma pinky!)

6. Because you've blurred it, the blur spreads and extends over areas around it too (in this case, the nail colour) so on the same layer, use an eraser to go over on the places it extended to. You'll need to do this because as the blurred layer extends over, it can lighten the true colour of the nail polish that you're swatching.

The finished look -- rollover for the original, unedited photo.


Yay for wrinkle-free nails! I hope you found the tutorial helpful. Let me know if I've missed anything or if you have any questions!

P.S. Pretty sure you can do a better job than my rushed photos! ^_^"