Section 8.1. General Repair Toolkit | Digital Photography Expert Techniques

8.1. General Repair Toolkit

Certain tools and commands are part of what I like to call Photoshop's "Repair Toolkit." These included the Healing tools, the Clone tool, the History brush, the Replace Color tool and command, and a technique for copying entire selected portions of the image.

Quick Switching Between Tools in the Same Menu

Each of the tool sets in the Toolbox has a letter assigned to it. To find out what that letter is, pass the cursor over the tool. In the case of the Healing Tools, the letter is J and for the Clone stamp tool, the letter is S. To switch between tools in the same category, just press the letter repeatedly. Also, in EditPreferencesGeneral make sure you check "Show Tool Tips and uncheck "Use Shift Key for Tool Switch."

8.1.1. Healing Tools

Another headline for this section might be "Using Spot Retouching Tools." But I'm calling it Healing Tools because the most efficient tools are found in the sub-menu of the Healing Brush tools. One of these is a brand new tool called the Spot Healing brush.

The first thing you want to do when you're about to use the Healing tools is to create a blank layer immediately above the layer you're about to retouch. When you are about to use the Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush, or Clone tool, check the Sample All Layers box in the Options bar for those tools. Then turn off all the other layers. After you've checked Sample All Layers and made a new layer, your retouching strokes will all appear only on that one transparent layer. Now you can erase those strokes and make a new one if you make a mistake. You also have the option of reducing the effect of your retouching by decreasing the opacity of the healing layer.

I placed the above tip in another publication at one time (frankly, I don't remember which one) and got an email saying, "Yes but what if you don't want to change the opacity of all of the retouching evenly?" That's a very good question that has a simple answer: put the Lasso tool in Add mode and select all the spots you do want to change the opacity of. Then press Cmd/Ctrl-X to cut them from the current retouching layer and then Cmd/Ctrl-V to paste the contents of that selection to a new layer. Then change the opacity of the new layer.

8.1.1.1. Spot Healing brush

The beauty of the Spot Healing brush is that it's a big time-saver. Size it to cover the target spot or zit by pressing the [ (left square bracket) to make the brush smaller or ] (right square bracket) to make the brush larger) keys and click. Photoshop fills the surrounding area with its textureprovided you made the brush size too big. How do you know when you've made the brush size too big? Look carefully at the ex-spot and see if it's been filled with the surrounding texture. If it hasn't, just undo (Cmd/Ctrl-Z) and switch to the Healing brush tool (see the "Healing brush" section next). In Figure 8-1, I have intentionally exaggerated the spots and blemishes that you can easily fix by tapping them with the Spot Healing brush. That's exactly what I did to the figure on the right.

Figure 8-1. On the left, you see skin defects. Thanks to the Spot Healing brush, there are none on the right.

8.1.1.2. Healing brush

There are some areas that are too big for the Spot Healing brush to handle, or at least to handle very well. You could deal with these areas pretty well with the Patch Tool, but it won't sample to another layerat least not until some future version of Photoshop. So thank Heaven for the Healing brush. The Healing brush lets you set an anchor point to tell it what texture to use in the patch, then it always blends that texture into any area you paint with the Healing brush.

There are two options for how to use the Healing brushSampled and Pattern. Most of the time you'll want to use the Sampled button in the Options Bar. Pattern is only useful if you want to replace an area with a pattern. The difference between doing that with the Healing brush and the brush is that the Healing brush brings in brightness and colors from the surrounding areas. You can get some really interesting effects with this when you want to replace a cluttered background or texture an object in a still life.

8.1.1.3. Patch tool

The Patch tool lets you select relatively large areas of the image that need to be hidden or subdued. Simply use the tool to draw a freehand marquee around the area you want blend with the surrounding area and then drag that selection to an area that contains the same texture you want inside the "patched" area (see Figure 8-2).

Figure 8-2. The result of using the Patch tool on matching areasin this case the bags and wrinkles under the eyes.

