Retouch Images in Photoshop CC

These are notes from the Adobe video. Download the sample files.

Spot Healing Brush Tool

  1. Open the Delete_Content.jpg file in Photoshop.
  2. Zoom in on the area you want to change (in this example, the spots on the woman's shirt).. You can use the Hand tool to move to a different portion of the image.
  3. Click on the Spot Healing Brush Tool (4th from the top in the second column).
  4. To remove a spot, make your brush size just a little larger than the spot - you set the brush size by clicking on the brush picker at the left of the options bar and then dragging the size slider. Click in a blank area to close the brush picker.
  5. You can set the brush size in the options panel as described above, or on the fly, by using the [ and ] keys on the keyboard - [ for smaller, ] for larger - each time you press and release the key, the brush size will change
  6. To remove irregularities, just click and drag over the area.

Add Objects by Cloning - the Clone Stamp Tool

  1. Open the Add_Objects.jpg file in Photoshop.
  2. We will copy content from one part of an image and then paint it in, or stamp it, to another part of the image. In this example we will use the flowers in the middle of the table to add additional flowers to the area to the right.
  3. Click on the Clone Stamp Tool (5th tool in the second column). You can leave the Aligned checkbox checked.
  4. You will typically want to increase the size of the brush and also the hardness from their default values.
  5. Alt-Click where you want to copy from; just click; you do not need to move your pointer around.
  6. Release the Alt key and move to where you want to paint. As you move your pointer, Photoshop will take pixels relative to your initial sampling point (you can see the small cross point in your source moving as you drag the Clone Stamp tool) to copy to the new location.
  7. You can thus use the Clone Stamp tool to fill out sparse areas of an image by copying pixels from elsewhere in the image, You will want to sample from multiple areas so you don't get a repeating pattern when you paint.

Remove a Large Object - Use the Content-Aware Fill Command

  1. Open the Remove_Object.jpg file in Photoshop.
  2. In the Layers panel, select the layer that contains the object you want to remove.
  3. Make a rough selection around the object you want to remove; make sure that the selection includes some of the background around all parts of the object. For this reason, you will want to use a tool such as the Lasso Tool, rather than a tool such as the Quick Selection or Magic Wand tools which would typically not select any of the background around the object.

    In this example, we will remove the walkway. If part of the object (such as the walkway in this photo) is at the edge of the photo, go outside the photo when using the Lasso tool so as to get the portion of the object at the edge of the photo.
  4. In the menu bar, choose Edit > Fill.
  5. In the Fill dialog box, choose Content-Aware in the Contents menu and then click OK. Your selection will fill with content that matches the background, hiding the unwanted content from view.
  6. Choose Select > Deselect.

If the removal causes some areas of the background to be blurry, you can use the Clone Stamp tool to fix this.

  1. Click the Clone Stamp tool.
  2. In the Options bar, reduce the opacity to say 75%.
  3. Increase the brush size (you can do this by using the pressing the ] key a couple times)
  4. Alt-Click in a non-blurry section of the background
  5. Click and drag in the area which is blurry.
  6. If you like the result, save it.

(Note: In Chapter 2 of the text, the removal of the object occurred through a content-aware patch using the Patch tool.)

Revised: April 1, 2020. Comments to Bill Pegram, wpegram@nvcc.edu