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Every so often, I come across a tip that is so awesome that I can’t wait to share it with you. I recently discovered one of these tips and today is the day you’ll learn about it. That is, of course, if you aren’t already aware of its existence.

In previous posts, I wrote about how you can use Adobe Camera Raw as a filter while working in Photoshop. This is a huge feature that can truly come in handy on so many levels. If you’re interested in reading my earlier posts, please click through below.

Using Camera Raw as a Filter Inside Adobe Photoshop

How to Create Actions with Camera Raw Inside Adobe Photoshop

Combining a Smart Filter with a Camera Raw Action in Adobe Photoshop

In today’s post, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. While you can easily convert a layer to a Smart Object and then use the Camera Raw Filter feature in Photoshop to edit that entire layer in Camera Raw and, in return, create a Smart Filter, you’re not limited to that set of circumstances. What you may not already know is that while editing the whole Smart Object layer is the most common, you’re also able to edit just part of the layer with the Camera Raw Filter. That’s right; you can make a selection in a layer with any of the selection tools inside of Photoshop and use the Camera Raw Filter to edit just the contents inside of that selection. What’s outside of the selection won’t be altered in any way.

So, if you’ve gotten used to jumping back and forth between Photoshop and Camera Raw, you’ll be pleased to know that you can add an entirely new dimension to your workflow. You can now limit what you edit in Camera Raw, which makes life a lot easier.

Demo Photo

For this post, I’ll be using a photo of a bubble. This is the best photo I could locate that would offer a clear visual into what I’m trying to accomplish.

Converting to a Smart Object & Making a Selection

The photo is already opened up in Photoshop. I’ll go ahead and right-click on the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object from the menu that appears. Doing this will protect the layer and will offer non-destructive attributes to any changes I make.

Once that’s done, I’ll go ahead and pull some guides down from the rulers along the edges of the workspace. Since I’m working with a perfect circle that I’d like to select, I’ll place a guide along the top edge and the left side edge of the bubble.

Next, I’ll use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to create my selection.

I’ll click on the top left corner of the guides (where they intersect), hold down the Shift key on my keyboard to lock in the circle shape and then I’ll drag down and across until the entire bubble is enclosed in the selection. After that, I’ll let go and the selection will be complete. Also, just to let you know, when dealing with perfectly symmetrical shapes such as circles and squares, the expanding and contracting features can help a lot. Please read my previous post for more information on that.

How to Expand & Contract Selections For Cool Effects in Adobe Photoshop

Anyway, here’s my result. The elliptical selection in all its glory.

Using the Camera Raw Filter to Edit the Selected Area

Okay, now here’s the cool part. Under normal circumstances, after moving this layer into Camera Raw, the entire image would be affected by any edits I make in that application (plugin, to be more precise). Since I made a selection though, only the area inside of that selection will be affected. Let’s take a look.

I’ll head up to the Filter > Camera Raw Filter and click.

Once I do this, the Camera Raw plugin will open up, which is basically Camera Raw itself. Inside of Camera Raw, just for this example, I’ll adjust the Contrast, Clarity, Dehaze and Noise Reduction. I’d like to make the bubble stand out more while being a bit more smooth looking. When I’m finished making those changes, I’ll click the OK button in Camera Raw and I’ll return to my workspace in Photoshop. Let’s check out the bubble now.

That looks much more clear. And just as a reminder, I could have made just about any edit I wanted to inside of Camera Raw.

Now let’s take a look at the Layers panel in Photoshop to see what we’re dealing with.

I can see a Smart Filter layer, which was expected. Inside of that layer, I see a mask, which is a surprise. By making a selection in Photoshop before I jumped over to Camera Raw, I was essentially creating a masked area to edit. Working together, Camera Raw and Photoshop created that mask, which is completely editable at any time. If I made a mistake with my initial selection, I could adjust it after the fact by painting parts of the image either black or white (to either conceal or reveal). And that’s that. A new way to edit selected areas in Adobe Camera Raw via Photoshop. That’s totally cool.

