Photoshop Aging Tricks for Portraits

It is not often that my clients ask that I make them look old in a portrait. In fact, I often get the opposite request to make them look thinner, younger and more like Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.

To illustrate a concept about the aging process during a PowerPoint presentation, the presenter planned to show a photo of what he looks like today and then magically, he would change before the audience's eyes. This was done by slowly morphing one photo into the other. The effect was 25 years of age added in 5 seconds... similar to the effects that many adults feel around screaming children (ha ha).

I did not have very long to produce the "aged" photo so I had to work quick and dirty in photoshop. I thought of all the old people that I have ever met and how time changed their faces. In Bill's case, I made him bald, gave him age spots, sagged some skin, deepened the sockets of his eyes and gave him long fluffy eyebrows. I had to show restraint because I wanted to keep my client's portrait looking professional... just more advanced in age as a stylish gent.

They liked the first aged portrait so much that they asked me to make a second one. In this case I enlarged the nose and ears which actually keep growing our entire lives. I had a lot of fun with this project because it was so opposite of any retouching request that I have ever gotten. See if you can count the differences before and after.