To use the Patch tool as nondestructively as possible:

Make a selection around the area that you want to patch that is large enough to contain the target area for the patch. The target area is the place where you want to drag the marquees. Once that selection is made, press Cmd/Ctrl-J to lift it to a new layer. Figure 8-3 shows how that area would look to produce the result shown in Figure 8-2.
Figure 8-3. An area of the image lifted as a layer so that patching can be done nondestructively.
Click to activate the Source radio button in the Options Bar. Leave all the other options at their default.
Once you've set your options, make a selection just as you would with the Lasso tool. You'll get the same type of marching ants marquee.
Put the cursor inside the selection and drag it to a portion of the image that has the pattern or texture you want to blend into the area that was originally selected.
Use the EditFade command to lessen the effect of patching. The Patch tool is so good at doing its job that it can produce an unrealistic or overly idealized result. If youre patching a pair of matching characteristics, I often find it better to click the Add option so that you can patch multiple areas at once. Then, when you use the Fade command, both selections are faded to exactly the same degree or with the new layer selected, just reduce its Opacity (drag the slider to the left) until you see the effect you want.

There are times when you may want to see detail inside a patched selection. If you have done the patch in its own layer, as suggested above, then it's easy to do. Just use the Eraser tool in Brush mode to erase portions of the patch. If you just want the Eraser to "fade" its result into the original, lower its Opacity in the Options Bar. In this example, you could restore one or two of the lines if you thought that made the subject look more realistic (e.g., if you were asked to make a business portrait rather than a glamour portrait).

NOTE

I have used a portrait to show how the Patch tool is used because it's most often used for retouching portraits; in general, portraits get more retouching than anything else. However, you can just as well use it to restore the texture and color of a section of graffiti painted wall or cracks in the pavement of a roadway.

8.1.2. Fencing off Healing

Miraculous as the Healing tools are, they're not perfect. If you're healing an area that is too close to a contrasting area, Photoshop will simply give up trying to figure out what the clone texture should be and will produce anything from a black blob to a vignetted or "ghosted" picture of a nearby area. Figure 8-4 shows you such a result.

Figure 8-4. The Spot Healing brush tried to incorporate texture information from the area of the photo that you see under the cursor circle in the image at right. At the right, after fencing off the area with the Lasso tool, the shades are blended properly, but the Add Noise filter had to be used to match the grain of the rest of the image.

When you are in this situation, there are two options. One I already suggestedraise the area to be patched and patch from to a new layer. Since the patching then takes place on the new layer that has been cut out of the original layer, there are no neighboring pixels that can confuse the patch tool.

The other option, in case you're working on a multipurpose retouching layer and making several patches, is to use the Lasso tool to make a selection that will "fence off" the area within which you plan to patch or heal (see Figure 8-4). Just be aware that this second technique works only with the Spot Healing and Healing brushnot with the Patch tool. Imagine that you want to eliminate a hole in a wall next to a door. Leave the door outside the selection so that Photoshop doesn't try to consider it in the texture and color that belong within the patch.

Finally, you're less likely to "smudge" your retouching with the wrong neighboring pixels if you make your stroke parallel to any contrasting pixels that border the area to be healed.

8.1.3. Cloning

The Clone tool is simply a brush that copies edge-blended portions of an image from a designated source area to a designated target area. In fact, if you need to do this to a large area, see the "Copying Areas" later in this chapter.

In the image in Figure 8-5, there was a pipe running the length of the creek, a tree trunk invading the left edge of the composition, and a blue plastic tarp. All of those elements made the scene look less idyllic and woodsy. So I used the Patch tool to remove the sections of the pipe that crossed the water and the Clone tool to "paint over" the tree trunk, tarp, and sections of the pipe that crossed the leaves. All of this was placed on a separate transparent layer, which I made by first selecting the entire section of the image that needed retouching, turning off all the other layers, and making sure the Clone Stamp had the Sample All Layers option turned on. This placed all the Clone Stamp's strokes on the duplicated layer as well.

Figure 8-5. The pipe was healed out of the water and cloned out of the leaves and rocks. The tree trunk was cloned away, as was the blue tarp.

When you clone, you have to make a choice in the Options bar as to whether the Anchor point will be Aligned (if checked) or not. If it's aligned, the anchor point travels with the brush. Imagine the pickup point as being at one end of a stick and the repro point as a brush at the other end of the stickwhatever gets "sucked up" at one end of the stick gets "sprayed on" at the other end. This is the way to reproduce a whole portion of an image in another section of the image.

NOTE

You can clone from one portion of the same layer to another portion, from one layer to another in the same image, or from an entirely different image whose window happens to be open at the same time. Just be sure to select the layer or image you want to clone from first, and then click the Anchor point. Next, select the image and layer you want to clone to and drag.

If the Anchor point is not aligned, the Clone tool will keep copying the portion of the original image to the repro point that's the same size as the brush.

