Getting the best out of the Clone & Healing Tool

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HrH_2002

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Name
Patrick
Edit My Images
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I am trying to learn how to restore damaged photos and one of the most essential tools I need is the healing brush tool BUT it wont work!

I create a new layer by dragging the background image down to the icon in the bottom left hand corner.
Then select the healing brush tool, set it to replace, proximity match, opacity to 30%, hardness to 100%, flow to 100% and have aligned ticked.

Because of the disability I used a track ball mouse with a sticky mouse button. So I start to paint with the healing brush, have it clicked down but nothing really happens? The spot healing tool works o.k.ish as does the clone stamp.

What am I doing wrong for these tools not to be working in in the way all they do in all of the tutorials I've watched and read????

Any advice on how best to fix scratches, remove fly crap, sort out tears etc..please direct me to your bllog, website etc.

I"m running CS4 Extended on a Mac......
 
Just checking - you are first selecting an area to use to heal from? (on PC its hold down Alt whilst left clicking on what you want to use to heal).
Sorry if its a daft question! :)
Regards
Jim
 
Yip, I'm doing that and after a lot of mucking around it seems to be working. I'm still confused about how to get the best balance of hardness & opacity and whether I should have it set to normal or replace? I've played around with it a lot but I still cant get it to work as flawlessly as the tutorials the teach one how to use it.
What do you think the best way to repair fold lines would be? These fold lines, scratches and fly crap are my biggest problem with this photo restoration job I'm learning Ps for.
Apparently, by default the Mac Instals CS4 at 32 bits? If I have installed it at 32 bits will I need to re-instal the whole CS4 Extend Production Suite (that has Ps)?
 
To the question of getting the correct balance of the clone tool I'd recommend using a very low opacity with a rather small diffused brush. It requires a little more time & effort to create but by gradually building up the layers & adjustments you can blend tones much more effectively. I'd keep exerimenting with what works best for you & your techniques tho. :}
 
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I've asked this question in another forum but am hoping someone like Ashly can offer so advice?
That advice worked well by the way..


When I bring in an old photo and start using either of these three tools on a crease or fold or even a scratch everything works fine.
BUT once I get to the next step of sharpening the image with a high pass filter these imperfections come back all sharpened up as well. So then I tried taking to them with these three tools again but they just wont do anything or hardly anything.

Can anyone offer some advice or alternative solutions, tips and tricks to restore old photos both B&W and Color??
 
I'd save the photograph you've been retouching as a .PSD photoshop file as that'll keep all of your layers & adjustments when you reopen it. I'd then go Layer ➝ Flatten Image which'll literally flatten all of the layers to one. You should then be able to add the High Pass Filter to the overall photograph without it directly effecting each individual adjustment. Try that & see how it works? If it doesn't have the desired effect just reopen the .PSD file & it'll bring up all the original layers again. Hope this helps a little :} best wishes & feel free to ask any other questions that you think I might be able to answer.
 
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thanks again Ashly! Please bare with me as I'll probably have a couple more "novice" questions..... I am saving the image as a .psd file. But the crazy thing in the case I tried to describe in my last post is that I can clone & heal the imperfections on a layer that has been copied from the original but when I go to sharpen up them image with the high pass filter those imperfections I've been fixing with the clone & healing tools, come back! And if I try fixing them in that layer nothing happens....Thanks for your solution!
When you say "use a small diffused brush" can you please let me know how to bring up all the brush types? I'm trying but I can only seem to access a bunch of brush types that are all sorts of shapes and have no order to them as far as their numbers go. I couldn't find any diffused brushes within the native brush palette so I downloaded a bunch. When I used a few of them which have names like: étincelle5 1 diffuse but they are so scattered that I'm sure they are not the type of brush you recommended.
 
No need to thank me Patrick, it took me years of experimenting to get the hang of Photoshop & I couldn't have done it without direction here & there. I'm pleased to be able to advise someone else where they need it!