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I hope I clearly explained how to edit selections by using the Camera Raw Filter inside of Photoshop. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

I know I’ve covered selections in Adobe Photoshop about a hundred times on this blog, but it really is an endless topic. I bet someone could create an entire website and limit their content to just selections. It’d be a fairly large site too. The whole thing is almost infinite and since it revolves around creativity, it becomes exponentially almost infinte.

I’m going to keep things easy today. I merely want to discuss one area of selections that has to do with expansion and contraction. Basically, after you make a selection in Photoshop and see the marching ants doing their things, you have the ability to grow the entire selection a specific number of pixels that you designate. You can also shrink the selection the same way. Now, I understand that many of you might ask, “Why in the world would I want to do that?,” so I’m going to walk through a quick project today that should give you some idea of how creative you can get with this type of thing. The project might not be realistic in a sense that anyone would ever want to replicate it, but my hope is that it will get the gears in your head turning.

My plan is to make a selection of some silhouettes at a music concert. After I have that all squared away, I’ll both shrink and expand that selection and do a few interesting things to it. The end result should add a creative touch to the original and I’m hoping that it will look like something that might be used on a CD/vinyl cover or something like that.

Demo Photo

This is the photo I’ll be using. I chose it because there are some distinct lines that will be fairly easy to select. Since this isn’t a post about how to effectively make a selection, per se, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing that.

Making the Selection

I’ll start off by using the Quick Selection Tool to outline the darker parts of the people in the audience. I don’t want to get everyone, just the people in the darker shadows. To learn how to make an effective and accurate selection, please read to beginning part of this post:

Reusing Selections & Masks in Adobe Photoshop

As I did in the post I just linked to, I’ll click the Select and Mask button up in the options bar, refine my selection and output it to a mask. This will be the result. I’ll show you the layer and mask in the Layers panel as well as the image itself.

The reason I created a mask like this was so I could easily reselect the same portion of the image over and over again. I’ll want to do that at least a few times in the sections below. This will be my template of sorts.

Copying & Filling In the Crowd

Okay, let’s get creative. To start out, I’m going to click the layer mask in the Layers panel to activate it. Then, I’m going to press the Ctrl+Shift+D keys on my keyboard to reselect the area the mask is keeping visible. Basically, this is the same area I initially selected. If I didn’t want to use that keyboard shortcut, I could head up to the Select > Reselect menu item and click. That will accomplish the same task.

After that, I’ll go back to the Layers panel and click on the actual image thumbnail as opposed to the mask thumbnail. I want to activate the regular thumbnail now. Then, I’ll use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+C to copy and then Ctrl+V to paste. This will copy the selected area and place it in its own layer.

That’s perfect. Now, I’ll double-click on the new layer’s thumbnail (the copied crowd) and by doing that, the Layer Style palette will appear.

I’ll click on the Color Overlay option in the left column and once I’m in that area, I’ll choose the color Black. I’ll then click the OK button to exit out of the palette. This will be my result.

Now I’ve got a true solid black silhouette.

Expanding & Contracting the Selection

The next thing I’m going to do is to go back to the original mask thumbnail and click on it. Then, I’ll reselect it once again and then after the selection is active, I’ll go up to the Select > Modify > Expand menu item and click.

If you’ll notice, the Contract menu option is directly below the Expand one. Whatever the Expand option does, the Contract one does the opposite.

After I click that menu item, the Expand Selection dialog will appear. I’ll type in 30 to grow the current selection by 30 pixels all around it. Doing this sort of acts like blowing up a balloon does.

When I’m finished, I’ll click OK to grow the selection. Let’s look at the result.

I’m not sure if you can see that or not, but the selection has been expanded. Look closely at the marching ants. Also, if there are any artifacts that were unknowingly selected, I can always get rid of those with the Eraser Tool later on. That’s not a big deal.

