Most people use Photoshop to make themselves look younger, healthier, and better looking; not many people are doing the opposite (unless of course, you are Photoshopping yourself into a Zombie!).
In this Photoshop training tutorial, I will show you how to do just that; how to make someone older in Photoshop.
With this aging Photoshop technique, you can make anyone seem decades older, and best of all, it is really easy to do!
The techniques I’m going to show you in this video are fun, and they deliver some incredibly realistic results!
All you will need is a picture of yourself (or any other person), and the reference images I have provided below.
If you have any comments or questions, leave them below, or you can send me a Tweet.
In This Young To Old Photoshop Tutorial You Will Learn How To:
00:43 – Use the quick selection tool to remove foreground from background.
01:19 – Use the “refine mask” panel to refine your mask.
07:50 – Use the patch tool to add wrinkles to your image.
12:43 – Use the liquify tool to make a face look older.
14:40 – Create “old looking” ears.
17:50 – Add “old” eyebrows to your image.
19:25 – Create a brush to paint facial hair.
24:49 – Add white hair to your image.
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Final Image
Drag The Slider To See Before & After
ululf01 says
February 20, 2013 at 11:37 pmawesome young to old 🙂
Photoshop Training Channel says
February 28, 2013 at 10:29 amYup!
james says
March 24, 2013 at 9:37 amThanks for the detailed explanation,, but to tell the truth, you could have cut a good 10 minutes or more out of this video because you were over-explaining everything.
actually, I really think this video could have been 9 or 10 mins tops!
its frustrating to have to listen to something for 30 mins that could have been done in 10.
but it was a good detailed tutorial… (for people that dont mind giving up 30 mins of their time to learn something simple)
Photoshop Training Channel says
March 25, 2013 at 8:59 amJames,
Thanks for your comment!
You might be a bit more advanced than most people who visit my site. The overwhelming amount of messages I receive are appreciative of longer videos since most people are starting out. The few messages I get about the videos being too long are usually from more experienced people. Personally, I am more like you, I prefer to watch the shorter videos but I have the advantage (and I’m guessing you do as well) of having experience.
Also thanks for checking out my stuff!
Your name here says
February 16, 2016 at 7:03 amwow cool
Photoshop Training Channel says
February 16, 2016 at 2:56 pmThank you!
riyad says
February 24, 2016 at 6:14 amwhere is the old people photo you said it would be on website
Photoshop Training Channel says
March 9, 2016 at 8:54 amOn this page! Above the comments!
Tracy Mapes says
March 31, 2013 at 7:08 pmYou Did a Really Great Job!
But like the Other Poster noted, there was a lot of wasted time,
mostly in not utilizing the Reason that You went to all the trouble to Carefully Scaling the Images of the Older Persons.
Instead of having to individually cutting and pasting Wrinkles, While Your Original Layer and Older Person Overlay are still in alignment, Add a Layer Mask to Your Old Image, and then Invert the Layer Mask to 100% Black (Transparency).
Then You can just Freely Paint on Wrinkles any where you would like them to Appear without having to think about it, by Paint with White Paint.
This gives the Photoshop User the Freedom to use all of the Layer Blend Modes and Transparency Options as they Create their New Image.
I Hope that will Help in Future Tutorials in Simplifying what seems to be a Complex Process.
Fantastic Work that You Accomplished Here.
Take Care,
Tracy Mapes
Photoshop Training Channel says
April 1, 2013 at 4:14 pmTracy, thanks for your comment!
I will try to simply things a bit more!
Obel says
July 17, 2013 at 3:58 pmI was very interested in your aging video, but because I don’t belong to any social groups, I was not able to download the tutorial.
Photoshop Training Channel says
July 17, 2013 at 4:41 pmThere’s a grey “X” on the top right you can click on. You are not require to go through a social network.
sean gabriel says
September 28, 2013 at 4:08 pmGreat tutorial, clearly explained. I learned some things for sure. I never use the History Brush but may give it a try now. I also didn’t know the 50% guides trick, going to use that for sure. PS: It’s amazing how anyone can be “frustrated” by a FREE tutorial video ;-).
Photoshop Training Channel says
October 9, 2013 at 9:51 amThanks, Sean!
I used to use percentages all the time with guides, but now I’m more into Guide Guide. It’s a great Photoshop plugin and it completely turbo charges your guides.
PS.
It’s crazy to me too!
Lori says
October 7, 2013 at 11:53 amThanks for the insightful tutorial! Never too old to learn. 🙂
Regarding the tutorial files, is it at all possible to get higher resolution files to prevent the image from looking pixelated?
Photoshop Training Channel says
October 9, 2013 at 9:48 amLori, I don’t have the rights to distribute the hi-res files. However, this tutorial is not dependent on those files. You can use whatever photos you like to achieve a similar effect.
Christina says
March 25, 2014 at 6:43 pmi really like how you teach this, but i don’t understand on how to take off the old man after words. i mean after you Merge Layers, after you put the wrinkles on, how do you take off the old man and leave your picture with the wrinkles. because after you stop and pause, that’s where i get lost and don’t know how to take off the old man.
