![]() Quick and Dirty Method of Using the Photoshop Spot Healing Brush Tool. A Post By: Lara Joy Brynildssen. Let’s say you use Lightroom and you’ve tried and tried to get rid of those distracting spots using Lightroom’s Spot Removal Tool but no matter how you set it – using Clone or Heal or changing the Opacity or increasing the Feather – you have a giant, obvious repair on your image. Not good! This is my final, processed image but I had to dive into Photoshop to get there. ![]() You’re a good photographer. For kicks, let’s agree that in addition to knowing your way around Lightroom, you’re a skilled photographer. You also subscribe to Adobe CC, but honestly, you don’t use Photoshop much. ![]() Perhaps you’re even a little bit afraid of it. You loaded the software and update it whenever Adobe tells you to but other than the PS icon looking cool and professional in your dock, you don’t actually use it. You just don’t use Photoshop. I mean, Layers, Masks, Blending? Ugh. I know. I do 9. Shop the latest computer games and software at Best Buy. Compare and purchase PC games operating systems and music software that fits your software needs. How to Make a Joiner Collage for a Retro-Style Panorama Image My 5 Favorite Lightroom Sliders Review of Macphun's Aurora HDR 2018 Enter to Win Corel PaintShop Pro. Lightroom. No one has ever called me out on that so I keep on keepin’ on with Lightroom. I love Lightroom but – and it’s a great big but – LR’s Spot Removal Tool is no match for Photoshop’s Spot Healing Brush Tool. Because I know this issue affects so many of us, I’m going to teach you the quick and dirty method for how to Spot Heal in Photoshop. No layers. No tricky stuff. Just easy, quick simple repairs for the problem areas in your images. Practice as you read this. Grab an image that has a problem area that you can’t seem to fix in Lightroom and follow along with me. Practice is the best way to learn so repeat these steps a few times today. After you Spot Heal a few images in PS, it will naturally become part of your image processing tool kit. Step #1 – Process the image in Lightroom. In Lightroom, process your image as normal. Here’s my RAW image before I’ve made any adjustments. Canon 7. D Mark II, 7. ISO 4. 00. Below is a screenshot of all the adjustments I’ve made on my image. I started with a pretty aggressive crop. You can see the White Balance and Basic adjustments but I also dropped in several Radial Filters to add clarity and brightness to key elements like the horses’ eyes. However, I struggled to get rid of the flecks of mud around the black horse’s eye. Step #2 – Edit in > Photoshop. Right- click on your image. Select Edit in Adobe Photoshop CC. It is very important that you don’t skip this step. Do not open your image directly in Photoshop. For the down and dirty method to be most effective, you must start this process in Lightroom. NOTE: If you haven’t updated to PS CC 2. PS, you might need to modify these steps. Instead of Edit in Adobe Photoshop CC 2. Edit a Copy in PS. Step #3 – Select the Spot Healing Brush. It takes a minute, but eventually, your image will appear in the Photoshop window. Here’s the image I’m working on. Check and make sure your screen looks pretty similar to mine. Click on the Spot Healing Brush Tool. It looks like a band- aid except that it has a little semi- circle handle over it. If you can’t find this tool, count seven icons down on the tools pallet and right- click on that. Once you right- click, you should see the rest of the tools. Hover your cursor over the band- aid icon that says Spot Healing Brush Tool. Click to select it. It will now show as the active tool. Step #4 – Setup the Spot Healing Brush. Review the settings for the tool bar that runs across the top of your Photoshop window. If your Spot Healing Brush Tool doesn’t default to these settings, change them to: Mode = Normal. Type = Content Aware. Step #5 – Zoom in. Zoom in and increase the size of your image so you can see the problem area more clearly. Click the Command/Alt key and the + (plus) key simultaneously. Click again to zoom in more. If you’ve zoomed in too far, click the Command/Alt Key and the – (minus) key simultaneously to zoom back out. Grab the drag bars on the bottom and right side of the image to reposition the problem area so that it’s in the middle of the screen and easy to see and repair. Zoomed into 2. 