Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
The healing brush takes texture from the source and blends it into the target's color and light, and gives a natural result on skin, sky or flat walls; the clone stamp copies the pixels at the source point without blending and works better on sharp edges and lines; content-aware fill fills large areas from their surroundings by itself, but sometimes invents something that isn't there. Cleanup is done on an empty layer without touching the original photo, with a soft brush a little larger than the flaw and with the source changed often; a repeat pattern is checked up close and from a distance. Temporary flaws are erased, permanent features aren't erased without asking the person; a gray patch on dark skin and remaining redness on light skin are checked by enlarging the face.
Learning goal
You will be able to remove small flaws in a photo, a pimple, a dust spot, a cable or a crack in a wall, in a way that leaves no sign of where the patch begins. You will tell apart that the healing brush blends texture taken from another place into the target's color and light, while the clone stamp copies the pixels at a source point exactly as they are; and you will see that content-aware fill fills a selected area by itself, working from its surroundings, and so can sometimes invent something that isn't there. You will do these jobs on a separate layer without touching the original photo, prevent a repeat pattern by changing the source point often, and check the result both up close and from a distance. You will separate temporary flaws from a person's permanent features and not erase the latter without asking the person, and keep the patch's color and light consistent with its surroundings on different skin tones.
The question
In the family portrait you prepared for the invitation cover, after the layers are arranged, small things start to catch your attention. A pimple that came up yesterday on their mother's forehead, a few white dust spots on the shoulder of their father's dark jacket, an old nail hole in the white wall behind, and the blurry trace, painted yesterday with a rough brush, of the cable hanging from the edge of the table.
The drummer clicks the pimple with a healing brush; the pimple disappears. When they drag the same brush along the cable's trace, on the other hand, the edge of the table turns into a crooked line, and the wall's texture repeats here and there. Just as they are about to erase a small mole on their mother's cheek too, their mother steps in: "That mole is mine, leave it." How do you remove a pimple, dust or a cable? Which tool is for which job, and what isn't ours to decide to erase?
Context
In the layers lesson we talked about doing jobs like cleanup and retouching on a separate layer, without touching the original photo (Lesson 21.4). In the basic editing programs you had also used a simple spot removal tool to erase sensor dust (Lesson 13.5). This lesson introduces the family of these tools and separates where each one works well and where it leaves a trace.
Cleanup is the most technical part of retouching, but also the part that carries the most responsibility. Erasing a dust spot bothers no one; erasing a permanent mark on a face, on the other hand, can change whether the person recognizes themselves in the photo. The limits of retouching will be the subject of a later lesson in the module; but this decision starts being made from the first brushstroke.
Simple explanation
What does each tool do?
A healing brush is a tool that covers a flaw by blending texture taken from a source area into the color and brightness of the target area you paint. From the source it takes only the texture, that is, the pores, threads, plaster roughness; the color and light it inherits from the target's surroundings. That is why it gives a very natural result on surfaces like skin, sky or a flat wall. The spot removal tool in basic editing programs is an automatic form of this brush: it chooses the source of the place you click by itself.
A clone stamp is a tool that copies the pixels in a source area to the target exactly as they are, without any blending. A source point is the center of the area this tool, or the healing brush, will copy; in most programs it is clicked while holding down a key. Because the clone stamp does no blending, it works better than the healing brush on sharp edges, straight lines, patterns, and at the boundary of two areas of different colors. When erasing a flaw on top of a line, like the cable hanging from the edge of the table, the healing brush blurs the line; the clone stamp, on the other hand, replaces the line with a line.
Content-aware fill is a tool where the program fills an area you select by itself, by examining the texture and structure around it. On large flaws, for example when removing a person or a trash can at the edge of a photo, it gives surprising results within seconds. But because it guesses what is in the surroundings, it sometimes invents something that doesn't really exist: half a window, a meaningless pattern, a crooked line. That is why you always need to enlarge and check its result, and correct it with cloning or healing if needed. More powerful generative tools based on artificial intelligence, and their honesty problems, will be taken up in the module's last lessons.
