Fstoppers iconFstoppersSep 24, 2026 ~4 min source read

How Camera Raw Now Lets You Retouch Skin and Clothing Without Leaving Photoshop

Adobe Camera Raw's new Remove tool and smart-filter workflow let you handle blemishes, clothing wrinkles, and selective restorations nondestructively inside Camera Raw — with one-click removal, fade controls, and brush-based refine tools.

Retouch Skin and Clothing Without Ever Leaving Camera Raw

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Convert your layer to a Smart Object before opening Camera Raw to keep all removals and refinements nondestructive and reversible.

The new Remove tool offers a one-click Apply for blemish removal, plus a Fade slider to dial the effect between zero and full strength.

Generative AI options in the Remove tool can smooth fabric and fix clothing wrinkles while all edits remain adjustable via opacity and reopenable through the Camera Raw Filter.

Camera Raw now includes a Remove tool that can perform a full retouching workflow — blemish cleanup, spot detection, and clothing fixes — without forcing you into layer-based cloning or permanent pixel edits. The workflow shown uses Camera Raw as a Smart Filter inside Photoshop so every edit stays reversible.

One-click blemish removal plus control

The new blemish option appears in the removal panel with a single Apply button. Click Apply and Camera Raw scans and removes blemishes in seconds. The Fade slider is the central control: it lets you reduce the strength of the removal to preserve permanent features or dial it up for complete removal. This helps distinguish between temporary marks (like a pimple) and identifying features that a client may want to keep.

Refine, Restore, and Remove brushes

Refine mode highlights spots Camera Raw detected, including reflections or marks beyond obvious skin blemishes. Use the Restore brush to paint back features you want to keep, and the Remove brush to target acne, dirt, mascara, and other temporary marks. That split between automated detection and human judgment is the workflow point: automated tools find everything, you decide what stays.

Clothing retouching with generative options

Because every change lives inside a Camera Raw Filter on a Smart Object, you can toggle edits on and off, reduce an edit with the opacity slider, or cancel a change entirely. If a client later requests a spot restored, double-click the Camera Raw Filter, hit Refine, and use Restore to bring the mark back without rebuilding the edit.

Practical implications for portrait and commercial shooters

Portrait shooters gain a faster baseline blemish workflow and an easy way to preserve identity-defining marks using the Fade and Restore controls. Commercial and fashion shooters can clean garments in-camera-raw without destructively cloning, then adjust or revert clothing edits during client review.

The walkthrough demonstrates each slider and brush in action and stresses the decision-making role of the retoucher. Use the Smart Filter setup as a daily habit for any client work that may require revision.

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