00%, I can see the problem area clearly. Step #6 – Size the Brush Tool. Hover the Spot Healing Brush Tool over the problem area. You may need to change the size of the brush. The easiest way to do that is to use the square bracket keys on your keyboard. Click the Left Bracket Key [ to decrease the size of the brush. Click the Right Bracket Key ] to increase the size. Notice that as you click on the bracket keys, the Size number in the bar that runs across the top of your image increases or decreases. If you click on that number, you’ll get more tool options. Don’t worry about those for now.)Using the Left Bracket Key, I adjusted my Spot Healing Brush Tool to 2. Step #7 – Brush over the bad area. After you’ve adjusted the size of your brush, start clicking on the area of your image that you want to repair. You can also drag the brush to make short strokes. Photoshop is smart and should fill in the area with an appropriate selection but if it doesn’t, click Edit > Undo Spot Healing Brush in the top menu (or Cmd/Ctrl+Z will also undo). That will undo the last thing that you did. If you want to undo multiple things, go to Edit and click Step Backward repeatedly till you’re at the last point that you liked. Step Backward does have limitations so work slowly and check your repair work often. Note: you can aslo open the History panel and go back to any previous step. Step #8 – Save. Evaluate your work. Do you like the repairs? If Yes, go to File > Save in the top menu. Photoshop defaults to saving images as a TIFF file. If it doesn’t, select the TIFF option if/when the menu pops up. This will also import the newly edited image into Lightroom. If you don’t like the repairs you made, quit Photoshop without doing anything. Photoshop will ask if you want to save your work. Just say No. Go sip some coffee and try again another day when you’re fresh. Step #9 – Head back to Lightroom. Almost done! Go back to Lightroom. You’ll still be in the Develop Module with the original RAW image that you were working on still open. Press G for Grid which will take you to the Library Module. Check to make sure that next to your original RAW file is a new TIFF file. Select the two images and view them in Survey Mode so that you can look at them side by side (N on your keyboard). If the two files don’t show up right next to each other in Lightroom resort your images by Capture Time (or file name), or drag and drop so that they do. Side by side of RAW file adjusted in LR (on the left) and TIFF with the addition of spot healing (on the right). Wait, don’t you have to use layers in Photoshop? That’s the down and dirty part. When you’re doing simple fixes like this, you don’t need to worry about layers. Why? Well, layers are excellent if you’re doing quite a few things to your image and you want to be able to turn different effects on and off. They’re also important so that you preserve your original image in a background layer (non- destructive editing). But with this method, you still have your original RAW file. That’s why you want to start in Lightroom and then open your image from there into Photoshop. Lightroom sends a copy of your image to Photoshop. When you save your work in Photoshop in step #8, Photoshop generates a totally separate image file. That new TIFF file shows up in your Lightroom catalog next to your original RAW file. NOTE: If you haven’t updated to PS CC 2. PS, you might need to modify these steps. You might need to select “Edit a copy” and not “Edit Original.”This is a wild horse so I didn’t go too crazy fixing every little thing, but the distracting mud around the eye and on the neck is cleaned away nicely, don’t you think? What if the down and dirty method doesn’t work? This might not work for your image. Some repairs are finicky and this is definitely a hack method that won’t work for everything. My advice is to experiment. Remember the other tools that were grouped with the Spot Healing Brush Tool? Try one of those. Or, keep using the Spot Healing Brush Tool but change the Mode from Normal to Replace or even Multiply. Remember when we clicked the Size number? Click that again and adjust the Hardness of the brush or the Roundness. Make only one change at a time and make notes on what each change does. If something works, click File, then Save and remember what you did. If nothing works, exit out of Photoshop without saving (and go have more coffee). You can always experiment again another day because you still have your RAW image. The Essential Tools Inside a Pro Travel Photographer's Bag. There’s more to a travel photographer’s kit than a camera body and a few lenses. Here are the essentials the pros always keep close at hand. I shoved my phone in my husband’s face to show him a picture I’d taken of the New York skyline.