Retouch a portrait

Smooth skin, brighten eyes and teeth, add makeup, reshape gently or adjust the whole photo, without leaving the designer.

Before you start

• This is rolling out gradually. If you don't see Retouch when you select a photo, it isn't on for your workspace yet.
• Retouch works in the designer, opened from Add Media > Design, Edit Media, or Designs (choose New design or open a saved design). It isn't available in the demo workspace or from the assistant.
• Use photos of people who agreed to be edited. Retouch runs in your browser; no photo or face data is sent anywhere to do it.
• The first time you open Retouch in a session it can take a few seconds to get ready. The settings on the right wait until it is.

Open the feature

In the designer, select a photo on the canvas and click Retouch in the photo settings on the right. For the background photo, open Background and click Retouch next to Crop.

Steps

1. Click Retouch. The photo opens full screen with the faces it found marked. Opening Retouch changes nothing until you move a control.
2. Pick a preset to start from: Natural, Fresh, Headshot, Polished or Glam. Original sets everything back.
3. Change any control on the right. Controls are grouped into Face shape, Expression, Skin, Skin tone and light, Eyes, Teeth and lips, Makeup, Hair and Photo tone. Double-click a slider to set it back to its default. Colour controls, such as Iris colour, Hair colour and the makeup layers, have a Hue slider or a Colour picker under them.
4. With more than one face, click a face on the photo or its numbered chip to select it. Link faces (on by default, and shown only with two faces or more) changes every face together; turn it off to change one face at a time, and use Apply to all faces to copy the selected face's values to the others. If a face wasn't found, click Add face and drag a box around it.
5. To remove a spot, turn up Remove spots. Tick Show spots to see what it found, and click a spot to keep it (for example a mole). For anything else, choose Heal under Brushes and click or drag over it. Alt-click (Option-click on a Mac) first to choose where the new skin comes from.
6. To change where skin or hair edits apply, choose Skin mask or Hair mask under Brushes, pick Add, Subtract or Reset to auto, and paint. Show mask (or the M key) shows the mask while you paint. Mask edges tightens or loosens the edge of the automatic eye, teeth and lip areas (Eyes, Teeth, Lips).
7. To compare, hold Compare (or the backslash key) to see the original, or click Split view and drag the divider. The eye icon next to a group hides only that group's changes for a moment; the arrow beside it folds the group away. When no face is found, the face groups and Mask edges are off and folded, and say Add a face to use these.; Photo tone and the Heal brush still work. A control that is off for another reason says why under it. Undo in the panel (or Ctrl+Z, Cmd+Z on a Mac) steps back one change, back to how the panel opened. After Add face, Undo goes back only as far as adding the face.
8. Click Apply (until you change something, it's off and says why, just left of Cancel). The photo on the canvas is replaced by the retouched one. Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) in the designer to undo it, or Cancel to leave without changes.
9. To change the retouching later, select the photo and click Retouch again: it opens from the original photo with your slider values. To go back to the original photo, click Remove retouching. If you replace the photo, or crop, turn, flip or mask it, or remove its background, Remove retouching no longer shows for it (a cropped, turned, flipped or masked photo keeps its retouched look).

Expected result

The retouched photo is part of your design. Save design keeps the original and your Retouch slider values with it, so you can open Retouch again later. Save to post adds the finished image to your post; nothing is published.

Example

A team headshot on a light background: choose Headshot, lower Reduce shine to 30, and click Apply. The skin is a little smoother, shine on the forehead is toned down, and the eyes and teeth are slightly brighter.

Limits and permissions

• Up to 8 faces in one photo. A face that is very small in the photo gets skin and tone changes but not shape or makeup changes.
• Photos larger than 8 megapixels are retouched at 8 megapixels; the panel says so.
• Teeth controls need an open mouth, Eye opening is off for closed eyes, and Squint relax works only on squinting eyes.
• Brush strokes and kept spots aren't saved. When you reopen Retouch it starts from the automatic masks with your slider values.
• A face you added with Add face isn't found again when you reopen Retouch. If faces had their own values, they start again at no change (the panel says so); click Add face to add it back.
• Set as background on a retouched photo puts the retouched photo behind your design, and Remove retouching works there too.
• The retouched photo counts towards a design's limit of 40 images. A saved design keeps both the original and the retouched photo.
• Images opened from Edit Media are saved to your post as one flattened image. Opening that image again starts Retouch from the retouched picture, not the original.
• When you delete a design or click Remove retouching, the images it no longer uses are removed from storage after 7 days.

Troubleshooting

• Retouch couldn't start. The face models didn't load. Close Retouch and click Retouch again.
• No face found. Photo tone and the Heal brush still work; the face groups say Add a face to use these. Click Add face and drag a box around the face.
• This image changes a person's face shape or skin. Some countries, for example Norway, require ads with retouched faces or skin to carry a label. Click Add a label area before Apply to reserve a space in the upper left (click it again to change your mind; you can add it to an already retouched photo without changing anything else); replace its text with the official label for your country.
• Retouch ran out of memory. Your photo is unchanged. Close other tabs and try again, or use a smaller photo.
• Design saved, but its Retouch settings couldn't be kept. The photo is saved retouched; Retouch will start from the retouched photo next time. Your next Save design tries to keep the settings again.

Slow design saves

Large photos can take longer to save. Keep the editor open while it shows Still saving; the completed save can still update the design. Edits made after the save started remain unsaved. Before saving another copy after leaving the editor, check My designs.

If the save is still unconfirmed after five minutes, Save a new copy appears. Check My designs first, then use Confirm new copy only if you want another copy: the earlier save may already have succeeded. A late reply cannot change a different design you opened.