Photoshop Training Channel says
April 1, 2014 at 4:33 pmChristina,
You mean at the end?
If so, you should have at least two layers that are virtually the same, except for the face. Just add a layer mask to the top layer (the one with the old person’s face) and mask out the things you don’t want.
Hope this helps!
George says
May 18, 2014 at 1:31 amGreat video!! More than helpful tutorial!! But in the beggining i seem to have a problem…i select myself with the quick selection tool but then the “add mask” in the layer section is not clickable!! So as the layer mask in the layers tab at the top!! Any idea on what im doing wrong?? 🙁
Photoshop Training Channel says
July 6, 2014 at 6:51 pmGeorge,
Is the layer that you are selecting a “background” layer or a locked layer?
Henzbomb says
August 23, 2014 at 8:14 pmawsome so werthot!
luke says
December 10, 2014 at 3:15 pmHi,
thanks for the tutorial. i’m having trouble merging the layers. i can merge (ctrl + e) the layer with the picture of the first old man ‘old 1’, however once you pause and restart the video with the second old man image if i try to merge these ‘old 2’ it merges instead with the layer below ‘old 1’. Please can you advise what i am doing wrong?
Photoshop Training Channel says
December 16, 2014 at 11:39 amLuke,
I don’t recall exactly what part this happens on so if you want to tell me what minute in the video it occurs I can see and give you a specific answer.
In general, however, you can select more than two layers (shift click on them) and then do the merge.
Hope this helps.
kate says
April 19, 2016 at 9:13 amAt 12:32, you pause the video to add more wrinkles. When you come back you have a new layer with a new image of an old man but the wrinkles you have added on old 1 is still visible. How would you do that?
Photoshop Training Channel says
April 20, 2016 at 10:58 pmI merge the new layer to old one. So I bring in the new image. Then Merge it to the layer below.
jaymurder says
June 7, 2015 at 10:57 pmthanks
Photoshop Training Channel says
June 8, 2015 at 10:32 amYou’re welcome!
jay says
June 7, 2015 at 11:17 pmthanks you sir
Photoshop Training Channel says
June 8, 2015 at 10:31 amYou’re welcome!
Amanda says
September 4, 2015 at 8:15 amHi, I’m looking forward to trying this thank you. Just wondering, the pictures of the older people that you use… Do they need to be similar resolution to the photo of yourself?
Thanks again
Photoshop Training Channel says
September 4, 2015 at 9:19 amYou’re welcome, Amanda!
Yes, the closer the are in resolution the better results you get. But depending on the area, you may get away with using a lower resolution image.
Eunice says
November 3, 2015 at 8:47 amHi so can this work aging someone who has past?! Example he past very young would to see what he would look like today
Photoshop Training Channel says
November 10, 2015 at 7:30 pmYeah, but it will be of course an artistic interpretation.
Chloe Gigliotti says
January 3, 2016 at 7:50 amI need some help. I am unsure how to get rid of the pictures of the older people after you have used them with the patch and lasso tool. I don’t want my final product to have a random picture of an old person. If you could please explain what I do to get rid of the image that would be great!
This is for a school assignment.
Thank you.
Chloe Gigliotti says
January 3, 2016 at 7:51 amAlso, this has been an awesome and very helpful tutorial! Unlike some others, I find the explanations and detail very helpful!
Photoshop Training Channel says
January 5, 2016 at 2:57 pmThank you, Chloe!
Photoshop Training Channel says
January 5, 2016 at 2:57 pmPlace the original image above everything else and just mask out the face. This will reveal the face that you worked on.
Alan Ichiriu says
March 31, 2016 at 2:45 pmI have a project/job where I have to change an image of a 20 something female (both full frontal face and at a 45° angle to the camera) and age her to a 30 year old, 40 year old, 50 year old and 60 year old.
Is this a job you might consider taking? If so, let me know your costs and I can run it through my account group.
To summarize, it would be 4—10 year incremental aging images of a 20 something female in two angles. Total of 8 images.
Thanks.
Photoshop Training Channel says
April 20, 2016 at 11:04 pmAlan, I am not available for freelance work at the moment. Thank you.
HJ says
October 19, 2016 at 6:07 pmHi,
I’m doing a project where I have to age a 16 year old boy but only slightly, to make him look like 30 years old. I was wondering what techniques you would suggest, since the age is not much and wrinkles and all kind of haven’t existed yet. Thank you.
Photoshop Training Channel says
November 27, 2016 at 3:58 pmI would make the face fuller, make jaw bigger, add maybe a few wrinkles around the eyes. It all depends on how the boy looks.
Dogum gunu pastasi says
April 6, 2017 at 3:13 amThank you so much. Thanks for sharing.
Photoshop Training Channel says
April 6, 2017 at 8:54 amYou’re welcome!
Remruata says
May 29, 2019 at 5:45 amThis is awesome. Thank you
Can you please show us to make image slider like you did.
Photoshop Training Channel says
May 29, 2019 at 7:25 amYou’re welcome! The slider is a WordPress plugin called TwentyTwenty.