ptg Retouching 281 Using the Spot Healing Brush tool Sampling an area correctly for a repair can be dif- cult in tight areas, such as folds of skin, which tend to be close together and have highlights and shadows. With the Spot Healing Brush tool, no sampling is required. It’s an eective blemish and wrinkle remover (and it’s cheaper than Botox!). To use the Spot Healing Brush tool: 1. Do either of the following: Duplicate the Background by pressing Ctrl-J/ Cmd-J, and keep the duplicate layer selected. Create a new, blank layer to contain your correction strokes, and keep it selected. 2. Choose the Spot Healing Brush tool (J or Shift-J), and zoom the document to 100%. 3. In Edit/Photoshop > Preferences > Cursors, under Painting Cursors, click Full Size Brush Tip and check Show Crosshair in Brush Tip. 4. On the Options bar, do the following: Choose a Mode. For preserving skin tones, we’ve achieved good results with Normal and Lighten modes. When used with Replace mode, the tool may pick up unwanted facial details in the stroke, such as hair or eyelashes. To help preserve the existing tonal values, such as in skin tones, click Type: Create Texture. (For the Content-Aware option, see the next three pages.) To allow the brush to sample pixels from all the layers below the pointer, check Sample All Layers (check this option if you created a new, blank layer in step 1), or uncheck this option if you’re working directly on an image layer. 5. Make the brush slightly wider than the area to be repaired (such as a crease) by pressing [ or ], then drag once along it. A–B Repeat to repair other areas. C We’ve found that a small brush produces the most seamless repairs. 6. Optional: To make the results look more subtle, lower the opacity of the new layer slightly to blend it with the original image layer. ➤ If you applied the Spot Healing strokes to a separate layer, you can erase any unwanted strokes from that layer. A With the Spot Healing Brush tool, we’re dragging along a crease. B e c r e a s e s w e d r a g g e d o v e r a r e smoothed out. C e c r e a s e s a r e r e m o v e d . ptg 282 Chapter 16 USING THE CONTENT-AWARE OPTION WITH THE SPOT HEALING BRUSH TOOL ★ In the right scenario, the Spot Healing Brush tool, used with its Content-Aware option, can be quick, easy, and powerful. When used to remove an object from a photo, it works better if the object being removed has small random shapes around it (such as foliage, water, or clouds in a landscape) A–C than if the surrounding area contains isolated, distinct objects. This tool and option also work well for repairing tears or scratches in a vintage photo. A We want to remove the hydrant from this image. C Poof! To supply the replacement pixels, the Spot Healing Brush tool analyzed and sampled pixels from neighboring areas. is is as easy as retouching gets. B For the Spot Healing Brush tool, we chose a brush Hardness of 100% and Normal mode, and clicked the Content-Aware option. We made the brush a medium size, then with one continuous stroke, we covered the hydrant and its shadow. ptg Retouching 283 A We want to zap the barn from this photo. B For the Spot Healing Brush tool, we chose a brush Hardness of 100% and Normal mode, and clicked the Content-Aware option. We made the brush a medium size, then covered the barn with one continuous stroke. C On this photo, we ran into a glitch: e automatic healing process that the tool performed left behind a red tint from the original object. To see how we were able to apply a successful content-aware repair without healing, see the following page. Continued on the following page USING THE CONTENT-AWARE OPTION FOR THE FILL COMMAND ★ On this page, you’ll see an unsuccessful use of the Content-Aware option with the Spot Healing Brush tool, A–C and on the next page, you’ll see a successful alternative solution ( A–C , next page). ptg 284 Chapter 16 C e c o n t e n t - a w a r e l l s u c c e s s f u l l y removed the barn without leaving behind a reddish tint, because no healing was involved. ➤ To achieve a similar result with the Spot Healing Brush tool, use it with Replace mode chosen and the Content- Aware option clicked on the Options bar. A Via Undo, we removed the Spot Healing Brush edit from the photo so we could try a dif- ferent approach. Our rst step was to create a loose selection of the barn with the Lasso tool. B Next, we chose Edit > Fill. In the dialog, we chose Use: Content-Aware, Mode: Normal, and Opacity: 100%, then clicked OK. ptg Retouching 285 Using the Patch tool e Patch tool is a good choice for retouching baggi- ness or wrinkles below the eyes in a portrait photo and for repairing rips, stains, or dust marks in vin- tage photos. With this tool, you select an area before applying the repair. To retouch a photo using the Patch tool: 1. Choose the Patch tool (J or Shift-J). 