In this tutorial, we are going to use the neural filters found in the Smart Portrait menu to create a funny face. You will soon discover that when you push these sliders to their extremes, they tend to create drastic and oftentimes comical effects!

Using Photoshop’s Neural Filters to Create Funny Faces

There’s really nothing complicated about these sliders in Smart Portrait. They’re all pretty straightforward and easy to manipulate.

We will show you how to access this menu because it’s not that easy to find at a casual glance. In other words, don’t worry if you’re already an Adobe Photoshop subscription-holder and you’ve never seen these features before. They’re grouped with other tools that are in beta development.

First, download this image from Pexels to follow along. Or, feel free to use any of your photos to see what effects you can get.

Let’s get started!

Press Ctrl + J to create a duplicate layer. Click on the duplicate layer. Right-click and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Filter > Neural Filters. Select the Beta Filters icon. Then, choose Smart Portrait and click on the dial. Change the slider values to the following: Happiness: 50, Surprise: 50, Anger: 50, Facial Age: 50, Gaze: 50, Hair Thickness: 50. Then, click OK.

Let’s see how the image turned out!

Funny face before:

Funny face after:

Don’t forget that there are a ton of free plugins for Photoshop that can add special effects to your photos. Sometimes, these extra touches can add depth to your images that will help your funny ideas stand out.

It’s Fun to Discover Alternative Uses for Photoshop Tools

As you can imagine, the creators of Smart Portrait for Photoshop probably didn’t intend for their tools to be used to create funny images. In fact, if you adjust the sliders moderately, you may find that adding subtle emotional effects actually makes for a stronger image in many instances.

But that’s the great thing about Photoshop. Many traditional tools can be used for alternative purposes. Photoshop leaves it to the creator’s imagination to run wild.

Image Credit: Alex Green/Pexels