How do you work without leaving a trace?
Always doing cleanup on an empty layer is a direct application of the habit from the layers lesson. In most programs the healing brush and the clone stamp can be set to take their source not only from the layer they are on but also from the layers below; this way you paint on top of the empty layer, and the original photo stays in place. If you don't like a patch, you erase that area with an eraser and try again.
Keeping the brush a little larger than the flaw and leaving its edge soft makes the transitions invisible. Covering a large area not with a single brushstroke but with small touches over a few passes gives a more natural result. When working along a line, in most programs clicking one point and then clicking the other end of the line while holding down a key does the operation along a straight line between the two points; this method keeps straight edges while erasing the trace of a cable or a wire fence.
A repeat pattern is a texture copied many times from the same source forming a noticeable repetition. When skin pores, grass, brick or plaster are taken from the same source again and again, the eye notices this repetition at once. Changing the source point every few touches, taking the source from different directions, and checking the cleaned area both up close and from a distance, with the whole photo fitting on the screen, prevent a repeat pattern. For small spots that are hard to see on flat, light surfaces, like sensor dust, many programs offer a view mode that makes spots stand out; after finding and erasing the dust you turn this mode off.
What to erase, what to leave?
Flaws on a face divide in two. Temporary flaws, a pimple, an insect bite, a shaving cut or a redness from tiredness, are things that will pass within a few days; erasing them is most often coming closer to how the person sees themselves. Permanent features, on the other hand, a mole, a scar, a birthmark, freckles, wrinkles or color differences in the skin, are part of the person's identity. Erasing them without asking the person means changing them. The drummer's mother saying "that mole is mine" is the clearest form of this distinction. In documentary and news photography, on the other hand, erasing an object from the scene is generally not accepted at all, because it changes the photo's truthfulness.
Cleanup tools set different traps on different skin tones. Because the healing brush takes color from the target's surroundings, when its source is chosen from a different light, it can leave a gray, ashy patch, or one lighter than its surroundings, on dark skin; taking the source from an area of the same tone and the same light direction prevents this. The clone stamp, on the other hand, because it doesn't blend at all, creates a dark spot on the lit side when the source is taken from the shadow side of dark skin. On light skin erasing a pimple is most often not enough; the redness around it remains, and this needs not cleanup but color correction. In both cases you need to check by enlarging the face that the skin's pore texture is kept and that the patch sits in the same color and light as its surroundings.
Visual evidence
In the family portrait the drummer opens an empty layer called "cleanup" above the original layer and sets the healing brush to sample from the layers below. With a soft-edged brush a little larger than the pimple, they make a single touch on the pimple on their mother's forehead; the pimple disappears, but the slight redness around it stays. They note it for now. The mole on their mother's cheek stays in place.
They erase the dust spots on their father's dark jacket with the healing brush, taking the source for each spot from an area of the jacket in the same light. The nail hole in the wall disappears in one touch. On the cable's trace, on the other hand, because the healing brush blurs the edge of the table, they switch to the clone stamp; putting the source right beside the table's edge, they move along the edge from one point to another in a straight line. The table's edge becomes sharp again. When they turn the cleanup layer off and on, all the changes appear and disappear at once; when they fit the whole photo on the screen, no repeat pattern can be made out on the wall.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeErasing a line like a cable or a table edge with the healing brush.
Because the brush blends color, the line blurs and goes crooked. The fix: use the clone stamp on sharp edges and lines.
Common mistakeCopying again and again from the same source point.
A noticeable repeat pattern forms in skin, plaster or grass. The fix: change the source every few touches, and check the result from a distance too.
Common mistakeErasing permanent features like a mole, a scar or freckles without asking the person.
The person may not recognize themselves in the photo. The fix: clean up only temporary flaws, and get the person's decision for permanent features.
