How to Make Your Nose Smaller in Photoshop

By David Weedmark

While your nose is certainly fine the way it is, giving yourself a digital nose job is an easy operation in Adobe Photoshop CC. Most of the work is done using Smart Objects and the Liquify filter. You can also use a Scale Transformation to reduce the width of your nose. Regardless of the size of your nose, you don't have to reduce a nose by much to make a huge transformation in a photo.

Using Smart Objects

Whenever you reduce an object, it's important not to distort the surrounding pixels -- especially when it comes to someone's face. Before using the Liquify filter, change the layer to a Smart Object by clicking the "Kind" menu in the Layers panel. This turns Liquify into a smart filter, which is able to detect the lines of the nose and reduce the distortion of the pixels around it. As with most Photoshop effects, make a duplicate copy of the layer before working on the nose so you can easily compare the changes to the original or delete the layer if you need to start anew.

Reducing Nose Profiles

To reduce the prominence of a nose profile when you're not looking directly at the camera, start by using the Push Left tool in the Liquify Filter. In Photoshop CC, this is located on the left of the preview image. Begin with a soft touch by reducing the Brush Pressure to about 50 percent and the Brush tool to about the same size as your eye socket in the picture. Center the tool on the edge of the nose and drag it up a few pixels to push the nose left. Drag the tool down to push the nose right. Work evenly from the bottom of the nose upward, using the same amount of drag each time to keep the nose straight.

Reducing Nose Width

If you're facing the camera, use Scale Transformation to reduce the width of the nose. First use the Lasso tool to trace around the nose from the nostrils to the bridge and then copy and paste it as a new layer by pressing "Ctrl-C" and "Ctrl-V." Select "Scale Transformation" from the Edit menu and drag the center anchors on the left and right toward the center by the same amount. This leaves a bit of the original nose visible, but you can fix this by clicking the original layer and using the Liquify Filter. Just drag the Liquify tool around the nose inward by a few pixels to hide the original nose from view.

Adding Some Pucker

After reducing a nose's profile or reducing its width, use the Pucker tool in the Liquify Filter to reduce the ball of the nose or nostrils. This requires an even lighter touch than the Move Left tool, so begin with a Brush Pressure of 1 percent. Make the brush size slightly smaller than the ball of the nose. Begin by clicking the tip of the nose if you're facing to the side. Click just above the tip if you're facing forward. Click again wherever you feel it's needed and use "Ctrl-Z" if a pucker doesn't look right to undo it.

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