Discovered a Spot Healing Brush Photoshop CS6 technique

[Ellis Vener]

If you have  straight line, whether vertical, horizontal or diagonal that you want to use the Spot Healing Brush on (probably other PsCS6 brushes too, and of course it may predate PsCS6 as well)  if you click once at the beginning of the line and then hold down the shift key as you click at the end of the line  you apply the Spot Healing brush the length of the line.

I'm sure the Masters of Photoshop already knew this but I'm more of a journeyman when it comes to retouching.

[JeffKohn]

I only use the healing brush for spotting, it just doesn't seem to work well for lines or other shapes, especially near the edge of the image. Content aware fill works better in my experience, even though you'd think they use the same algorithm. So I prefer to use marquee or lasso, and then hit Shift+F5.

[Schewe]

The click, shift-click works with any brush...

[Ellis Vener]

That's what I suspected Jeff.

[Neil Vanderwolf]

All the 'modifier' keys (Shift, Ctrl & Alt) can do various things for each tool and are worth trying out just to see what they do... Don't forget to right-click as well!

[tived]

Thanks Ellis,

I had seen this one before, I think it was either pre- CS5 when one of Russel Browns Tutorials he removed a power line in two clicks

Henrik

If you have  straight line, whether vertical, horizontal or diagonal that you want to use the Spot Healing Brush on (probably other PsCS6 brushes too, and of course it may predate PsCS6 as well)  if you click once at the beginning of the line and then hold down the shift key as you click at the end of the line  you apply the Spot Healing brush the length of the line.

I'm sure the Masters of Photoshop already knew this but I'm more of a journeyman when it comes to retouching.

[Ellis Vener]

All the 'modifier' keys (Shift, Ctrl & Alt) can do various things for each tool and are worth trying out just to see what they do... Don't forget to right-click as well!

True and the best way to figure out what they do and how to use them is to try them, and sometimes if you combine two or more you get even more options.

[Redcrown]

While we're on the subject, some other tips/tricks on the spot healing brush:

It behaves differently if you "scrub" with the brush instead of doing a single click. Takes some experimenting to see the difference, but scrubbing seems to change where the brush goes to find its fill. Scrubbing means left-click, hold, and move the brush around a little.

Right click and change the "roundness" of the brush. Make it a long, narrow oval when trying to heal near an edge. Change the angle to match the edge, and it won't "bleed" the edge pixels.

[mvsoske]

Make it a long, narrow oval when trying to heal near an edge. Change the angle to match the edge, and it won't "bleed" the edge pixels.

Thanks for that particular tip!

Mark

[Ellis Vener]

Thanks for that particular tip!

Mark

Sometimes with spots near an edge it helps to make a large enough to include what is on both sides of that edge.

[mvsoske]

Ellis:

Many times, depending on the content, it's hit and miss.  But I've had a bit of success in creating a selection of an object that I don't want to be included and moving it to a new layer, then on the original layer do the healing, then merge them back together.  But I hadn't tried angling the shape before.

Mark

[Ellis Vener]

Ellis:

Many times, depending on the content, it's hit and miss.  But I've had a bit of success in creating a selection of an object that I don't want to be included and moving it to a new layer, then on the original layer do the healing, then merge them back together.  But I hadn't tried angling the shape before.

Mark

Good points, all of them. But the Spot Healing in Photoshop CS 6  really is leagues better than the earlier versions isn't it?

[mvsoske]

Good points, all of them. But the Spot Healing in Photoshop Cs 6  really is leagues better than the earlier versions isn't it?

Clearly.  However, I also tend to use the patch tool most often.