Digital Spot Tone -
The Rubber Stamp Tool
Photographers who do their own printing usually have to do a little
spotting on finished prints where dust on the negative prevented light
from reaching the paper. Scanners have the same problem - the glass might
be dirty on a flatbed or drum or the print or film might have had dust on
it when it was scanned. The most common method of touching up these flaws
in Photoshop is using the Rubber Stamp Tool to clone an area next to the
spot and cover ("paint") the spot with it. This is the basic function of
the Rubber Stamp Tool set in its default (Normal, Clone aligned) mode.
With 100% Opacity (the default) use one of the smaller soft-edged brushes
- the lower the resolution, the smaller the choice should be. I usually
use the smallest two brush tips for 300 dpi scans but will use a larger
tip to clone over larger areas. In order to better see what you're doing,
the Painting Cursor should be either set up at Precise or Brush Size in
Preferences. Holding the Option Key down, press the mouse button over an
area of the most similar density, texture and color closest to the area
you want to "spot". Then release the Option Key and click on the spot you
want to remove and, presto, it disappears. The soft edge of the brush
helps merge in the cloned area.
Do this kind of work at a large magnification and constantly search for
the best choice of areas to clone. Use the "undo" function (Command Z) and
"redo" to see how effective your work is - always looking for the best
approach and the most invisible results.
Once you've used the Rubber Stamp Tool for touching up dirt and dust
spots you can easily graduate to re-touching photographs. The before and
after example to the right shows the removal of freckles and blemishes on
the model's face - all done with the procedures I've outlined above. When
doing re-touching work of this nature it often helps to set the Opacity at
50% or even less for smoothing over areas that have harsh changes in
density or to soften a highlight if necessary. Experiment until you find
the best results. Final spotting of a scan is often done after Levels
adjustment and sharpening, which will bring out more subtle flaws.
Retouching, however, is good to do before sizing down - the resampling
process will tend to smooth out your work as well
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IN MEMORY OF CARL VOLK
=============================================================
>>>>Carl N. Volk<<<< April 8, 1953 - September 5,
2000
We would like to extend our deepest sympathy and
thoughts to
the family, friends and associates of Carl N. Volk, a writer
for Apogee Photo. He was a renowned photographer, a classical
guitarist, and a digital photography expert.
Apogee Photo would like our readers to continue to
benefit from
Carl's extraordinary talents. We will continue to place his monthly
Photoshop Tips in the Let's Get Digital section of the magazine.
If you feel you have benefited in anyway or would like
to honor
Carl, please consider CONTRIBUTING A DONATION.
The donated funds will assist in sudden family expenses,
in the
continuous maintenance of his website, and for the plans to
publish an anthology of his digital photographic works.
All donations are sincerely appreciated.
Please make checks payable to Claire Volk Heath:
Carl Volk Memorial Fund
c/o Claire Volk Heath
5057 Trail Lake Dr.
Plano, TX 75093
claire@heathtech.com
Carl's art, talents and teachings will live on for all
of us to enjoy.
Visit: http://www.carlvolk.com
(Starting Friday, October 27)
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