Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop

Home / Design Center / Tutorials

Retouching and repairing photographs

Katrin Eismann


This video shows you how to restore old photographs and retouch any photograph using the new Clone Source palette. You learn how to sample multiple clone sources in Photoshop, including the ability to clone from one image to another.

Requirements

To follow along with this article, you will need the following software and files:

Watch this tutorial in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop.

Repairing and Retouching Photographs in Adobe Photoshop CS3

  1. In Photoshop, choose File > Open and open basketball_girl.psd. As you can see, this image has been scanned from an older photograph that had a large amount of dust and mold (see Figure 1).

    This is a scan of an older photograph that contained dust and mold.

    Figure 1: This is a scan of an older photograph that contained dust and mold.

  2. First, choose Window > Clone Source to open the Clone Source palette (see Figure 2). One of the best features of this palette is that it allows you to define multiple sources for both the Healing Brush and the Clone Stamp tool. You'll find out how this works in a just a minute.

    The Clone Source palette lets you define multiple sources for sampling.

    Figure 2: The Clone Source palette lets you define multiple sources for sampling.

  3. Make sure the Layers palette is open. If not, choose Window > Layers to open it. Click the New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette. It's always recommended to keep your changes on a separate layer from the original image.
  4. Choose the Healing Brush from the Tools panel.
  5. The Sample dropdown, located in the control panel, is where you can choose the sources for the Healing Brush. You can choose Current Layer, Current & Below, or All Layers.
  6. Choose All Layers. To omit the adjustment layer from the sources, select the Do Not Include Adjustment Layers icon next to the Sample dropdown.
  7. Go to the image and place your cursor over a section of grass without any mold. Press the Option/Alt key and click to sample the grass.

  8. Now, simply click and drag over the mold spots to remove them (see Figure 3).

    After sampling a clone source, simply click and drag with the Healing Brush to remove the mold.

    Figure 3: After sampling a clone source, simply click and drag with the Healing Brush to remove the mold.

  9. To sample a second source texture, go to the Clone Source palette and choose the second Clone Source icon.
  10. Return to the image. Place your cursor over a clean section of the basketball and press the Option/Alt key and click to sample it.
  11. Click and drag over the moldy areas of the basketball to clean them up.
  12. Now press the spacebar to temporarily switch to the Hand tool and scroll over to an area of the grass where there is still mold. You don't need to resample a source for the grass. Simply go to the Clone Source area and select the first Clone Source icon, which contains the grass sample you choose in Step 8.

  13. Click and drag to clean up a few more sections of the grass. This ability to have multiple clone sources can really speed up the retouching process. Note: You can also clone from one image source to clean up a different image.

The Overlay Option

  1. Choose File > Open and open retouch.jpg.

    In this image, you'll remove the dark circles from below the subject's eyes with the Healing Brush, as you did with the other image - but this time, you'll use the Overlay option to assist you with the retouching.

  2. Start by clicking the New Layer button and adding a new layer to store the changes.
  3. Ensure the Healing Brush is still active. Alt/Option click to select a new clone source.

  4. Now choose the Clone Source palette and select Show Overlay. This creates a double-exposure effect in the document window (see Figure 4), which follows your pointer. The ghost image is actually the cloning source and the main image is the retouching subject.

    The Overlay option creates a ghost image of the clone source that follows your pointer.

    Figure 4: The Overlay option creates a ghost image of the clone source that follows your pointer.

  5. If you press the Option/Alt key and click on a clear section of skin, the extra exposure vanishes for a second while the Healing Brush selects the source.
  6. Click and drag over the woman's left eye in the main image. Notice the ghost image continues to show the cloning source while you're healing the image. This is Photoshop's way of showing you what you're cloning and healing at the same time.
  7. If you find this distracting, you can hide the cloning source image while you're retouching. Select the Auto Hide option in the Clone Source palette. This reveals the cloning source image while you are selecting the source, and hides it when you're healing.

Where to go from here

For more information and additional tutorials, visit the Adobe Design Center.