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There are five main tools that I use in my retouching and they are
The Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush, Patch Tool,
Brush and the Clone Stamp Tool
It shouldn't be so that you use one same tool for everything
Just because you're familiar with it.
These tools are designed for different tasks and you will definitely get better results by using them to
solve the problems that they are made for
I use the Brush Tool to paint in pixels, for example to add some eyelashes or
Fill in the eyebrows or when I'm working with
Layer Masks
I always change the type of the brush
and Opacity depending on what surface and texture
I am working on
The Clone Stamp tool simply copies pixels from the source area to the destination area
You need to hold Alt to sample and then apply those
pixels in simple brush strokes
You can also change the type of the brush and its Opacity depending on
what surface you're working on
The Healing Brush tool is similar to the Clone Stamp tool in a way
You also need to hold Alt to sample your source pixels
The only difference is that it copies the texture and leaves it intact
But adjusts colors and
tones in the destination area, so that it becomes more like a mixture of both
The source and the destination areas' colors and tones
The main difference between the Healing Brush and the Spot Healing Brush is that you don't
need to sample when you work with the Spot Healing Brush
It automatically samples from the texture and tones
from the areas around it and all you need to do is simply touch a blemish or a spot
for it to disappear
I know that many
photographers and retouchers find this tool useless, but I actually think
it's great when used properly
Remember when retouching skin keep it set to 'Proximity Match'
'Create Texture' and 'Content-Aware' settings can actually work against you
And also keep 'Spacing' set to 1 percent when working with the Spot Healing Brush
Or the Healing Brush tool
The Patch Tool is very different from the rest of the retouching tools
It works as the Healing Brush in a way only you're applying
your sampled pixels in patches
Try both the 'Source' and 'Destination' settings to figure out which one works
best for you
They ultimately do the same thing
And are only different in a way you sample your patches
Now, let's see how I actually work with these tools
When I get down to retouching a portrait I start with the skin and the Spot Healing Brush
will be the first tool that I pick up
I always work on a new layer and I make sure it's set to sample 'All Layers'
And 'Proximity Match'
and I target
the most visible
blemishes and spots that sit right in the middle of the skin
Or the background
And work with a very small brush
And just go over the face and the background
and when I'm done with those I move on to the Healing Brush
With the Healing Brush
I work on the blemishes that sit closer to the areas with contrast colors
much darker or much brighter
Or little hair
that crosses the skin
and
when I get closer to the areas where I actually can't allow any
bleeding of colors
into each other or smudging colors, that's when I
move on to
the Clone Stamp Tool
Let's see...
Any areas where we could... Yes.. for example this little.. uh..
It's looks like an eye lash that catches on the light and if I start
using the Healing Brush here or the Spot healing Brush
It will smudge all the colors
and they will bleed into each other
So, this is exactly the situation where the Clone Stamp Tool would be the
ideal tool for
retouching
And again, I make sure that it's set to sample from All Layers
Maybe a little harder
higher Opacity
Cover it up
and
move on
to
the next tool which will be
the Patch tool
To use the Patch tool you will need to have the actual layer with pixels selected
It's the only retouching tool that will not work on a new layer
To duplicate your working layer you can press Command + J
And then
Choose the setting that you prefer, I prefer 'Destination'
Select the patch
Of the 'good' skin and drag it over the skin that you 're trying to
Cover up or
fix
I usually use the Patch tool on the body
or on the neck
But not as much on the face
So as you can see the Healing Brush tools are ideal for working on skin
and gradient backgrounds
And the Clone Stamp tool is irreplaceable when it comes down to working on texture
Or the areas where different colors meet and you can't allow them to smear
into each other
Remember to zoom in very close and keep the size of your tools just slightly
larger than the size of the blemishes you're working on.