Remove Blemishes, Keep Freckles

Removing blemishes from a photo means taking out temporary spots, such as red marks, pimples and small breakouts, one by one, while keeping the permanent features that make a face yours, such as freckles and moles. In this example, a fair-skinned wedding guest with a face full of freckles stands in a sage-green dress in front of a white rose arch in a garden. Her cousin took the photo, and she wants to send it to her grandmother, who could not come. She loves her freckles, but a few red spots on her cheeks and chin showed up the week of the wedding, and she does not want them in the photo.

What changed in this photo, and what stayed the same?

• Removed: the red spots on her cheeks and chin.
• Kept: her freckles across the nose and cheeks, her skin tone, smile and eyes, her hair and dress, and the rose arch and hedge behind her.
• Not smoothed: her skin texture and pores stay as shot. Only the five red spots and a narrow edge around each were touched.

How does an editor tell a blemish from a freckle?

Freckles are flat, brown and usually come in groups; blemishes are raised or red, and often have a lighter or darker ring around them. The editor goes over the face at full size and only touches spots that are red, raised or clearly temporary. If you are unsure about a mark, such as a small mole, a beauty mark or a scar, the default is to keep it. You can always ask for more.

Blemishes, acne or skin tone: which edit fits?

• A few spots, as in this example: blemish removal.
• A breakout across the face: see remove pimples from a photo.
• Overall redness or uneven color without distinct spots: see even out skin tone in photos.

What should you send?

The original photo in full size, and a note on anything that must stay, such as freckles, a birthmark or a mole. If there are many people in the photo, say who to retouch.

Other small fixes for a photo you plan to share: remove face shine and add natural makeup to a photo. More skin edits are under face and skin retouching.

Private: recreated on our own images, not customer photos

The before/after shown here is recreated on images created or licensed for this site — never a real customer's photo. Your upload is seen only by the editor working on it, and the edit comes with free revisions within 14 days of delivery if anything needs adjusting.