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How to Use an Airbrush on Photos

Digital technology has had a significant impact on the world of photography. Using advanced photo editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Pixlr, GIMP or Paint, photographers can accomplish editing effects that were much more challenging in the days of film photography. Airbrushing a photo in the film days required a great deal of skill and practice; photographers who made mistakes found them difficult, and sometimes impossible, to fix. Digital editing allows you to remove imperfections and start again.

Instructions

- 1
  Turn your home computer on, and open Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Paint or Pixlr. Photoshop is a program you have to buy, while GIMP, Paint and Pixlr are free programs that mimic Photoshop. The wording is slightly different between the three programs, but the steps remain the same.
- 2
  Click "File," and select "Open" from the drop-down menu. Navigate to the folder containing the image you want to edit. Highlight the image, then click "OK" in the bottom right corner of the window to open the image.
- 3
  Click "Layer" in the navigation bar, then select "Duplicate Layer." Click the layer thumbnail in the right margin to select the layer to work on. Click "Filter," then point your cursor to and select "Noise" then "Dust and Scratches" --- a filter that creates an airbrush-like effect. In the dialog box, change the settings to 3 pixels and 0 threshold, then click "OK."
- 4
  Position the cursor over the area on which you want to work, click and hold your mouse button and carefully apply the filter to the area.
- 5
  Click "Filter," and point your cursor to "Blur" and then "Gaussian Blur." Select "Noise," and reduce the percentage to 2 percent. Apply the filter carefully to the areas you just worked on in Step 4. This step helps keep models' skin looking natural.
- 6
  Click "Layer," and select "Flatten Layer" from the drop-down menu. Click "File," and select "Save As." Give your edited image a new name or title, and save it to your computer's hard drive.

Photography