The top Still Life Photography Cleaning Techniques in Photoshop
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Photoshop is a powerful program with a great variety of tools to help you get the most out of your images. From simple cleaning techniques to complex composites, the software offers everything photographers need for photo manipulation at all levels.
There are a variety of tools to help you, depending on your subject and goals for your image. With the exception of product photography, there are only a few key tools that youâll need 90% of the time in retouching still life photography. Cleaning techniques in Photoshop are the foundation of beautiful imagery in this exciting but challenging genre.
Letâs take a look at what they are.
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The cleaning tools in Photoshop
There are just a few key tools that you need for cleaning techniques in Photoshop. These are: the Spot Healing tool, the Healing tool, the Clone Stamp tool, and the Patch tool. These tools are all you really need to take your still life images from good to great.
Each tool has its strengths and weakness. Some will achieve desired results more easily than others. When you combine the tools together, the result is a clean and refined image.
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The Spot Healing Tool
The Spot Healing tool is the quickest way to fix little blemishes in Photoshop because it doesnât require you to select an area to sample pixels from. Photoshopâs algorithm looks at nearby pixels and replaces them with pixels that it determines to be a good match.
When using this tool, you have some choices that will help Photoshop make the best guess as to what pixels would be the best replacement.
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You can find the Spot Healing tool by the icon that looks like a bandaid. The shortcut for this tool is âJâ.
When using this tool, you have some choices that will help Photoshop make the best guess as to what pixels would be the best replacement.
First, you want to choose a very soft brush. Start with a hardness of â0â and increase it slightly if needed. When retouching in Photoshop, every image is unique, so you have to assess your approach on a case-by-case basis.
Proximity Match will only look at the pixels around the sample area.
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When you use this tool, itâs best to choose Content-Aware Fill. This will ensure that the tool chooses pixels that will give you a seamless result.
In still life photography, itâs a good starting tool to quickly clean up any dust or small bits and blemishes before moving on to bigger blemishes or imperfections. Itâs better than using the Spot Removal tool in Lightroom because if you use this tool repeatedly, it will slow down Lightroomâs performance very quickly.
Although the Spot Healing tool is one of the best cleaning techniques in Photoshop, one drawback to note is that using it excessively in a given area can lead to a plastic-like look. You may have to layer your use of this tool with others.
The Healing Brush Tool
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The Healing Brush tool is similar to the Spot Healing Brush tool. However, when using this tool, you choose the area that you want to sample from. This gives you much more control, but of course, itâs not as quick as simply using the Spot Healing tool.
Imperfections blend into the surrounding areas. the brush works by matching texture, lighting, transparency, and shading of sample pixels to the pixels in the area we want to heal.
To use this tool, pick a source point to sample from. Think about what is going to work in terms of color and texture.
Start with a hardness of zero. You need a soft brush, but can add a bit of hardness if needed, depending on what you want to heal
Choose Aligned and Current & Below.
Choose where you want to select from and head over to where you want to âpasteâ the pixels
When utilizing cleaning techniques in Photoshop, the Healing Brush is a powerful tool because of the control it gives you.
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The Patch Tool
Using the Patch tool in Photoshop is another important tool for cleaning techniques in Photoshop. Itâs like a large, customizable Healing Brush tool. The Patch tool repairs a selected area with pixels from another area. It seeks to match, lighting, shade, and texture from sample pixels to the source.
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It basically works like a âcut and pasteâ tool. However, it doesnât work very well on larger areas because there usually are differences in tonality.
If you need to work on a larger area, you should attack the area by working in sections. Also, note that it also doesnât work well on edges. In this case, you may have to use another tool or combine it with another tool for more precision.
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To use the Patch tool, select it from the sidebar or use the âJâ key. Also, decide on your blending parameters.
The Patch toolâs Content-Aware mode works on empty layers by sampling below. It shuffles the content around a bit as it acts like a patch. If youâre using normal mode, donât worry about lightness or color, as there will be a healing calculation when you release the mouse.
Use your mouse or pen to draw a slightly loose selection around the problem area (as pictured above) and then drag it to an area that might work to replace the pixels. You can drag it several times until you find a proper match.
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The Clone Stamp Tool
Perhaps one of the most popular and often used tools in Photoshop, the Clone stamp tool may possibly be your best ally when employing cleaning techniques in Photoshop.
The Clone Stamp copies pixels to a new location. With this tool, youâre literally painting over one part of an image with another. You can do this in both very small and large amounts, depending on the brush size you use.
Unlike the Patch Tool, it works very well in areas where you have texture, pattern, or an edge. It doesnât work as well in areas where you have conflicting exposures on colors.
Although itâs a fantastically useful tool, when it comes to cleaning techniques in Photoshop, it might not work perfectly in every situation; youâll need to combine it with other tools and techniques.
To activate the Clone Stamp, use the shortcut > Cmd/Ctrl + S.
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You can also use âTâ to Transform to adjust further. This means that you can alter the size and rotation of your cloned area to make it blend better.
One last tip
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When working with cleaning techniques in Photoshop, itâs a good idea to work using a lot of layers. This will allow you to go back a few steps if you make mistakes.
Using these tools together in Photoshop will give you the best results and will cover most of your bases when retouching your still life photography.
Do you have any other tips youâd like to share with us on cleaning techniques in Photoshop for still life images? If so, please do so in the comments section.