Touch up spots, scratches, and wrinkles

Touch up dust spots, scratches, wrinkles, and blemishes using the Healing Brush tool.

Select the Healing Brush tool in the toolbox. It may be hidden by the Color Replacement tool or Patch tool .

In the options bar at the top of the work area, click the current brush to open the Brush pop-up palette. Move the Diameter slider to make the brush tip about the size of the spot, scratch, or wrinkle.

Set the other controls in the options bar as follows:

• Mode: Normal
• Source: Sampled
• Aligned: selected
• Use All Layers: not selected

Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) an area of the image that you want to use as a touch up sample. Photoshop uses this target area as a model for the area you want to repair. Release the Alt or Option key.

Drag across the area you want to touch up. A plus sign appears over the area Photoshop is using as the touch up sample. When you finish dragging, Photoshop calculates the correct amount of healing.

Note: If you don't get the results you want with the healing brush, try the Clone Stamp tool or the Patch tool.

If you are retouching a portrait, your corrections will seem more realistic if you duplicate the original image layer and make all adjustments on the new layer. Gradually reduce the opacity of the touch-up layer until some of the subject's character lines and wrinkles show through.