Removing spots/dirt

[dmagick]

Hi all,

Just after a quick tip - how do you get rid of spots in your pics (eg from dirt on the lens/filter that you didn't notice) ? Using photoshop I used the heal/spot heal "brush", it was a little tedious.. Is there a better way?

Thanks!

[Ben H]

You don't mention what camera you use, but some cameras have a dust data function (my Canon EOS 450D has it) - you scan a clean image so the camera knows where the dust spots are, and then appends that dust meta-data info to each picture. This then means that the native camera-processing software can automagically clean up all the dust spots without you having to do it manually...

Check your camera manual, and if you have it, give it a try...

[dmagick]

Hey,

I have a 30d and it doesn't have this (it came in at the 40d unfortunately!). The spots were on my uv filter and I didn't notice them until later, so I have to get rid of them in processing..

[Marko]

I prefer the clone tool in PS - works like a charm!

[jjeling]

I copy Marko. In extreme cases, I have used the clone tool to fix some major problem areas. Then the clone tool has damaged the color or texture of the area, then I bust out the healing tool. Then it fixes the image and you could never tell the difference unless you saw the original.

[mindforge]

Million ways. My personal preference is the patch tool. Healing brush works just as well, the patch tool just lets me create the custom size for every patch without changing brush size and I just drag to the patch I want... million ways to do the same thing.

[dmagick]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I have a few more photos to fix up so I'll see how it goes ;)