FOUR: Healing an Image

  Note: The following tutorial was written with earlier versions of Photoshop in mind. As mentioned in the video tutorials, feel free to use any alternative methods in Photoshop CS5 to complete the project.
  Download and Open the healface.psd. Zoom in and examine the image. Repair the image using the following techniques.
1. CLICK here to view a finished example.
2. Click on the Healing brush. Look at the options in the top bar palette and make sure they are set to the default settings.
 

  Source should be set to Sampled and the Aligned check box is off. You can also restore this by choosing the Reset Tool command from the pop up menu.
3. Heal the mole on the right side of the face. I would increase the brush diameter to around 30 pix. Then set the source point for the brush by holding the option key and clicking once. Experiment with various source points. I might also play with the Clone Stamp Tool in the same area, since the Healing brush can sometimes soften the skin tone. The result should look something like this:
 
4. Now, heal the left part of the scratch as it runs to the ear and the right part toward the nose. You will need to reduce the brush diameter to around 10 pixels. Use short strokes with the Healing Brush, even individual clicks. Experiment, if you are not getting the results as above, start over or use option>Command>z to step back in history.
5.

Next, fix the vertical scratch from the nose down to the bottom of the image. I used a combination of the Healing Brush, Clone Stamp and even a very fine Paintbrush to repair the image. Should look something like this:
 

If you look closely at your image, you will probably notice repeated details around the nose and mouth. This is a result of sampling neighboring areas and picking up unwanted blemishes and pixels. These can be fixed with the small brush and the Clone Stamp Tool.

More problematic areas would be around the whiskers and collar areas. This is where you will need to zoom in and use a combination of techniques and tools. Try and maintain as much detail as possible.

Hint: You can vary the opacity of all of the tools using the options menu for the tool you are using.
6. Now we are going to repair the vertical scratch running from the eye to the top of the image using the Patch Tool.
 
7. Select the Patch Tool and confirm the settings. Patch should be Source and Transparent turned off.
8. This is a bit Tricky:
  Drag around the scratch from the nose to the top of the image allowing a small margin around the selection. This tool works exactly like the Lasso Tool.
TIP: Hold down the option key (Mac) or the Ctrl+D (pc). This will give you the Polygonal Lasso, which is a bit easier to draw your selection. The selection should look something like this:
 
9. Next, and VERY IMPORTANT, choose View>Snap To> Document Bounds. The forces the selection outlines to snap into alignment with the boundaries of the image.
10.

Drag the selection just slightly to the right and down to a portion of the image that is not scratched. I used about 30 pixels right and 10 pixels down. Release and the result should look something like the second image above right. An almost seamless patch. Very cool...

You can also use the Patch Tool along with the Magic Wand.
Try the following on the horizontal scratch form the nose to the right edge of the image:
11. Select the Magic Wand Tool. In the options menu, turn Contiguous off, set the Tolerance to 32 and turn anti-aliased on.
12. Click anywhere along the remaining horizontal scratch. I would click inside the thickest area on the nose.
13. VERY IMPORTANT: To make sure that you are selecting only the scratch, chose the rectangular Marquee Selection Tool then press Shift + Option ) Mac or Shift + Alt (pc) and drag around the entire scratch. This will deselect every other pixel and leave only the scratch selected.
14. Next, choose the Select menu>Modify>Expand. When the dialog comes up set the pixels to 2 or 3. The resulting selection should look something like this:
 
15. Select the Patch Tool and drag the selection about 40 pixels down and 5 pixels to the left. The result should look something like this:
 
16. At this point, you are probably noticing a few rough edges (The Patch Tool is great but sometimes you need to clean up certain areas. Use a combination of the Healing brush and the Clone Stamp Tools to clean the edges and remove the blemishes.
CLICK here to view a finished example.
17. To finish up you will need to repair the right eye. To do so complete the following:
18. Choose the Lasso, set the feather radius to around 30 pixels and draw a large selection around the left eye. See below:
 
19. Copy and paste the eye onto a new layer.
20. Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. Then move the new eye on top of the right eye. Notice that the feathered eye wants to blend with the surrounding skin tone. You will need to do a bit of cleaning up, however.
21. Now you need to do some tweaking so that the new eye is not an exact clone of the left eye.
22. I would enlarge it just a bit, rotate it to the left a hair and remove some of the similar pixels that were picked up from the left eye. You might even use the Liquefy filter or the Skew and/or Distort tools to change it more. Experiment.
  Done Deal! SAVE your file.
I would try it again from scratch and play with various options from the Healing and Patch menus.