Camera Raw 18.5 introduced an automatic blemish removal tool that does something previous solutions rarely managed: it removes skin imperfections while preserving the underlying skin texture. It also distinguishes between temporary marks and permanent ones like moles, giving you separate controls for each.
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Practical Tips
These techniques work best when you understand what each control actually does before reaching for the sliders.
- Use the Amount slider to prioritize removal: it removes the most prominent blemishes first, so lower values clean up major marks while leaving minor ones untouched.
- Use the Fade slider for permanent marks: moles and birthmarks are treated separately — Fade controls their visibility independently from temporary blemishes.
- Apply to JPEGs via the Camera Raw Filter: duplicate your layer first (Ctrl/Cmd+J), convert it to a Smart Object, then access the filter under Filter > Camera Raw Filter.
- Refine missed areas manually: enable "Show Overlay on Hover" to see where removal was applied, then use the Remove or Restore brush to correct specific spots.
- Control multiple subjects individually: when a photo includes more than one person, select each subject separately to apply different Amount and Fade values per face.
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