Advanced tricks for Healing Brush for retouching in Photoshop
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Overview
- 13+ Hours of content!
- 10+ Interactive exercises
- 68 downloadable resources
- You'll learn the best selection and masking techniques
- You'll know how to fix images that look 'hard to fix'
- You'll master advanced levels and curves tricks, specifically with skin, adjusting and enhancing colors
- You'll learn how to enlarge images without distortion and what to do when things go wrong
- You'll know how to convincingly remove all kinds of objects from images
- My favourite: You'll master the ability to distort, bend and reshape images
- Lets look at how current trending styles are super easy to duplicate
- You will become a type nerd. We'll use font pairing in Typekit. We'll also use Photoshop's ability to guess fonts
- Your Artboards skill will be mastered
- A master of retouching, you will become!
- You'll learn to edit videos in Photoshop, who'd have thought?
- We'll also create awesome cinemagraphs, AKA: Moving pictures!
- You'll learn to master 3D in Photoshop!
- You'll learn lots about professional, reusable mockups, techniques and shortcuts!
Course duration 13 hours 45 mins + your study.
Daniel Walter Scott
Founder of Bring Your Own Laptop & Chief Instructor
I discovered the world of design as an art student when I stumbled upon a lab full of green & blue iMac G3’s. My initial curiosity around using the computer to create ‘art’ developed into a full-blown passion, eventually leading me to become a digital designer and founder of Bring Your Own Laptop.
Sharing and teaching are a huge part of who I am. As a certified Adobe instructor, I've had the honor of winning multiple Adobe teaching awards at their annual MAX conference. I see Bring Your Own Laptop as the supportive community I wished for when I was first starting out and intimidated by design. Through teaching, I hope to bring others along for the ride and empower my students to bring their stories, labors of love, and art into the world.
True to my Kiwi roots, I've lived in many places, and currently, I reside in Ireland with my wife and kids.
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Transcript
Hi there, this video is all about going through some Healing Brush, more advanced tips and tricks. You probably already know how to use it. I'm just going to show you what I do to make it go fast, and to give you some better results. Let's jump in.
To get started let's open up 'Healing 1'; thank you, Bruce Dixon. So before we get started we're going to use the Healing Brush. It's the more advanced tool but I just want to remind you that the Spot Healing Brush, which is this one here, the automatic one, if you haven't used it for a while, it has got so much better, especially with the introduction of Content Aware. And when I'm doing professional retouching, it is like, 70% of the work is just too easy. A couple of tricks to get good use of it, is to make sure you're working on a separate layer, and we're going to call this one 'Retouch'. Make sure Sample all Layers is 'on', otherwise it won't work, because it's going to reach through to this bottom layer, but everything's going to end up on this layer that we can turn off afterwards.
So pick a brush size, pick a hardness, and just click once. This is just pretty amazing. Don't want to get too close to the edges. So bulk of the work gets done with this tool. Tips for using this tool. So say we've got a chunk here, we want to get rid of this along here, we can probably just paint it out, but I guess I just really want to show you my trick. You click once, hold 'Shift', click again, and it joins the two lines. So if you've got like a long scene that you need to fix up, you can click once, hold 'Shift', and click again. It just joins the two up, and because we used its own layer you can start to see, everything's on it's on Retouch Layer, and what will end up happening is, you'll end up going too far and you need to kind of dial it back.
So with this layer selected, and your Move Tool selected, so I'm at an Opacity of 100%. Just hit '5' on my keyboard and set 50. So it's just a lot easier, I'm not even looking at this while dragging, I'm just looking at my image. Super close. Just kind of tapping, you tap fast, like if I type '33' I get 33. Going to go 80, so it's still there, they're just heavily reduced, even a little bit less, at 70, more realism. Let's say the Spot Healing Brush isn't working for you in your instance. I'm going to turn that layer off and create a new one. This is going to be my 'Retouch 2'. We're going to use the Healing Brush, by itself now, show you how to use this, because we didn't cover it in the Essentials, so what we're going to do is, click and hold down the Spot Healing Brush, grab the Healing Brush. It works the same way except I get to be in a lot more control.
