How it works: One of the best kept secrets in Adobe Photoshop is the Healing Brush. This is the tool that is directly above the clone tool (it looks like a small band aid). Usually when we try to correct imperfections or discolorations in photographs, we usually work with the clone tool. While the clone tool is a very important and useful tool, sometimes, it's very challenging to match the affected area perfectly. In correcting problems such as facial blemishes, small differences in color and texture is very noticeable. This is where the healing tool shines!

How it works is that you use the healing brush to sample a smooth textured area in the surrounding area just as you would with the clone tool. The difference is that the healing brush also samples of the underlying area of the affected area. When you apply the healing tool to the affected area it smoothes it out the color and the texture, just like magic! The area that you correct is sometimes fixed in one try but often without the trial and error that you face with the clone tool!

Step 01 – Poor Mom had to spend many sleepless nights with her baby!

This photo was chosen because it highlights some of the challenges in photo retouching such as the matching of color and texture in skin tones. An added complication is the low contrast in this photograph. This adds a grayish cast, which makes color matching problematic.

Step 02 – To use the Healing Brush, select the fourth button down on the left column of your toolbox (again, this is a tool that looks like a band-aid).

The areas that we will concentrating on will be the bags under Mom’s eyes, the blemishes on her chin and brow and the laugh lines around her mouth.

Step 03 – With the Healing Brush selected, hold the alt key (option key for Mac user). This invokes the cross-hair icon for you to sample a smooth continuous tone in the surrounding area. After you sampled a “good” area, let go of the alt key and then apply the Healing Brush onto the problem area. The cross-hair icon turns into a circle icon. Don’t worry if the color and texture do not match, when you unclick the mouse, the Healing Brush will sample the underlying color and texture and then recalculate for the smoothest gradations.

Step 04 – Viola, like magic the bags under Mom’s eyes are gone! So are some of the blemishes around her chin, eyes and brow. The results could have been achieved with the clone tool but would have taken a lot more patience and effort! (I have to admit that I did boost the brightness and contrast using the Levels Tool to add “pop” in this photo. (Right-Click for your bonus Photoshop source files!)