Healing photos

    I first went and tried to duplicate the layer I was working on.

To do this I first went to apply a layer apply Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches, and adjust the settings so that the spots on the background are no longer visible. I did this by screwing around with the  radius setting and threshold.

It is pretty easy to fix the water spots on the photos because PS know what you are trying to do, so if the background is pretty uniform, you can just use a copy and delete, and it compensates by dumping in the background around it.  This works as long as you aren’t trying to fix a particular edge or along a dramatic edge, like a persons shoulders.  Then PS might put another ear on or another forehead by mistake.

I can see by doing this exercise I really need to practice a whole lot more to get proficient with the tools that are available in PS.  But I think the goal of just getting better is a petty good one, and there are so many ways to get the effects you are trying to get.  I had so many layers going I wasn’t sure what the effects from each were actually going to be.  Good idea to save a working copy of the original file just to make sure!