When you have only one opportunity to take a photo, you might fail to take a perfect shot without any defects. In this case, it might be useful to learn how to use Patch tool in Photoshop. This option can be used for removing distracting details, aligning your image, or cloning some areas.
Normal Patch Tool Mode
In most cases, photographers use the Patch tool to remove unwanted or distracting details or objects from an image. With it, you can quickly delete unnecessary elements to improve your composition and remove defects caused by specks of dust on the lens.
STEP 1. Open and Prepare the Picture
Open your photo in Photoshop. It’s better to use images in RAW format. You can either duplicate the background layer or add an empty layer on the top of your image to avoid affecting the source image. This way, it will be easier for you to experiment with various edits.
Duplicate a source image by right-clicking on its name on the right and selecting Duplicate Layer. You can also drag it to the “+” icon below. After doing this, you should have two similar layers.
STEP 2. Choose Source or Destination
Avoid selecting the areas or elements that you don’t want to delete. Your selected area will be replaced by the part of the image that you have dragged.
Content-Aware Mode
When you need to edit images with a simple background, the Patch tool will be a perfect option. However, if some areas are difficult to select or you need to delete objects that are close to the edge of an image, this tool might fail to cope with this task in its regular mode.
This is when you need to use Patch in the Content-Aware mode. It will use the adjacent content to blend the added patch with the surrounding area. Below, I will list the steps that you need to take to clone and move an object.
STEP 1. Open and Prepare the Picture
First, you need to take the same steps you took when working in a regular mode. Keep in mind that when you turn on the Sample All Layers option, it will create a selection in the current layer using the information from all the layers. This is why you need to select a target layer in the Layers panel.
Learn more about advanced selection techniques and find out how to use Magic Wand tool in Photoshop by reading this tutorial.
STEP 2. Choose Mode and Patch Options
Go to the Options bar and select the Content-Aware patch. In the Structure field, select a value from 1 to 7 to indicate to what extent a patch should match the existing image. In the Color field, select a value from 0 to 10 to indicate to which extent Photoshop should perform algorithmic blending of colors.