So the Spot Healing Brush just goes and finds pixels, and it's going to guess. What you can do is you can hold down the 'Option' key on a Mac, or the 'Alt' key on a PC, and click a target. Just say, I want to use this bit of skin, please; don't just pick anything. Pick this bit from all over here. So that's 'Option on a Mac, 'Alt' on a PC. Click once and then let go. And this is totally not going to work, because I haven't done this one that says Current Layer, I want to sample all the layers, please. So let’s hit the target again. And now click and drag, and watch when I'm dragging, it's a little hard to see, I'll get the editor to zoom in.
Can you see the target, clicking, dragging, and moving around? So you can kind of see where it's pulling from. Did just a good job, just gives you a bit more control. You, click, drag, let go. Gets fancy if you open up the window and go to the one that says Clone Source. It works for both the Clone Tool Stamp, which we'll do in the next video, and this Healing Brush, and you can have more than one source. So at the moment it's just using this, it's pulling from this particular document. I click there, that's where it is. What you can do is you can set up a group. At least five different points you want to pull from. So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to say, I want some kind of really light texture over here. So this first one, it's going to be my lightest option, this next option here, could be from a completely different document. Just have it open and steal from that, it will load into the Clone Source, but I wanted kind of a medium kind of texture, that one there.
Trying to use this only when there's like a really high ISO, and there's a real grain in the image, you need to kind of match the grain. In this case we're matching kind of skin texture, but you get the idea. So I set a medium point. Here, darker, darker, darker. And here's going to be kind of where I find something, that's the darkest part of the skin. Probably across here. So now when I'm working I can come down here, and say, actually this piece here is probably going to work with that first one I took. Or something else, this one here's a bit lighter, so I'm going to go to this lighter option. Over here is my medium. A little bit darker, the medium. I'm not really taking the darkness book, because the Healing Brush will match the colors, but the texture that appears in the kind of darker areas just end up being a different kind of grain than the stuff that are in the lighter areas.
Again, you might decide on skin texture, you might have, number one is stuff from this kind of clear patch on the forehead. You might decide, number one here is the texture from the skin from the forehead, and number two is the kind of porous one here from the nose. There's a little bit of like tiny hairs that are there. So that's just taking that a little bit further. And if I'm honest, even when I was doing like full time retouching, I didn't use these points very often. There's a lot of this. I'll show you a bit more of the work flow that I did, but I want to show you that feature because some people do really like it.
So let's say we're working in nice and close. Space bar is obviously a really useful one. Another really helpful one, say I'm in real tight, and I need to get a new sample point from the other side of their face, so 'Spacebar', click and drag, and I can find it, other side of the face is probably not that hard, chin, when I go down to the chin, and there it is. So it's not particularly hard here, but let's say I want to go to somewhere, I'm not too sure yet. Say I want to go up to the forehead, instead of clicking, dragging and dragging, hold down the 'H' key, click and hold down 'H' key on your keyboard, then click and hold down the mouse key, you can go over here, let go. I can hold the 'H' key, move down, start working on the arm. So it means I've always got my Healing Brush selected, and the H just moved to the hand tool temporarily. It's like the navigator window that used to be up here.
Another handy trick is, I find I like to kind of move the object around, especially when I'm working on say the edges here, you can use this tool here. It's the Rotate Tool, or there's the Hand Tool there. What I do is, on the Healing Brush just hold down the 'R' key, and just drag it around, and decide I'm going to be working here. I'm just going to kind of move along this edge. I find them, especially with my Wacom tablet, my range of movement is a lot better when I have this thing rotated, to an angle that kind of suits my kind of wrist movements. 'Esc' to get rid of it. If you tap the R key it just moves to it, you got to go back to the Healing Brush. If you click and hold the R key, it's kind of just temporarily doing it. Same with the H key, same sort of principle.