Summary
The healing brush takes texture from the source and blends it into the target's color and light, and gives a natural result on skin, sky or flat walls; the clone stamp copies the pixels at the source point without blending and works better on sharp edges and lines; content-aware fill fills large areas from their surroundings by itself, but sometimes invents something that isn't there. Cleanup is done on an empty layer without touching the original photo, with a soft brush a little larger than the flaw and with the source changed often; a repeat pattern is checked up close and from a distance. Temporary flaws are erased, permanent features aren't erased without asking the person; a gray patch on dark skin and remaining redness on light skin are checked by enlarging the face.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will edit a portrait and an interior photo only with cleanup tools, on an empty layer.
- Try erasing a temporary flaw in a portrait with the healing brush, and a cable or an outlet cover in an interior photo first with the healing brush, then with the clone stamp, and compare the two results.
- See a repeat pattern by deliberately copying a wide area of a wall or skin from the same source; then clean the same area again, changing the source often.
- Remove a large object at the edge of the photo with content-aware fill, and enlarge the result to check whether there is an invented detail.
- Ask the person in the portrait what they want to stay in their photo and what they want erased; clean up only what they want erased, and look together by turning the cleanup layer on and off.
Check yourself
- To erase a flaw, can you choose between the healing brush, the clone stamp or content-aware fill?
- Did you check the cleaned area both up close and from a distance and notice a repeat pattern?
- Did you separate temporary flaws from permanent features and get the person's decision for the latter?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Healing brush | A tool that covers a flaw by blending texture taken from the source into the target's color and brightness. |
| Clone stamp | A tool that copies the pixels at the source to the target exactly as they are, without blending. |
| Source point | The center of the area the healing or cloning tool will copy. |
| Content-aware fill | A tool where the program fills the selected area by itself, working from the texture and structure around it. |
| Repeat pattern | The noticeable repetition of a texture copied again and again from the same source. |
Mini quiz
1. What is the basic difference between the healing brush and the clone stamp?
- A) The clone stamp is faster
- B) The healing brush only works in the sky
- C) The clone stamp blends color
- D) The healing brush blends texture into the target's color and light, the clone stamp copies as it is
2. Which tool is more suitable for erasing the trace of a cable on a table's sharp edge?
- A) The clone stamp
- B) The healing brush
- C) The blur tool
- D) The saturation slider
3. Why do you always need to enlarge and check content-aware fill's result?
- A) Because it fades the colors
- B) Because it makes the file smaller
- C) Because, guessing from the surroundings, it can sometimes invent a detail that doesn't really exist
- D) Because it merges the layers
4. After erasing a pimple on a dark-skinned person's cheek with the healing brush, a gray, ashy patch was left in its place. What is the most likely cause and solution?
- A) The brush is too small; use a bigger brush
- B) The source was taken from an area in a different light; choose the source from an area of the same tone and the same light direction
- C) The layer opacity is high; lower it to zero percent
- D) The clone stamp should have been used; copy from the shadow side with the stamp
Answers
- D — Healing takes color and light from the target's surroundings; cloning doesn't blend at all.
- A — The stamp, which doesn't blend, replaces a line with a line and keeps the edge sharp.
- C — The algorithm fills by looking at the surroundings; when its guess is wrong, it produces a meaningless detail.
- B — Texture taken from a different light carries a tone that doesn't fit the patch; a source in the same tone and light ensures a match.
Summary card
- The healing brush blends texture; for skin, sky, a flat wall.
- The clone stamp copies as it is; for edges and lines.
- Content-aware fill for large areas; check what it invents.
- Work on an empty layer, change the source often, look up close and from a distance.
- Erase a temporary flaw, ask about a permanent feature; check the patch's color and light on skin.
Bridge to the next lesson
When the cleanup was done the family portrait was smooth, but the drummer still felt something was missing. In professional portraits there was something that drew the gaze to the faces, made the eyes shine, and slightly brought out the shape of the cheeks and forehead; in their photo, on the other hand, the light seemed spread equally everywhere. An article they read in a magazine said this most often comes from patient work retouchers do by lightening and darkening one area at a time. What is the professional retoucher's secret weapon? The next lesson tells how to guide the gaze with dodging and burning.