Making an Outline

What I really want to accomplish today is an outline of the silhouette I created earlier. Since I already have the original selection expanded, all I have to do is make sure the original layer thumbnail is clicked on and then copy and paste again. Doing this will result in the screenshot below.

Do you see that outline? That’s all I was after. That’s why I needed to use the expand selection feature. Again, I could just as easily have contracted the selection. The only reason I didn’t was because I had no use for it this time.

Okay, now I’m just being silly. I figure that an stroke might look interesting along the edge of the outline, so I’ll double-click on the layer thumbnail that was created with the outline in it. Doing this will pop open that Layer Style palette again. Once open, I’ll click Stroke in the left column and then I’ll change the size to 15. That should do it. I’ll also be sure to change the color to White and then click the OK button to apply the change.

After all this work, I’ll have the silhouette that has an outline of the original image and a stroke around that outline. If I added a new layer all the way at the bottom of the stack in the Layers panel and filled that layer with black, this is what I’d have:

And if I imported the original image and placed it right above the bottom black layer and reduced the opacity of the image to 50%, I’d have this final image.

It’s just a quirky little idea I thought up today as an example of what the Expand selection feature might be used for. It’s interesting, to say the least.

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I hope I clearly explained how to use the expand and contract selection features in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about Adobe Photoshop. I’ve been working in this application for a long time and I’ll tell you that there really aren’t many people on the planet who truly know how to use it. Sure, many folks can launch a photo and edit that photo in a limited fashion, but when it comes to the heavy lifting and getting dirty of making something look beautiful, nine out of ten people have no idea where to begin. So, if this is true, how in the heck do so many of these editors churn out images that appear so stunning and professional? Well, it’s because there are shortcuts built right into the program. You just need to know where to look. And as long as we’re talking about shortcuts, I’ll let you know that almost everything we do in Photoshop these days is a shortcut. If you have ever worked with color channels back in 1999, you know what I’m talking about. We’ve come a very long way. Back then, we oftentimes had to take the long way around. The very long way.

In today’s post, I’m going to explore a very small portion of what I referred to above. There’s an area inside of Photoshop’s Adjustments panel that’s called Color Lookup. This Color Lookup adjustment allows us to change the overall appearance of a photo. It’s sort of like overlaying an old school film effect on top of a photo to give it a haze, contrast, warming or cooling feeling. There are tons of presets in this little area of Photoshop, so once you know about it, you’ll be able to experiment to your heart’s content. Below, all I want to do it tell you how to get to where you need to be and to display a few different examples. You’ll be able to take it from where I leave off.

The Color Lookup Adjustment

The best part about using this adjustment is that it’s non-destructive. It functions just the same as any other adjustment in that we can turn it on and off and even delete it if need be. Needless to say, it’s got some flexibility attached to it, so as we use it, there’s very little to be concerned with when it comes to permanently altering a photograph.

The Demo Photo

For this post, I wanted to use a photo that offered a way to realistically see what kind of effect these color lookups can offer. I think I found a really good picture to use. It’s of a lighthouse and it’s got lots of sky in it as well as a structure. I think this will be perfect. Here it is.

Applying the Adjustment

I’ve already got the photo opened up into Photoshop. From here, I’ll head up to the Adjustments panel and click the Color Lookup option.

Once I do that, a new adjustment layer will appear in the Layers panel and the Properties panel for this adjustment will automatically open.

If you take a look inside the Properties panel, you’ll see three drop-down boxes. These are the lookup table categories and they’re called 3DLUT File, Abstract and Device Link. It’s inside of these drop-downs that you’ll find the actual lookup tables. Currently, there are 27, 8 and 5 lookup tables, respectively. Because the first category has so many, you can imagine most people hang out in there. The other categories do have some interesting effects though, so they shouldn’t be overlooked. Here’s a screenshot of the first drop-down.

To select a lookup table to apply the effect, simply click one of the options in the drop-down. I’ll give you a few examples below.