The one last thing I'll show you is this Aligned On and Off. There's times where it's great on, and times where it's not so great. So let's say that I am escaping to get back out of here, let's do 100%. I'll show you what it does. Let's zoom in. So with it aligned what's going to happen is, if I set my point here and I start - I like this - but I start dragging across, can you see the little target? And if I let go because I got close to the edge, and then I come back again and start drawing again, can you see, it goes back to where it started. So it's kind of aligned perfectly from wherever this is, it doesn't really matter, can you see, it keeps following it. It's exactly like 200 pixels across and 200 pixels down.
Doesn't matter where you are, I end up over here. Can you see, it's grabbing bits of the chin there. Totally wrecking this, let's go undo. Whereas let's say we've only got like one patch of nice skin, the rest of it needs a lot of work. You can set it there, and it doesn't matter where you are, I can click over here now, and can you see, it's still pulling from that original image, so it's not aligned anymore. So if you've got one and you're kind of building it out, doesn't have to be skin, say it's some brickwork or grass, you've just got a nice patch, you just want to keep going back to that. The only trouble with it is that you've got to have a repetition potentially.
All right, so that's going to be it for the Healing Brush. Let's move on next to the Clone Tool Stamp. Don't think about skipping that one. The Healing Brush, yes took a lot of the work from the Clone Tool Stamp, but there are some cool tricks which I'll show you, that make it useful to go into your tool kit. I'll see you there.
How do I get better results with the Healing Brush in Photoshop?
Work on a separate retouch layer, enable sampling from all layers, and choose source areas with texture that matches the repair. Use Spot Healing for quick clean-up, switch to the Healing Brush when you need control, and adjust layer opacity to keep the result looking natural.
Photoshop Healing Brush: Advanced Tips and Tricks for Faster Retouching
Key Takeaways
Set up a separate retouch layer so you can compare and soften your edits.
Use Content-Aware Spot Healing for most quick repairs.
Choose Healing Brush sources that match skin texture and image grain.
Save useful sample points in the Clone Source panel.
Move and rotate your canvas without constantly changing tools.
Understand when to turn Aligned sampling on or off.
Getting faster at retouching is not just about learning a more advanced tool. It is about knowing when the simple tool is enough, when you need more control, and how to keep the whole process comfortable.
My usual approach is to let the Spot Healing Brush do the easy work, then bring in the Healing Brush where Photoshop needs a little direction. A few sampling settings and keyboard shortcuts make that workflow much quicker.
Start with Spot Healing for the Easy Repairs
If you have not used the Spot Healing Brush for a while, give it another go. It has become much better, particularly with Content-Aware selected. In my professional retouching work, it handles roughly 70% of the clean-up. It is simply too useful to ignore.
The difference between the two healing tools is control. Spot Healing finds replacement information automatically. The Healing Brush lets you choose exactly where that information comes from.
Keep your retouching on a separate layer
Create a blank layer above your photograph.
Name it Retouch.
Select the Spot Healing Brush and choose Content-Aware.
Enable Sample All Layers.
Choose a suitable brush size and hardness, then click individual blemishes.
Sample All Layers is the important bit. Photoshop needs to read the photograph underneath your empty layer while placing the repairs on the selected Retouch layer. Without that setting, the blank layer has no useful image information to work with.
For straightforward spots, a single click often does the job. Be more careful near edges, where the automatic sampling can become less reliable. I use this tool for the bulk of the easy work rather than forcing it through every difficult area.
Use Shift-click for straight repairs
You can paint along a long mark, but there is a handy shortcut for a straight seam or similar line:
Click at the start of the repair.
Hold Shift.
Click at the other end.
Photoshop connects the two points with a straight brush stroke. It is a quick way to cover a linear defect without carefully dragging along its entire length.
Dial Back the Retouching for More Realism
It is very easy to get carried away. You clean up one spot, then another, and before long the skin looks a little too perfect. This is where that separate layer earns its keep.