8.1.4. Clone Detail from Another Photo

Maybe it would've been a great shot if your model had straight teeth, perfect forearms, or didn't blink. Or maybe you just really want the hat in one image to appear with the costume another as in Figure 8-6.

Figure 8-6. The client wanted the hat in this picture to appear with the costume in another picture.

Details in one photograph can be painted in another with a Clone Stamp brush on a superimposed and transparent layer. There are several advantages to painting on a layer. First, you can blend that layer with the underlying layers by changing the Opacity or Blend Mode. Second, you can alter the exposure and color balance of the layer so that the painted-in detail matches the originals (or, if you have Adobe Photoshop CS, you can even replace the color by using the Replace Color brush). You can also use the Free Transform command (Cmd/Ctrl-T) to reshape or rotate the item so that it appears at the natural-looking angle, size, and perspective. Perhaps most important of all, you can use the Move tool to drag the contents of the new layer so that you're cloned object ends up in exactly the right place.

This method is most likely to work if the object or characteristics that you are transferring from another photo are inside the silhouette of the same part of the subject. That is, it's much easier to add or subtract muscle tone from inside the silhouette of an arm, chest, or stomach. If you actually have to reshape the subject, see the "Punch out the paunch" section later in this chapter. Of course, you can combine both of these methods.

Here's the typical workflow:

Scale or transform the area inside both images that you are cloning to and from to exactly the same size and orientation. As mentioned previously, it's best to cut and paste the information you're incorporating onto a new layer in the target image, temporarily reduce its layer transparency so that you can see through to the target image on the layer below, and then use the Free Transform command to scale the "incoming" image properly.
Decide which parts of your image could be improved. Do you need a better-arching eyebrow, a more elaborate piece of jewelry? Make a list so that you can deliberately find or make the images to clone from. You'll need photos with the required detail photographed at the same camera angle and perspective, and with the same lighting and resolution. If you don't have any, you'll have to shoot new photos. For example, if it's jewelry you want, put the piece on a mannequin and set up or find lighting that's the same as the original.
Open both photos side by side. Copy the photo you're going to clone from (the source) to a new layer in the photo you're going to clone to (the destination). To do this, press Cmd/Ctrl-A to select all, then Cmd/Ctrl-C to copy to the clipboard. Activate the target image's window and press Cmd/Ctrl-V to paste the photo to a new layer. In the Layers palette, place the new layer (from the source image) above the target image layer.
Use the layer palette's Opacity slider to make the new layer blend with the target image, and use the Eraser tool to brush away any unneeded portions of the imported layer.

The biggest problem with this method is matching the texture of the original with the texture of the image you borrow from. This is typically not an issue with eyes or clothing accessories, but skin is another matter altogether. If you have to transfer a tattoo, or some muscle tone, or a different nose, use transparency in the new layer. If you're using Photoshop CS, it's also a good idea to use the Healing brush and anchor it on the original layer, then stroke around the parts of the transfer that show bare skin. The Healing brush will transfer the texture from the anchor point without transferring the original details. Don't try this on the focal area you've transferred because the Healing brush will blur it; instead, do it only on the surrounding skin.

If that approach doesn't work for your particular image, try using the Eraser tool on the new layer to reveal the skin in the original layer. Be sure to feather your Eraser brush and set its opacity low enough that your strokes will blend the new layer with the target image.

8.1.5. Recalling History

There's so much going on in Photoshop that it's easy to overlook some features that you could probably use many more times a day than you actually do. For me, one of the most useful features that I tend to overlook until it's too late is History. History, as referred to in Photoshop, is really two features: the History palette and the History brush.

The History palette lets you record any state of an image so that you can recall it at any time that you screw up. I often workaround this by making backup copies of various states of an image. I'm getting over that habit, slowly but surely. The problem with too many backup versions is that over time it becomes harder and harder to find the right imageeven if you've labeled them conscientiously. I'd rather keep lots of layers in the same image. You can't save a Snapshot, but a Snapshot is nothing more than a flattened version of the image the way it looked at the moment the snapshot was taken.

Snapshots are useful for keeping a temporary image from which to "paint" an effect. For instance, imagine what you could do in an image by seriously oversharpening it and using the History brush to paint over small details that you really wanted to make pop, e.g., the edge of a blade, the iris of a model's eye and her lashes, or the collar of a fur coat. Just run your favorite sharpening command or filter, take a Snapshot, and press Cmd/Ctrl-Z to undo or go back to a History state before you did the sharpening. Now you can paint in the details you wanted on a clear layer above the image. If the client later wants a little less sharpening effect or wants to use a Blend Modeno problem. Apply the client's request to the layer onto which you painted the History information.

