Retouch and repair photos

Select the Spot Healing Brush tool  .

Make selections for Size, Hardness, and Spacing of the brush in the options bar. 

(Optional) Choose a blending mode from the Mode menu in the options bar. Select Replace to preserve noise, film grain, and texture at the edges of the brush stroke when using a soft‑edge brush.

Select Type > Content-Aware to let Spot Healing Brush tool compare nearby image content to seamlessly fill the selection, realistically maintaining key details such as shadows and object edges. 

To sample data from all visible layers, select Sample All Layers in the options bar. To sample from the active layer, deselect the option.

Select the area you want to fix or select and drag to smooth over imperfections in a larger area.

Select the Healing Brush tool  .

Make selections for the Size, Hardness, and Spacing of the brush in the options bar. 

• Mode: Specifies the blending mode. Select Replace to preserve noise, film grain, and texture at the edges of the brush stroke when using a soft‑edge brush.
• Source: Specifies the source to use for repairing pixels. Sampled to use pixels from the current image or Pattern to use pixels from a pattern. If you chose Pattern, select a pattern from the Pattern pop‑up panel.
• Aligned: Samples pixels continuously, without losing the current sampling point, even if you release the mouse button. Deselect Aligned to continue to use the sampled pixels from the initial sampling point each time you stop and resume painting.
• Sample: Samples data from the layers you specify. To sample from the active layer and visible layers below it, choose Current And Below. To sample only from the active layer, choose Current Layer. To sample from all visible layers, choose All Layers. To sample from all visible layers except adjustment layers, choose All Layers and use the Ignore Adjustment Layers icon to the right of the Sample pop‑up menu.
• Diffusion: Controls how quickly the pasted region adapts to the surrounding image. Select a lower value for images with grain or fine details or a higher value for smooth images

Set the sampling point by positioning the pointer over an area of the image and Alt-clicking (Windows) or Option-clicking (macOS).

(Optional) In the Clone Source panel, click a clone source button  and set an additional sampling point.

You can set up to five different sampling sources. The Clone Source panel remembers the sampled sources until you close the document you’re editing.

(Optional) In the Clone Source panel, use a clone source button to select the sampled source you want.

(Optional) Do any of the following in the Clone Source panel:

• To scale or rotate the source that you’re cloning, enter a value for W (width), H (height), or the rotation in degrees .

Or, 

• To show an overlay of the source that you’re cloning, select Show Overlay and specify the overlay options.

The sampled pixels are melded with the existing pixels each time you release the mouse button.

Select the Clone Stamp tool  .

• Aligned: Samples pixels continuously, without losing the current sampling point, even if you release the mouse button. Deselect Aligned to continue to use the sampled pixels from the initial sampling point each time you stop and resume painting.
• Sample: Samples data from the layers you specify. To sample from the active layer and visible layers below it, choose Current And Below. To sample only from the active layer, choose Current Layer. To sample from all visible layers, choose All Layers. To sample from all visible layers except adjustment layers, choose All Layers and click the Ignore Adjustment Layers icon to the right of the Sample pop‑up menu.

Set the sampling point by positioning the pointer in any open image and Alt-clicking (Windows) or Option-clicking (macOS).

(Optional) In the Clone Source panel, select a clone source button  and set an additional sampling point.

You can set up to five different sampling sources. The Clone Source panel saves the sampled sources until you close the document.

(Optional) Do any of the following in the Clone Source panel:

• To scale or rotate the source that you’re cloning, enter a value for W (width), H (height), or the rotation in degrees .

Or,

• To reverse the direction of the source (good for mirroring features like eyes), click the Flip Horizontal  or Flip Vertical  buttons.

Or,

• To show an overlay of the source that you’re cloning, select Show Overlay and specify the overlay options.

To clone video or animation frames, open the Animation panel (if you’re not cloning video or animation frames, skip to step 2). Select the timeline animation option and move the current-time indicator to the frame with the source you want to sample.

To set the sampling point, select the Clone Stamp tool and Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (macOS) in any open document window.

(Optional) To set another sampling point, select a different Clone Source button  in the Clone Source panel.

You can change the sampling source for a Clone Source button by setting a different sampling point.

• To scale the sample source, enter a percentage value for W (width) or H (height) or scrub W or H. The default is to constrain proportions. To adjust the dimensions independently or restore the constrain option, click the Maintain Aspect Ratio button .

• To rotate the sample source, enter a degree value or scrub the Rotate The Clone Source icon .

• To reset the sample source to its original size and orientation, click the Reset Transform button .

• To hide the overlay while you apply the paint strokes, select Auto Hide.

• To clip the overlay to the brush size, enable the Clipped option.

• To set the opacity of the overlay, enter a percentage value in the Opacity text box.

• To set the appearance of the overlay, choose either the Normal, Darken, Lighten, or Difference blending mode from the pop‑up menu at the bottom of the Clone Source panel.

• To invert the colors in the overlay, select Invert.

Select the Patch tool  .

• Drag in the image to select the area you want to repair and select Source in the options bar.

Or,

• Drag in the image to select the area from which you want to sample and select Destination in the options bar.

• Shift-drag in the image to add to the existing selection.
• Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (macOS) in the image to subtract from the existing selection.
• Alt+Shift-drag (Windows) or Option+Shift-drag (macOS) in the image to select an area intersected by the existing selection.

To extract texture with a transparent background from the sampled area, select Transparent. Deselect this option if you want to fully replace the target area with the sampled area.

To control how quickly the pasted region adapts to the surrounding image, adjust the Diffusion slider. Select a lower value for images with grain or fine details, or a higher value for smooth images.

• If Source is selected in the options bar, drag the selection border to the area from which you want to sample. When you release the mouse button, the originally selected area is patched with the sampled pixels.
• If Destination is selected in the options bar, drag the selection border to the area you want to patch. When you release the mouse button, the newly selected area is patched with the sampled pixels.

Select the Patch tool  .

If desired, complete steps 3-4 (from Repair an area using sampled pixels) to adjust the selection and apply pattern texture with a transparent background.

Select a pattern from the Pattern panel in the options bar and select Use Pattern.

In RGB Color mode, select the Red Eye tool  . (The Red Eye tool is in the same group as the Spot Healing Brush tool  . Hold down a tool to display additional tools in the group.)

Click in the red eye. If you're not satisfied with the result, undo the correction, set one or more of the following options in the options bar, and select the red eye again:

• Pupil Size: Increases or decreases the area affected by the Red Eye tool.
• Darken Amount: Sets the darkness of the correction.