Revive Your 18‑Year‑Old Look with a 30‑Line Python OpenCV Beauty Filter

Today you might be seeing a flood of “18‑year‑old” posts because, on December 31 2017, the last of the 1999‑born “90‑post” generation will turn 18, marking the legal adulthood of the entire 90‑post cohort and the rise of the “00‑post” generation.

As a middle‑aged tech enthusiast, I’m joining the celebration by sharing a nostalgic photo‑revival trick: with just 30 lines of Python you can make yourself look 18 again.

OpenCV

OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library) was founded by Intel in 1999 and is now supported by Willow Garage. It is a cross‑platform, BSD‑licensed library that provides a wide range of computer‑vision algorithms, with interfaces for C, C++, Python, Ruby, MATLAB and more.

The library is lightweight and efficient, consisting of many C functions and a few C++ classes, and it is widely used in artificial‑intelligence applications such as image recognition, motion tracking, and machine vision.

Installing the Python + OpenCV environment

pip install --upgrade setuptools
pip install numpy Matplotlib
pip install opencv-python

Applying OpenCV to create a beauty filter

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
'''
Skin‑smoothing algorithm
Dest =(Src * (100 - Opacity) + (Src + 2 * GuassBlur(EPFFilter(Src) - Src + 128) - 256) * Opacity) /100 ;
'''
import cv2
import numpy as np

def beauty_face(img):
    dst = np.zeros_like(img)
    # v1, v2 control smoothing and detail levels
    v1 = 3
    v2 = 1
    # bilateral filter parameters
    dx = v1 * 5
    fc = v1 * 12.5
    # opacity
    p = 0.1
    temp4 = np.zeros_like(img)
    # bilateral filter
    temp1 = cv2.bilateralFilter(img, dx, fc, fc)
    temp2 = cv2.subtract(temp1, img)
    temp2 = cv2.add(temp2, (10,10,10,128))
    # Gaussian blur
    temp3 = cv2.GaussianBlur(temp2, (2*v2-1, 2*v2-1), 0)
    temp4 = cv2.add(img, temp3)
    dst = cv2.addWeighted(img, p, temp4, 1-p, 0.0)
    dst = cv2.add(dst, (10,10,10,255))
    return dst

# load source photo
img = cv2.imread('./fanguiju.jpeg')
dst = beauty_face(img)
cv2.imshow("SRC", img)
cv2.imshow("DST", dst)
cv2.waitKey()
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

Result

Instantly the middle‑aged uncle turns into a handsome young man—give it a try!

Conclusion

This is likely the last post of 2017. Thank you all for your support this year; I look forward to staying in touch and wish everyone a happy new year and good health. See you next year!