Healing Versus Cloning. It's a technique that has been used by Clone-tool jockeys for years. The difference between the Clone tool and the Healing Brush is that the Healing Brush does the painting with a lot more intelligence than the Clone tool. Instead of just dropping the pixels from the sample area onto the flaw you're correcting. The difference between the Spot Healing Brush tool and the Healing Brush tool is that a sample spot is required before applying the Healing Brush. Hidden behind the Healing Brush tool in the Tools panel is the Patch tool. Use it to repair larger areas, such as a.
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␡- Exploring the Patch Tool
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Photoshop's Patch tool is great for fixing flaws in photographs and for smoothing wrinkles to give portraits a digital facelift. Helen Bradley explains why the Patch tool often provides better results more quickly than the Clone Stamp tool, and shows how to use the Patch tool for your next photo-fixing task. To follow along as Helen explores the Patch tool, be sure to check out the accompanying video tutorial.
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In this series, Helen Bradley discusses some handy Photoshop tools that are often overlooked or misunderstood, either because they’re hidden away or because their use isn’t immediately apparent. Yet these tools provide smart and useful ways to perform various tasks in Photoshop, so they’re worthy of adding to your Photoshop skill list.
In the fourth part of the series, we consider the Patch tool, which is useful for performing photo-editing tasks such as fixing damaged photos, and for removing wrinkles for a portrait makeover.
clipping masks have other uses that we’ll examine in a bit.
Exploring the Patch Tool
The Patch tool in Photoshop works like a combination of the Lasso tool, for selecting an area to be fixed; and the Healing Brush tool, for actually fixing the problem. Using the Patch tool is smarter than using the Clone Stamp tool to clone one area on top of another because, unlike the Clone Stamp tool, the Patch tool attempts to match the texture, lighting, and shading of the area that you’re trying to fix. The result is that the fixed area will be a better match in texture and tone than cloning can achieve.
The Patch tool shares a position on the Tools palette with the Healing Brush tool, the Spot Healing Brush tool, and the Red Eye tool (see Figure 1). To use it, you drag over either the area requiring fixing or the area to fix it with, click the appropriate a button (Source or Destination), indicate on the Tool Options bar whether you will fill this selection with a source area or drag it to its destination, and then drag to complete the fix.
Figure 1 The Patch tool shares a position on the Tools palette with the Healing Brush tool, the Spot Healing Brush tool, and the Red Eye tool.
Typical uses for the Patch tool include fixing skin and complexion problems such as black areas under a person’s eyes, unwanted wrinkles, or shiny spots on the subject’s skin. You can also use the Patch tool to remove damaged or unwanted areas on photos, such as tears and scratches on heritage photos, date stamps on scanned or digital images, or other large problem areas requiring fixing.
![Between Between](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126335503/609373320.jpg)
The simplest way to understand how to use the Patch tool works is to practice on an image. To follow this example, begin by opening any picture in Photoshop that has some areas requiring fixing—a close-up portrait is a good choice, as you can use the Patch tool to remove wrinkles and dark areas from under the person’s eyes and to smooth out irregular skin tones. Then follow these steps:
- To duplicate the image background layer, click it in the Layers palette and choose Layer > Duplicate Layer. Then click OK.
- Select the Patch tool from the Tools palette and drag over the area that you want to fix. Be sure to make a close selection around the area (see Figure 2). Figure 2 With the Patch tool selected, make a selection around the area you want to fix. Here we’ve selected the area under the girl’s eye.
- On the Tool Options bar, select the Source option button (see Figure 3). It doesn’t matter when you select this, and you can click this button before you make the selection or after it’s complete. Figure 3 When you’re selecting the area you want to fix, you must click the Source button so you can drag to identify the source area to use for the fix.
- Drag the selection marquee to an area of the image that’s a good match for the area that you’re trying to fix. As you do this, notice that the original selection shows the area over which you’re holding the marquee. This feature allows you to preview the area you’re considering using (see Figure 4). Figure 4 Drag the selection marquee to an area you want to use to fix the problem area. Notice that the original selection shows a preview of the area you’re considering using.
- Release the mouse button. The original area will be replaced with the area you selected, and the new area will be blended seamlessly into the photo. Use the top layer’s layer visibility icon to switch between the original and altered image to see the before and after versions.
- If the Patch tool results in the skin being too smooth, so that it looks unnatural, you can blend the two layers to fix this problem. To do this, reduce the opacity of the top layer—this is the one you fixed—so that part of the layer underneath shows through, giving a more realistic result (see Figure 5). Figure 5 To make the effect more realistic, reduce the opacity of the topmost layer—the one to which you’ve applied the fix—so that you see some of the original detail from the layer below.
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Home > Articles > Design > Adobe Photoshop Elements
␡- Healing Versus Cloning
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Photoshop 7.0 includes two great new tools that make retouching images a breeze. The Healing Brush and Patch tools improve on the amazing effects you can get from the Clone tool, but are easier to use.
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If you haven't yet upgraded to Photoshop 7.0, put the mouse down and go get it. When you come back, you can read about two tools that will pay for the upgrade—the Healing Brush tool and the associated Patch tool. If you ever spend time cleaning up blemishes in a photo, these tools will save you a lot of time.
These tools act like a super-charged Clone tool, but they're much, much more intelligent. For newbies, let me explain that the Clone tool is simply a miracle. It allows you to paint with pixels from elsewhere in an image (see Figure 1). This method of painting allows you remove flaws by painting over them with sampled areas nearby. However, it takes practice to become good at cloning. Not so with the Healing Brush and Patch tools.
Figure 1 The Clone tool in use. In this example, I've given the tiger a third eye by painting it in with the Clone tool.
Healing Versus Cloning
The Healing Brush is designed to help you remove flaws from an image, such as scratches in a photo or age lines in a person's face. You essentially paint the flawed area with pixels that you pick up from another part of the image. For example, if a person has wrinkles at the edges of his or her eyes, you can sample an area of skin on the forehead that has no such flaws. When you paint over the wrinkles, you cover the blemish. It's a technique that has been used by Clone-tool jockeys for years. The difference between the Clone tool and the Healing Brush is that the Healing Brush does the painting with a lot more intelligence than the Clone tool. Instead of just dropping the pixels from the sample area onto the flaw you're correcting, the Healing Brush uses the texture of the sampled area and applies the tonal characteristics of the area around the flaw. You still need to sample an area with the same basic color as the area around the flaw, but you needn't worry about matching the color exactly, as you must do with the Clone tool. Use of the Clone tool sometimes provides a dead giveaway: If you paint out a flaw with a sampled area that differs even slightly in color, a line of demarcation is visible where you paint (see Figure 2). Becoming proficient at Cloning basically consists of learning several techniques for dealing with this problem. The Healing Brush avoids this problem with its ability to blend to the area you're painting.
![And And](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126335503/436985515.jpg)
Figure 2 Example of a Clone tool problem. The cloned area is easy to spot because of the difference in color between the sampled area and the area being repaired.
Let's meet the tool itself (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 Toolbar with Healing Brush selected and circled in red.
Select the Healing Brush from the Toolbar palette, or just press j on the keyboard. The Healing Brush icon looks like a bandage. (Get it?) The basic use of the tool follows this pattern:
- Identify the flaw.
- Identify an area near the flaw that looks similar to the area with the flaw. This nearby area is the area you will sample.
- Hold down Option (Macintosh) or Alt (Windows) and click in the area you want to sample.
- Click and drag to paint over the flaw.
TIP
If there is no area near the flaw to use, you can employ a couple of tricks to help you out. I'll cover that later.
It's as simple as that (see Figure 4).
Figure 4 During and after.
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