Rather than undoing everything, reduce the Retouch layer’s opacity. The original details start to come back through, so you can reduce their prominence instead of removing them completely.
With the Retouch layer selected, switch to the Move tool and use the number keys:
Press 5 to set layer opacity to 50%.
Press 3 twice quickly to set it to 33%.
Press 8 for 80%, or 7 for 70%.
I like this because I can concentrate on the photograph rather than dragging an opacity control. Try a few strengths and judge the image itself. Sometimes a slightly reduced repair feels much more believable than the full-strength version.
Switch to the Healing Brush When You Need Control
When Spot Healing chooses the wrong information, switch to the Healing Brush. Click and hold the Spot Healing Brush icon in the toolbar to find it.
To compare the tools independently, you can hide your first Retouch layer and create another blank layer called Retouch 2.
Select the Healing Brush.
Set its Sample option to All Layers, rather than Current Layer.
Hold Option on a Mac or Alt on a PC.
Click a clean area to define the source, then release the modifier key.
Click or drag over the area you want to repair.
The easy mistake is leaving Sample set to Current Layer. If your selected layer is empty, you are asking Photoshop to sample from nothing. Set it to All Layers, then choose your source again.
As you paint, a source target moves across the image. Keep an eye on it: that target tells you where Photoshop is pulling texture from. A source that starts on clean skin can drift into an unsuitable feature as your stroke continues.
Match texture, not just colour
The Healing Brush blends the sampled information with the colour of the destination. That means choosing a source is not simply a matter of finding skin with the same brightness.
The texture needs to make sense. A clear patch on the forehead can have a different character from the more porous skin around the nose. Tiny hairs can also make one area unsuitable as a source for another.
The same principle matters with a high-ISO photograph. Grain can look different across lighter and darker areas, so a technically clean sample is not necessarily the right sample. Choose information that belongs in the area you are repairing.
Save Multiple Samples in the Clone Source Panel
If you need several distinct textures, open Window > Clone Source. This panel works with both the Healing Brush and the Clone Stamp tool, and provides five source slots.
The Clone Source panel keeps several sampling options available while you retouch.
Instead of continually replacing a single sample point, you can build a small set of useful sources:
Select the first source slot in the Clone Source panel.
Option-click or Alt-click a suitable texture in the image.
Select the next slot and sample a different area.
Repeat for the textures you expect to need.
Click a saved slot whenever you want to use that source.
One approach is to collect samples from progressively lighter or darker areas. The purpose is not to copy their darkness directly, because the Healing Brush handles the colour blending. It is to access the different texture or grain found in those areas.
Alternatively, organise the slots by skin type: one for a clear forehead patch, another for the more porous texture around the nose, and so on.
A source can also come from a different open document. Select a slot, sample from that document, and use it as the source for your repair.
Honestly, even when I was retouching full-time, I did not use saved source points very often. I usually sampled fresh areas as I worked. But it is worth knowing the feature exists, especially if your image has distinct textures that you need to revisit.
Navigate Quickly Without Leaving the Healing Brush
Working close up means moving around the image constantly. You might be repairing a cheek and need a source from the other side of the face, the chin or the forehead. These shortcuts save a lot of back-and-forth.
Hold Spacebar to pan
Hold Spacebar, then click and drag to move the canvas. Release it and carry on with the Healing Brush. It is ideal for a nearby area just outside your current view.
Hold H for a wider navigation view
For a bigger jump, hold H, then click and hold the mouse button. Photoshop temporarily pulls back to a wider view so you can reposition the navigation area.
Move to the part of the photograph you need and release to return to the close-up view there. It is much quicker than repeatedly dragging across a heavily zoomed image when you are not quite sure where your destination is.
The useful detail is that the Healing Brush remains your working tool. Holding H borrows the Hand tool temporarily, rather than making you switch away and then find your brush again.
Rotate the Canvas to Suit Your Hand
Sometimes the awkward part of a repair is the angle. I find this particularly noticeable when working along an edge with a Wacom tablet. My wrist has a comfortable range of movement, and rotating the canvas lets me work within it.
