allright, i have this pic of a beautiful women as you can see, i want the picture to be more smooth and less vague...look at the skin it's not really soft/smooth how can i change that in PS5.0?

when i use this picture and i go to

image-->adjust-->replace color i get this very nice effect..however when i press ok the new color/effect doesn't change on my pic , help with this please as well..

me thinks the best bet would be to go in with the blur tool (same box as sharpen and smudge), and go at it by hand using different pressure levels to achieve what you want in each area. Theres also several filters you could try like the different blurs, and me thinks that unsharp mask's threshhold gauge tends to soften things up. as for the latter question, we'd need summore details, such as how many layers yer working with and whatnot. Then again, I don't use that option really, so me thinks Alpha would be better to ask.

Your picture won't change if you're working on a locked layer. Unlock or copy the layer and modify the copy.

You mean like this?

Smart Blur (radius = 3.0, threshold = 25, quality = low, mode - normal) = smoothing
History Brush = reclaiming detail in hair and eyes
Smudge = ridding yourself of some of those nasty jaggies induced by smart blur

hmm yeah it looks great...about that layer unlocking...i'm a real newcomer on photoshop...how do i unlock a layer? i did duplicate layer..but still effects like Opacity or other stuff didn't had an effect on the picture...and the Replace color didn't work still...

I made this example simple, but you might not like the resulting style. This is two duplicate layers, both gaussian blurred 8 pts. The first layer (opacity 70%) is set on 'screen' (I guess, I'm on a Dutch version), the second one (also on an opacity 70%), on top of that on the option above that (don't know the translation, just fiddle with the options untill it looks good. That's how I learned PS). I used the blur tool only on the skin above the breast (a small boob job, so to say) Double clicking on a layer will do the unlocking job nicely. Good luck!

It can be done less extreme of course... (I don't mean the boob job, but the layer opacity)

Nederlander he ? :) MAN, that looks awesome..it's alot better now..super smooth and clean..this is great stuff..do you have MSN so we can talk alittle about PS? cause i still don't know some stuff about this prog.

deadguy, I love what you did here. It would be very cool to have a quick tutorial on this. Spike

A tutorial? I can tell you a little more about the steps I took, but a tutorial for three steps seems silly. There's actually very little I did. Filter > Blur > Smart Blur - This is the bulk of what did the work. The settings I used are here, and by no means are they the best - just what I came up with in a minute: radius = 3.0 threshold = 25 quality = low mode - normal History Brush - setting the history marker one step above the smart blur, and then painting with the History brush lets you 'paint' an undo where you need it - in this case, the Smart Blur destroyed the fine grain in the hair and the eyes. Smudge = Smart Blur induces blocky edges along lines of contrast, so the use of a small brush and Smudge lets you remove them without reclaiming the grain of the pre-Smart Blur stage. If you use a small brush with History Brush, then you can carefully go along the edges and skip this step all together.

This is a very good trick that a lot of new users may not know. I would like to add it to the tips and trick section we are building. If you would like, I may call on you to help with this quick tip. Spike

Sure, feel free.