Photoshop Tutorial: How to Digitally Create Beautiful White Teeth

Introduction: Not all photos turn out perfect, even ask the experts. This is only one aspect of photo editing, and a simple one at that, perfect for any Photoshop beginner, or if you want to learn more techniques and tricks in this program. In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to brighten and whiten teeth to create the perfect, bright, and white smile on any portrait.

Step One: Open up your photo that you want to work on as a canvas in Photoshop. It’s best to open it up as JPEG format usually. You can use a photo that’s in color or in black and white. Make sure that enough of the teeth in the photo are clearly visible, otherwise you’ll end up editing wrong areas. It’s best to work with a portrait usually since the teeth can be a main focal point.

Step Two: Locate the dodge tool on the vertical menu bar. This is the main tool you’ll use to create the perfect and beautiful smile on your photo. The dodge tool simply makes any part of the photo brighter.

Step Three: On the brush drop down menu, choose a “fuzzy” brush, if you work with a solid brush, the edges of where the brush didn’ go over will be clearly visible, which isn’t a good thing. Choose one that is an accurate size to work with. If your photo is larger, you’ll need a larger brush. My image was originally 600×800 and I worked with a 14 pixel brush because it’s size worked best for my photo.

Step Four: Select Midtones and a 50% exposure. This will be bright, but not too bright. Never start out with 100% exposure.

Step Five: Now go over the teeth with the dodge tool nice and evenly. If the teeth start to look too white, go back a step and drop down the exposure to about 30% or so. If you need to adjust the setting again, do so appropriately.

Step Six: After you’ve gone over the teeth, make sure they look even without any awkward spots or uneven areas.

Step Seven: Use the desaturation tool to edit out any highly saturated spots. Use a fuzzy brush with a 2 pixel radius and at about 25%. Saturated areas are speckles of bright colors.

After that you’re done! Sometimes it takes a few tries to get the whiteness and brightness just right. Remember, the teeth should not be freakishly bright, but natural.