2. On the Options bar, click Patch: Source. 3. Press Ctrl-J/Cmd-J to duplicate the Background, and keep the duplicate layer selected. 4. Drag a marquee around the area to be repaired. A 5. Optional: Shift-drag to add to the selection or Alt-drag/Option-drag to subtract from it. 6. Drag from inside the selection to the area to be sampled from. B Release the mouse, and imagery from the sampled area will appear within the original selection. Deselect (Ctrl-D/Cmd-D). C ➤ To hide the selection marquee temporarily (and then to redisplay it), press Ctrl-H/Cmd-H. ➤ When retouching a portrait, if you notice a color change in the patched skin, try changing the blending mode of the duplicate “Patch” layer to Lighten. ➤ If you’re not satised with the Patch tool results but you want to reuse the Patch selection, click the “Patch Tool” state on the History panel, then drag to sample pixels from a dierent area. ➤ For a more precise selection, select a small area to be repaired with any selection tool or by using a Quick Mask. Click the Patch tool, then drag the selection to the area to be sampled from. A With the Patch tool, we selected the area that needs to be repaired. B We dragged from the selected area to the area we want to sample pixels from. To best preserve the skin texture, we’re sampling an area near the eye. C e s a m p l e d p i x e l s w e r e a p p l i e d i n s t a n t l y t o t h e selection. ptg 286 Chapter 16 Using the Red Eye tool Red-eye (red areas in the pupils) is produced when a person situated in a relatively dark room looks straight at the camera, and light emitted by a camera-mounted or built-in electronic ash reects o their retina. You’re less likely to run into this problem if your camera has a built-in red-eye con- trol feature or if you use a ash bracket and an o-camera ash — and if the subject is looking away from the camera. To remove the red-eye from a photo taken without such controls, try using the simple Red Eye tool in Photoshop. To remove red-eye from a portrait: 1. Open a portrait photo, and zoom way in on the eye area (200%–300% view). 2. Choose the Red Eye tool (J or Shift-J). 3. On the Options bar, do the following: Choose a Pupil Size for the size of the correction (try the default value of 50%). You don’t want the pupil to be enlarged. Choose a Darken Amount to control how much the pupil will be darkened in order to remove the red (try the default value of 50%). is setting should be lower for light eyes than for dark eyes. If it’s too high, the pupils will be darkened too much. 4. Click once on the red area on each pupil. e tool should remove all traces of red. A–B (See also the sidebar at right.) ➤ If the tool enlarged the pupil too much, undo the results, lower the Pupil Size value, then click again. Similarly, to try a dierent Darken Amount value, undo your initial click rst. ➤ You don’t need to drag across the eye with the Red Eye tool; the tool is clever enough to nd the pupil area automatically from a simple click. ➤ e Camera Raw dialog has an equivalent tool called the Red Eye Removal tool. REMOVING THE REMAINING TRACES OF RED If the Red Eye tool fails to remove traces of red from the iris of the eyes (the area around the pupils), do the following: Zoom in on an eye (200%–300%), then choose the Color Replacement tool (B or Shift-B). On the Options bar, choose Mode: Color, Sampling: Once, Limits: Contiguous, and Tolerance: 30%. Make the brush tip very small, Alt-click/Option-click a color in the iris of an eye, then apply strokes over the remaining traces of red to recolor them with the sampled color. A With the Red Eye tool, we clicked once on each eye. B Poof! e red-eye is gone. . selected. 2. Choose the Spot Healing Brush tool (J or Shift-J), and zoom the document to 100%. 3. In Edit /Photoshop > Preferences > Cursors, under Painting Cursors, click Full Size Brush Tip and. remove the red-eye from a photo taken without such controls, try using the simple Red Eye tool in Photoshop. To remove red-eye from a portrait: 1. Open a portrait photo, and zoom way in on the eye