Healing Brush Tool

The Healing Brush Tool is a powerful retouching tool that gives you more control than the Spot Healing Brush. It requires you to manually select a source point (sample area) and then paint over the target area. The tool blends the sampled texture, lighting, and color with the destination area for seamless results.

This tool is ideal for removing larger blemishes, wrinkles, scars, and other imperfections where you need precise control over which pixels are used as the source. It is widely used in portrait and beauty retouching workflows.

Where to Find It

It is nested under the Spot Healing Brush icon (band-aid) in the toolbar. Click and hold the icon, then select the Healing Brush Tool. Press Shift+J to cycle through the group.

How to Use

• Select a source point: Hold Alt (Option on Mac) and click on a clean area of the image that closely matches the texture of the area you want to fix.
• Adjust brush settings: Set brush size, hardness, and opacity in the Options bar. A soft brush with 50–80% hardness usually works best for blending.
• Paint over the imperfection: Click and drag over the blemish or area you want to correct. A crosshair shows where the source pixels are being sampled from.
• Resample as needed: Release and re-sample (Alt+click) frequently to keep the source texture aligned with the target area.
• Use alignment mode: Set the Alignment option to Sampled (locked source point) or Aligned (source moves relative to brush) depending on your task.

Settings & Options

• Source: Choose Sampled to use pixels from your image, or Pattern to fill with a predefined pattern blended with the target.
• Aligned: When checked, the source point moves relative to the brush as you paint. When unchecked, the source remains fixed.
• Sample All Layers: Samples from all visible layers — useful when working on a separate retouching layer.
• Diffusion: Controls how quickly the sampled details blend into the target area (slower diffusion = more precise but more visible strokes).

Pro Tips

• Always sample from an area with similar texture and lighting to the target. For skin retouching, sample from a nearby area with the same skin tone and texture.
• Work on a new blank layer with Sample All Layers enabled to keep the original image untouched — this allows you to mask or erase mistakes easily.
• Use small, short strokes and resample frequently for the most natural results, especially when working around facial features or curved surfaces.

Common Mistakes

• Sampling from the wrong area: Using a source with different texture, lighting, or color creates obvious repeating patterns or mismatched blends.
• Not resampling frequently: As you paint across an area, the source may no longer match the target. Resample every few strokes for consistent results.