By diffused I meant 'soft' ~ sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm not always the best at describing what I'm thinking. See in the screen shot below? The hardness of the brush is on 0% meaning there are no hard/sharp edges. It just blends the edges on a low opacity much more effectively & should provide less of an 'edge' on the adjustments to sharpen when applying the filter if that makes sense?

Screenshot2012-03-12at211036.png


It's worth a shot if you're not doing that already? Best wishes.
 
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Also you can change the shape of your brushes to suit, see red circle, then you can save the brush for future use.

brush_options.jpg
 
Ooh, thank you @photoimaging. I wasn't actually aware that you could do this but have had a little browse & have found it! Might have to have a little experiment & play around with this feature over the next couple of weeks.
 
It's a great help to make brushes for restoration work when you have to clone etc. into tiny areas of faces etc. you can make all sorts of brushes, fat, thin, angled etc.
Just remember to save 'em and name 'em. Also take a looky at the scatter options too.

Scatter_options.jpg


Joan
 
This may help, you need to spot heal to a copy (optional) amd then duplicate that layer and then go to filter- other- high pass, ensuring that you have black & white in the foreground/background colour doofie, then change the blend mode to overlay.

Spot_healing.jpg
 
content aware in CS5 is amazing for repairing old photos...
 
Both myself & the original thread poster are working on CS4 Extended on a Mac ~ no content aware tools unfortunately D:!
 
can you please tell me how to attach/insert an image? when i try it asks for a url? cant I just upload and insert it into the text box
 
Whilst we're on the subject of brushes....

If you use brushes a lot, you might like to look into a graphics tablet. Not only can you get the pen to control both opacity and/or size, you can also get it to control the angle the brush is used if you have a tablet that is capable of sensing the brush angle (my Intuos does, not sure if the cheaper ones do). Whilst I was never much of an artist at school, I do find these combine to give a far more natural finish to any brush strokes.
 
HrH_2002 said:
can you please tell me how to attach/insert an image? when i try it asks for a url? cant I just upload and insert it into the text box
Click to expand...
You have to host it somewhere and link to it. Either host on an external site such as photobucket or flickr or upload it to the gallery here and then use [ IMG]<insert url here[ /IMG] tags around the link - removing the space after the [ in the two tags above.
 
IamAshlyRose said:
Both myself & the original thread poster are working on CS4 Extended on a Mac ~ no content aware tools unfortunately D:!
Click to expand...

Hi Ashly, i did notice! just thought that if you could get your hands on a newer version, repairs could be much quicker using the content aware heal. I've been using it myself on a some old damaged scans and it is much quicker for me.


Jus' sayin'!
 
Just a question,
If I've bought Photoshop CS4 Extended & it is liscenced under my name can I get an upgrade of any kind?
 
yes... CS4 is upgradeable to CS5.5. Check adobe.com or any software supplier. Make sure you look for the upgrade version rather than the full versions. There is a discount going on right now for upgrading to the latest adobe products before CS6 comes out. Not sure when the cut off date for the discount is though.

I think it's about £279 + vat and delivery.
 
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how far away do you anticipate CS6 will be released? I've got a student license..I cant upgrade on that can I?
 
HrH_2002 said:
how far away do you anticipate CS6 will be released? I've got a student license..I cant upgrade on that can I?
Click to expand...

April/May I believe, but don't take that as gospel, and YES, you can upgrade a student/teacher copy, even if you are no longer a student, but you will pay the same price as any other user upgrading - that's to say, I don't believe there is a reduced upgrade cost even if you are still a student. Can anyone else confirm that last point?
 
I've just checked on Adobe.com and can't see any student upgrade paths to another student edition listed.

Just bear in mind, Adobe have stated that once CS6 is released, they will not be allowing upgrade paths from more than 1 previous version. If you still have anything less than CS5 once the new versions are out, you won't be able to use the upgrade paths. You will have to buy a new full copy.
 
Erm, this upgrading business is all seeming rather technical for little me o.O I'm pretty chuffed with CS4 so call me dull but I'll probs just carry on with it. Afterall there's not been anything I haven't been able to do in there just yet :}
 
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