Let’s see, I think I’ll start off with Candlelight.CUBE.

Next, I’ll show you Crisp_Warm.look.

After that, I’ll show you Crisp_Winter.look.

As you can see, by clicking one mere option in a drop-down, the entire look of a photo can be transformed. Some of the options are fairly crazy looking and may need a few extra steps to tame things down a bit. Others, however, can be used right out of the box. Here’s one last one for you. It’s the LateSunset.3DL option.

So basically, as you’re asking yourself how some photographer out there made that photo look so good, remember that it only takes a few steps inside of Photoshop to make a change.

Combining Lookup Tables with Blend Modes

A common step to take after finding the look you’re after is to add a blend mode to the mix. Doing this will tamp down the effect somewhat and will certainly take the edge off, if there is one. It’ll also give you the opportunity to add another effect. Perhaps one that wasn’t available in the lookup table you chose.

For this example, I’m going to keep the Late Sunset option I just ended with. I’ll head back to the Layers panel and I’ll click the Blend Mode drop-down. Inside this drop-down, I’ll see the Overlay option, so I’ll click it.

Once I do that, I’ll notice that the contrast inside of the photo was increased. The overall appearance was enhanced as well. If you aren’t familiar with how blend modes work in Photoshop, please read through these posts:

What are Blending Modes in Adobe Photoshop?

Adding Color: Blend Modes & Adjustments in Adobe Photoshop

The Overlay blend mode is part of the Contrast group, so that explains things. Let’s take a look at the result.

Adjusting Opacity

Just like it’s common to play with blend modes in these types of circumstances, it’s also common to adjust the opacity if the overall effect is too strong for your liking. To lessen the effect of the lookup table and the blend mode, I’ll turn to the Opacity slider in the Layers panel and I’ll nudge the slider to the left.

When adjusting opacity, be sure the proper layer in the Layers panel is selected. The change you make will affect whichever layer is active. In my case, I went with 75% opacity. Here’s the result. It’s not too terribly different than the photo above.

As you can see, there are a lot of possibilities here. I encourage you to experiment with them to see what you can come up with. I’m sure you can imagine how things might turn out after you finish making these type of changes and move further along. You can truly transform a photo in no time flat.

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I hope I clearly explained how to use the Color Lookup adjustment in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

When editing video inside of Adobe Photoshop, there are a few tasks that you’ll find yourself repeating over and over again. None of these tasks are mind blowing or anything like that, but they are important to learn at the beginning of your training because you’ll find yourself needed them quite frequently. Basically, they allow you to set up and edit your video as seamlessly and as efficiently as possible.

In today’s post, I’m going to very quickly cover a common workflow. It goes like this; someone opens a video clip into Photoshop. Then, because they want additional video clips in the same project, they’ll add those clips. Also, because this person wants to stay organized, they’ll record some comments that identify what they added to the project. Working with video is similar to working with photographs. We need to understand how the process goes when it comes to adding to a project and keeping things clearly situated. Oftentimes, we organize via naming conventions, but in this case, we can use comments because they’re so easily accessible.

The Current Workspace

To kick things off, I opened one of the two demo video clips into Photoshop. I chose some random clips just for demonstration’s sake. The first one is of a bunny chewing on some leaves and the second one is of some sort of a temple in the woods. Here’s a screenshot of the bunny.

Right after I opened this clip, the Timeline panel automatically opened up and the clip was visible inside of a group in the timeline.

Now, if this was a simple, one clip editing job, I could continue on working by adding some transitions, audio or effects. Since I have more video, I’ll need to add that to this project file.

Adding Additional Video Groups

By adding an additional video group, I’ll be essentially adding sort of a bucket for more video clips. Adding groups is a good idea because you never quite know how many clips you’ll be including in the project. Groups are a great way to keep clips organized. I could have added the additional clip to the same group that already existed, but because I’m thinking about the future, I decided to go with expansion in mind. I’ll add the group and then put the additional video inside of it.

