Removing Obstructions in Photoshop

Let me start by saying everyone finds their own way of doing things in Photoshop. There are a million and one tools and filters and even though I have been working professionally in the promotional products/jewelry design field for ten years I have no idea what half of them are for. I have some basic classroom training and I did have a tutor one a week for six months or so which was helpful, I told her what I wanted to do and she showed me how to do it. It was helpful for work anyway because mostly what she taught me was how to use Illustrator to redraw things. All that said over the last ten years I have experimented my way into a type of proficiency that amazes me a lot of the time and my family and friends most of the time.

Today's lesson, how to remove some unwanted objects from your pictures. It could be a stray hair, a pimple, a branch a blade of grass. Just to reiterate, this is how I do it. This may not be the best way, it may not be the way they would teach you in a formal class but it's the way that works for me. I am including screen captures I hope you will find helpful. Personally I find this rather easy as long as you have areas large enough to sample from.

1.) Open your picture and make a copy of it. I do this as a general habit no matter what I am working on because you never know when you are going to want to go back to the original and capture something from it or start over. In this instance I used it at the end to create a side-by-side comparison.

2.) Zoom in on the part you want to correct. This is very crucial to getting a recreation that is believable. You can zoom in so much that you will be able to see and replace one pixel at a time if necessary. (Image 1)

3.) The main tool of change for this project is the cloning tool. It is the fifth tool in the left column of the tools palette. The key to using this tool is brush size and shape. You can choose your size, shape and the hardness of the edge. It is best if you choose a brush size that is close to the size of the object you are covering, just slightly larger than the object is good. You will need to decide on the hardness of the edge based on the object you are working on and the coloration of the area you are trying to emulate. In this object the color is very mottled so I chose a soft edge. (Image 2)

4.) Place the brush over the area directly along side what you are trying to cover and hold down 'alt' key while you left click. This is sampling the area under the brush. Think of it as creating a custom paint color that is exactly what was in the circle that represented the brush.

5.) Once you let go of the key and mouse button you are ready to "paint" with the cloning tool. Each left click will put an equal size and exact duplicate of the sample down on the canvas. It is possible to follow a line by clicking and dragging over what you need to color. The paint is not a set image but rather a ghosting of that spot. If you click and hold while traveling away from that spot you will be ghosting what ever you would be traveling over. The best way to understand this is to try both ways and see for yourself. Please note there are settings for the cloning tool at the top of the page. I have flow set to 100% and have not checked aligned (this makes your ghosting go in a straight line rather than following the path you are brushing in) or all layers. (Image 3)

6.) If you remove color over and then realize you need to add shadowing have no fear you can sample again and add it in. Remember you can change your brush size and shape to fit your needs any time. (Image 4,5, &6)

Okay that's it. Click away until you're satisfied. I have ended with a side-by-side image of the original and the corrected version. (Image 7) Have fun.