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In this tutorial, you will learn how to use spot healing brush tool. As the name suggests, it is used to retouch and repair spots on images. If your image has any slight imperfection such as blemishes or even small objects like leaves and bricks, this is the perfect tool to use. Keep reading to learn more about it.
Understanding Spot Healing Brush Tool
Before learning how to use spot healing brush tool, it is important to understand how it works. If you have used any of the healing tools such as the standard healing brush tool and the patch tool, you might know that they are texture replacement tools. Similarly, this tool is the same fundamentally, however, there are some differences in its working that make it even better.
First of all, if you do not understand texture replacement, it means that these tools basically copy texture and pixels from a sample area and then place them in the target area. Another important point to realize here is that it only changes the texture of the pixels but the brightness, transparency, and shading of the original pixels are not affected.
What makes the spot healing brush tool in Photoshop better than other healing tools is that it requires minimal effort on our part. When using the other healing tools, we need to specify not only the target area but the sample area as well. While the spot healing tool only requires the target area and then it automatically analyzed its surroundings and makes the decision itself.
As the name suggests, this tool can be used to heal any spots, such as blemishes, in the images.
How to Use Spot Healing Brush Tool
Step 1- Select the Tool
After you have opened the image that you want to retouch, it is time to select the spot healing brush tool. If you are wondering where to find it, it is right underneath the Eye Dropper Tool in the Toolbar. There you will see the Healing Brush icon. When you click and hold on to it, it will reveal a few options to you. Make sure that you only select the spot healing brush tool. An easy way to recognize it is by its symbol which is a band-aid with a spot behind it.
Step 2- Choose a Brush Size
Now that the tool is selected, let us choose a brush size. An important point to realize here is that there are no right and wrong rules for this step, however, doing it in a certain way will save you a lot of time. The best way is to select a brush size that is slightly larger than the spot you are trying to heal.
The fastest method to choose brush size is by pressing the left bracket key to make it smaller and the right bracket key to make it larger.
Step 3- Blending Mode - How to Use Spot Healing Brush Tool
Next, you have to select a blending mode for the spot healing brush tool in Photoshop. If you prefer, you can skip this step and let it be set to Normal. Otherwise, it can be changed in the options bar.
The best one is Replace as it preserves the texture and noise of the surrounding pixels when using a soft brush.
Step 4- Choose Healing Option
This is the most important step while learning how to use spot healing brush tool. This tool offers you three different options for healing an area.
- Proximity Match: As the name suggests, it analyzes the pixels around the target area and then selects the best ones from them to replace them. It works better if you apply brushstrokes that move from outwards towards the target area.
- Create Texture: Just like the previous mode, Create Texture also uses the surrounding area as a sample. However, the main difference is that instead of using the actual pixels to replace the defective area, it creates a texture itself from the sample area. You may not like the results on the first try. Simply, drag the brush once more to make the selection better.
- Content-Aware: Lastly, the spot healing brush tool in Photoshop provides us with Content-Aware mode. This is, by far, the most advanced mode as it not only analyzes the surrounding area but makes an intelligent decision to replace the target area with a perfect sample. It does all this while also maintaining shadows, object edges, and other details of the original area.
Step 5- Sample All Layers
Now that all the fundamental settings have been selected, it is important to note that we need to do the actual healing process on a separate layer. For this purpose, simply check Sample All Layers in the options bar.
Step 6- Final Step
This is the last step for learning how to use spot healing brush tool in Photoshop.
Simply, click on the area that you want to use filters on, repair, or paint over areas until it removes all the imperfections.
Conclusion - How to Use Spot Healing Brush Tool
In summary, after selecting the tool, you have to choose a brush size. After that choose a blending mode and healing option. Then, select Sample All Layers. Finally, use the brush to paint over areas that you want to fix. These simple steps are all you need to know when learning how to use spot healing brush tool. Always keep learning new things.
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