We begin with a photo of Rene Anderson in Hawaii, then see the image after processing. Also see a before and after photo of Ludacris! To do this softening technique, create a copy of the image in a new layer, then apply the Surface Blur filter. Use a radius of 10 and a threshold of 100 (or double for both). Then, create a layer mask on the blurred image. The mask will be filled with black, which hides the layer. Simply paint the mask white in desired areas to reveal the blur over skin tones only. We won't apply this painting to detailed areas like the eyes and hair. To retain detail in the skin, turn down the opacity of your brush.