The Magical Clone and Healing Brush Tools in Photoshop
Traditionally, photograph retouching was an art. It was performed by gifted artists with backgrounds in both, painting and photography. Their tools included a magnifying glass, a collection of brushes and semitransparent dyes. But now with the help of Photoshop anybody can restore and retouch a photograph which a traditional retoucher would have probably dismissed as damaged beyond repair. Photoshop’s wide array of retouching tools are the cause of many of the absolute best works created with the software. With a skilled and experienced hand, these tools lead to phenomenal results. Retouching is the digital equivalent of plastic surgery and botox, except the results look more natural. The Clone Stamp Tool ( formerly known as the rubber
stamp tool) and the Healing Brush Tool are generally used for retouching. It’s great for cleaning up rubbish, stains or spots from your images. You can even clone IN items such as flowers, books etc. to improve the image as long as you do it right. In the following tutorial we are going to learn how to use the Clone and the Healing brush tools effectively for some practical situations. I am using Photoshop CS5 so the screenshots may differ from the other versions.
How to activate:
You can activate the Clone Stamp Tool and Healing Brush tool in the Tools Palette or via its shortcut keys. “S” activates the Clone tool, and “J” for the Healing Brush.
Which tool to use Clone or Healing Brush and when?
It depends whether you need to cover or blend the area to be retouched.
The Clone Stamp tool:
The Clone Stamp, as its name suggests, clones pixels from one part of an image
and applies them to another area. It is basically a paint brush that uses a part of an image as its palette, rather than a solid colour. If the area to be retouched is damaged, then it should be covered up completely. In that case, the clone tool should be used to cover that area with the sampled area. The Clone Stamp tool may be used to cover up: dust marks, rips, and fold marks, distracting objects, such as stray hairs and telephone wires.
The Healing Brush Tool:
When this tool was introduced in Photoshop it was explained as “The healing-tool looks like a smart clone tool on steroids”, and indeed Healing tool is a close relative of Clone tool. It not only clones but also takes into account the colour, texture, shading, transparency and lighting of your destination area, and attempts to blend in your source areas. Therefore, you may say it is a smart clone tool. It is designed for removing blemishes on the skin, dust in sky, and other areas where you are trying to blend imperfections out of your image. Healing Brush tool is generally used when you’re retouching a face because you’ll probably want to blend the sampled area with the retouching area. The blending helps to camouflage the retouching.