This lesson covers a natural way to whiten teeth in a photo — bright and healthy without overdoing it.
2026 note: Recorded on Photoshop CS6 in 2014. Adobe sells Photoshop via Creative Cloud subscription now; about 95% of the menus and shortcuts in the video still match the modern version.
Steps
- Duplicate the background layer.
- Use Lasso (L) to roughly trace the teeth — precision doesn’t matter, we’ll mask later.
- Select > Modify > Feather (2 px).
- Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
- Pick Yellows from the top dropdown. Drop Saturation to around -40 to -60.
- Switch back to Master and lift Lightness +10 to +20.
- Paint black on the mask to remove anything that bled outside the teeth (lips, gums, tongue).
3 Rules to Avoid Overdoing It
- Never push pure white — real teeth have warmth and texture.
- Make sure adjacent pixels (lips, tongue) are untouched.
- The teeth should look consistent with the photo, not artificially bright.
2026 Shortcut
Lightroom (including mobile) has Adaptive Presets > Brighten Teeth as a one-tap option. Photoshop’s Neural Filters > Smart Portrait also includes a Teeth Whitening slider.