You can use the same technique to brush in localized adjustments. For instance, you could make the whole image much lighter and higher contrast and then use the History brush to paint in shadow details or small details on objects that would otherwise have been lost. Figure 8-7 is an example of such an image.

Figure 8-7. In the righthand image, notice the area around the hair, eyelashes, and fur that were painted in from the History snapshot after sharpening the image on the left. Since it would have been bad to teach you to oversharpen the image, you'll have to look very carefully to see the difference in the sharpening of an image this sizebut it would certainly be important in a full-page ad.

Here's the step-by-step routine I used to make Figure 8-7:

I ran the Workflow Layers Action so I could burn, dodge, and heal nondestructively.
I then duplicated the Background and Retouch layers, placed them above the original layers, selected them both, and then chose Merge Layers from the Layers palette menu.
I selected the new merged layer and named it High Key Curve & Sharpen. I then gave it a curves adjustment that dramatically brightened the entire image as well as dramatically increasing contrast.
I ran Smart Sharpen and really cranked up the sharpening levels.
I chose WindowHistory to open the History palette, scrolled up so I could see the Snapshot bars, and clicked the Snapshot icon at the bottom of the palette to record the change that I made in the merge layer. Then I clicked the box next to the Snapshot I just took so that the History Brush icon appeared in it. This lets you know which Snapshot the History Brush will paint from.

8.1.6. Copying Areas

Sometimes, cloning large areas just takes too long unless you use a very large brush. Very large brushes are more likely to accidentally pick up details you don't want. Also, you can transform (resize, stretch, or rotate) Clone tool strokes. So you can't make the pattern disappear off into perspective. The solution is to select a large area that you want to use to cover another portion of the image, feather the selection so that it will blend, and lift the contents of the selection to a new layer (press Cmd/Ctrl-J). Choose the Move tool and drag the new layer into the exact position where you want it. If appropriate, you can transform the contents of that layer to resize, rotate, or give it perspective with the Transform tool. You can also mask the layer if you need to shape it to fit a boundary. Just switch to the layer that contains the boundary, use the tool that seems most appropriate to select it, select the new texture layer, and click the Mask icon in the Layers palette. In Figure 8-8, it was more efficient to do a combination of copying areas and cloning. After the major areas were copied, their layers were merged and the Clone Stamp was used to blend any seams leftover from merging. The pier was extended one section at a time by copying the same lifted layer over and over again.

Figure 8-8. Note the layer stack at far right. Several of these layers were merged from other layers to allow cloning over seams and from merged layers.

8.1.7. Changing an Object's Color

You can recolor objects simply by selecting them and then filling the selection (EditFill) with the Foreground Color. Of course, you have to choose the color you want from the Color Picker before you issue the Fill command.

The New Color Replacement Brush

If the object you want to recolor has areas of color intermingled with the color you want to replace, such as a garment that shows through between strands of hair, it's a good idea to use Photoshop CS2's new Color Replacement brush with Contiguous selected in the Options bar. Place the cursor in the area of color that you want to replace and scrub to paint. As long as you've set the Tolerance low enough, you won't recolor colors that are different from the color you clicked on. You may have to experiment a bit with the Tolerance setting. If you see the Color Replacement Brush recoloring areas you don't want recolored, press Opt/Alt and click to choose the color of the object you accidentally colored and re-color it.

Rather than just selecting the item, as I mentioned, it's a good idea to lift the object whose color you want to change to a new layer. By doing this you preserve the precolored original on the background layer and isolate the object so that you don't accidentally recolor the surrounding objects.

In fact, in catalog photography it's often a good idea to make copies of that layer so that you can have a different color object on each layer. Then when you need to output a file that shows the object in that color, you turn off the other layers instead of having to color over and over again.

Figure 8-9 shows a dress by Kashi Stone Designs that comes only in an off-white natural hemp. However, we wanted to see what some of the items might look like if they were dyed different colors. Since we'd already shot the entire line in the style shown at left, I simply used the Extract filter to knockout the model so that there was no change of overlapping the background. We didn't need to isolate the skin or hair, since they weren't the same color as the dress. We simply set the Color Replacement brush in Contiguous mode, lowered the Tolerance to about 20 percent and painted away. It took less than 10 minutes to recolor the dress.

Figure 8-9. The dress on the right was recolored using the Replace Color brush.