While using the Healing Brush, hold R and drag to rotate the canvas view. Release R when the angle feels comfortable, then continue retouching.
Rotate the canvas to make awkward edges more comfortable to retouch.
Press Escape to return the view to its normal orientation.
There is a difference between tapping and holding these shortcuts. Tapping R selects the Rotate View tool, so you will need to switch back afterwards. Holding R makes the change temporary. The same tap-versus-hold principle applies to H.
Understand Aligned Sampling
The Aligned setting controls how your source behaves between brush strokes. There are good reasons to use either setting, depending on the repair.
Aligned on: maintain the source offset
With Aligned enabled, Photoshop maintains the spatial relationship between the source and your brush. Imagine the sample target is about 200 pixels across and 200 pixels down from the repair. That offset stays consistent as you move to new strokes.
This is useful when you want the source to progress across an area rather than repeatedly starting from the same patch.
The catch is that the source can wander somewhere you did not intend. Start with a clean patch of cheek and move far enough, and you may end up sampling part of the chin. The target is doing exactly what you asked, but the resulting repair can be completely wrong.
Aligned off: restart from the original source
With Aligned disabled, each new stroke starts sampling from your original source point. The source still moves during the stroke, but it resets when you release and begin another.
This is handy when you have only one good patch of texture and want to keep returning to it. It does not have to be skin. The same idea applies to a useful patch of brickwork or grass.
The trade-off is repetition. Reusing the same patch can create recognisable repeated details. Use the reset behaviour when it helps, but check that the texture is not becoming an obvious pattern.
A Practical Healing Brush Workflow
My preferred workflow keeps the automatic tool doing the easy jobs and reserves manual sampling for the places that need it:
Create a separate Retouch layer and enable sampling from all layers.
Use Content-Aware Spot Healing for straightforward blemishes.
Switch to the Healing Brush when you need to choose the source yourself.
Sample texture appropriate to the area, and check where the source target moves.
Use saved Clone Source slots if several repeatable textures would help.
Pan, navigate and rotate the view to keep your movements comfortable.
Choose Aligned on or off according to whether the source should continue or reset.
Reduce the retouch layer’s opacity if the result needs a little more realism.
The Healing Brush takes care of a lot of work that once fell to the Clone Stamp, but that does not make the Clone Stamp redundant. Keep both in your toolkit. The goal is not to use the most advanced tool for every repair, but to use the tool that gets the right result with the least fuss.
Key Terms
Spot Healing Brush
A healing tool that automatically chooses replacement information. Content-Aware is particularly useful for quick, straightforward clean-up.
Healing Brush
A repair tool that lets you select a source manually with Option-click or Alt-click. It blends the sampled texture into the destination’s colour.
Sample All Layers
A sampling setting that lets the healing tool read image information from other layers while placing repairs on the selected layer.
Clone Source
A panel with five source slots for the Healing Brush and Clone Stamp. It lets you save and switch between different sampling points.
Aligned
A setting that maintains the source offset between strokes when enabled. When disabled, each new stroke returns to the original sample point.
FAQs
Why is the Healing Brush not working on my blank layer?
Check the Sample setting. If it is set to Current Layer, Photoshop is sampling the empty layer. Change it to All Layers, then Option-click or Alt-click a source again.
Should I use the Healing Brush or Spot Healing Brush?
Start with Spot Healing for quick repairs where automatic sampling works well. Use the Healing Brush when you need to choose a particular source or match a more specific texture.
How can I make skin retouching look less heavy-handed?
Keep repairs on a separate layer and lower that layer’s opacity. This allows some original detail to show through, reducing imperfections rather than removing them completely.
When should I turn Aligned off?
Turn it off when you want each new stroke to start from the same clean source patch. Check for repeated details, because repeatedly reusing one patch can produce an obvious pattern.
Written by Daniel Walter Scott — Founder of Bring Your Own Laptop & Chief Instructor
