How to whiten your teeth on Photoshop!

FINE so I know some people think it's immoral to (drastically) alter photos of how we look and all. But while I agree that it's evidently not a fantastic idea to nurture adolescent development with heavy doses of celebrity/athletic/presidential photos taken with perfect lighting, perfect angles, perfect poses, a $2000 camera lens, and who knows how much re-touching or (in some cases) complete head replacement on top a different body, just a little bit of artificial Adobe teeth whitening can't hurt anyone, can it??

Well if you don't buy it, just think of photo-shopping your teeth as the equivalent of having already whitened them before you took the photo. Or you can think about changing the color of your teeth as the equivalent of changing your hair color by dyeing it, or of changing your skin tone by getting a tan (fake or real) - same concept, agreed? WOW. Let's all just praise technology and mankind for a second.

Regardless, here is a quick and easy tutorial of how to get that platonic ideal - those perfect pearly whites - via Photoshop.

1) Bring up your selected photo and zoom in close to the mouth/smile area.

2) On the left-hand tool bar about half-way from the top you'll find an icon that resembles a lollipop (the DODGE tool) or a hand (the BURN tool).

3) Right click on this icon and select the DODGE tool.

4) Now at the top of the screen it shows you the specificity with which you can use the DODGE tool, which essentially lightens any color, including the color of your teeth (hopefully this color isn't too yellow).

- You can select the brush size corresponding to the size of your teeth
- You can select Highlights, Midtones, or Shadows under range to choose the depth of the whitening.
- You can select exposure from 0 to 100% to pick how drastic you want to whiten/lighten your teeth.

5) Left click on the portions of the photo (presumably your teeth) that you want to make whiter and brighter.

6) Upload your smile-perfect photo on Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, eHarmony, Match.com, or whatever website your friends/potential dates will see you and can comment on.

Warning: DO NOT OVERDO IT, or else it will look like you put something obnoxiously white and bright in your mouth (unless this is the hot porcelain look you're aiming for..). also keep in mind that if and when your hot date finally meets you in person as Chez Expensif and strangely focuses at your mouth the whole time, it's probably because they're trying to digest exactly why your teeth look so black in person.

So here is a before, after, and extreme that I just did on a friend just to show you:

Before (top), After (middle), Extreme (bottom)

Eric