…Read more I recently took a trip to Cuba with some professional photographers, filmmakers, and travel influencers to learn the ins and outs of capturing the world on (digital) film (full disclosure: this trip was paid for by Adobe). While we toured the colorful streets of Havana and navigated the luscious countryside of Viñales, I asked the pros to show me the inside of their bags in between shooting sessions. Renan Ozturk (@renan_ozturk), a photographer and filmmaker for National Geographic, Elisabeth Brentano (@elisabethontheroad), a professional landscape photographer, and a few other experienced travelers were gracious enough to show me everything they carried with them. Here’s a quick rundown: Air blower (mini- blimp or mini- rocket): A brilliant little device you squeeze to shoot out blasts of air. Perfect for cleaning dust and debris off your camera lenses and sensitive electronics. You can get one of Giotto’s blasters for about $1. Microfiber lens wipes: Microfiber cloths work well enough, but they absorb oils, dirty water, and pick up all that dust you’re cleaning off your gear. Disposable microfiber wipes like Kimwipes (box of 2. Plus, you can tear off a couple for your bag and put some in your pocket. Etip gloves: If you’re shooting somewhere cold and you’re shooting on your phone, or have any other touchscreen devices, these are a must. They also provide pretty good finger articulation, which is nice while you’re shooting photos. You can grab a nice pair from The North Face for around $3. Pocket hand warmers: These keep your hands warm, yes, but you can also use them to keep your extra camera batteries warm so they don’t die before you can use them. Also works well for keeping your phone from dying when it’s freezing out. The popular Hot Hands kind cost about $7 for 1. Flip- flops: Sometimes your excursions go from dry land to water, and it’s a good idea to keep your socks and shoes dry. Thin, easy to pack, and super cheap to boot (most pairs are less than $1. Sunglasses: Ozturk says sunglasses are like neutral density filters for your eyes. You invest in good glass for your camera, so why wouldn’t do the same for your eyes? You kind of need them for photography after all. Lightweight tripod: Ozturk’s preferred tripod is a carbon fiber model, while Brentano’s was an aluminum alloy model. Both super light, but these can be pretty expensive (like upwards of $2. This ZOMEI Aluminum Portable Tripod ($7. Socks: Always wear some nice socks, preferably synthetic or wool. In fact, Ozturk wears ski socks. They don’t get stinky as fast as cotton socks, and they last forever. You can buy a pair of Wigwam performance ski socks for less than $2. Rain gear: A lightweight rain poncho or rain jacket ($1. Not a bad idea to pick up a camera rain cover too ($1. Filters: Neutral density filters for shooting waterfalls beaches and other waterscapes, and a polarizing filter for shooting brightly lit skies and lakes. Nice camera strap: I was shown this nifty camera strap from Peak Design ($6. I bought one as soon as I got back in the states. Super sturdy, but cameras can clip on and off the strap in a snap. Mini photo printer: The Fujifilm Instax Smartphone printer ($1. Josh Haftel, the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom mobile product manager, showed me it has an excellent hidden use for travel photogs. You can give recently- shot photos to people in exchange for taking their photo instead of money tips. It’s especially great for kids when you want to give out gifts. Tablet and SD card dongle: Ozturk likes to edit his photos on the go (bus, train, plane, hotel lobbies, at dinner), using Lightroom Mobile on an i. Pad Pro. i. Pads are lighter than laptops, have just as much power (or at least as much as you need for photo edits), are super thin, have more screen real estate than a smartphone, and you can import RAW images for editing with an SD card dongle. I was so impressed with his workflow, I bought a used i. Pad Pro and adopted the same setup. Of course, there are a lot of other essentials you’d expect as well. Things like extra camera batteries, extra memory cards (stored in a plastic bag, not a carrying case), snacks (jerky, energy bars, etc.), lotion, sunscreen, chapstick, a hat that provides adequate shade, a portable charger (a solar- powered one if you’ll be in a sunny place), and maybe an extra camera body as a backup if you’re traveling to a place where camera repair won’t be possible. Whatever you pack in your own travel photography bags, Ozturk and Brentano both suggest you keep it as light as possible. See the best sites around the world often means a ton of walking, hiking, backpacking, and possibly even climbing. They stick to mid- range camera bags, which, when full, weigh around 2. But if they need to go super lightweight, they get their bags down to 5 to 1. In general, Ozturk recommends you ditch the original packaging and bulky cases—like memory card or battery cases—whenever you can. Pare down, carry less, and carry thin. As a solo traveler, it’s challenging to capture my adventures: I want to include myself in the…Read more.
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