To add a video group, I’ll head down into the Timeline panel and click the small filmstrip icon that’s inside of the existing one. When I do that, a menu will appear. I’ll select New Video Group from that menu.

Once I do that, a new group will appear above the current one. But, as you’ll notice, it’s empty.

Adding a Video Clip

The next step I need to take to add the new video clip is to click the Add Media to Track icon that sits all the way over to the right of the timeline. Since there are more than one of these icons, I’ll need to be sure to click on the one that corresponds with the group to which I’d like to add the clip.

After I click the icon, a window will appear, giving me the ability to browse my computer for the media I’m after. When I find it, I can double click it and it will be inserted into the Timeline. Take a look.

Adding a Comment to the Video Timeline

I already wrote a post that covered how to add comments to the timeline, but since this was related to what I’m discussing today, I figured I’d add the content again. You can read my previous post here if you’d like to.

My video clips won’t likely be all lined up in a row. In any given project, bits and sections of video will be scattered all over the place. Keeping track of them via comments is important.

To add a comment to the timeline in Photoshop, move the playhead to the spot where you’d like the comment to live. Then, click the small stopwatch icon that’s inside of the Comment track.

Once that occurs, the Edit Timeline Comment panel will appear. Write the comment inside of that and then click OK to apply it.

After that’s done, the new comment will be indicated by a small yellow box.

To read the comment, or any comment for that matter, in the future, simply double click on its yellow box. To delete the comment, click it once to select it and then press the Delete key on your keyboard.

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I hope I clearly explained how to add a video group, a video clip and video comments to the Timeline panel in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them for me in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how to add a vector mask to video in Adobe Photoshop. I’ll give you the link to that post below. Adding vector masks to video is something that’s critical to learn about and understand because it’s called for all the time. Videos in videos, animated videos, working with a combination of images and videos – there are countless combinations when it comes to something like this. The thing is, while it’s important to become fluent with the vector mask thing, it’s even more important to learn how to move those masks around. If you aren’t sure why moving masks around might be helpful, think about how many video transitions you see on a daily basis. Those transitions use the same principle as the one I’m going to cover below.

Combining Vector Shapes with Clipping Masks for Video in Adobe Photoshop

In today’s post, I’m going to discuss the very simple process of animating a vector mask in an effort to reveal a hidden video in Adobe Photoshop. I’ve already gone ahead and set the two videos and the vector shape up inside of one tab and I’ve also gone ahead and created a clipping mask relationship between one of the videos and the vector shape layer. All this took me about 30 seconds to complete, so if you’re not sure how to go about doing something like this, I encourage you to read through the link I just shared above. Either that, or you can simply click here.

Demo Videos

For this post, I randomly selected two videos that were around the same dimensions. Any size differences were cropped out. Then, since both videos were in different tabs, I dragged one of the video layers over into the other video tab. I dropped it there, which created my primary project tab. After that, I added the vector shape layer, which happened to be a rectangle and finally, I created the clipping mask. Here’s a screenshot of part of the two videos.

Since the videos weren’t as crisp as I would have liked them to be, I added an adjustment layer to increase the contract. Here’s a capture of the Layers panel.

The top layer is the adjustment layer, which affects all the layers below with increased contrast, the second layer down is the hidden video that will be revealed, the third layer is the vector rectangle shape and the fourth layer is the primary video that will reduce in size because of the impending animation.

Altering the Vector Mask Position

To create this animation, the same rules need to be followed for that you would for any other type of animation. Basically, I’ll need to create a start point and an end point (keyframes). The only tricky part is remembering to add the correct type of keyframe. At first glance, I might be tempted to add keyframes to the Position row. What I really want to do is add them to the Vector Mask Position one. Attempting to change the position of a vector mask inside of Photoshop isn’t possible by using only the Position keyframe feature. I’ll show you what happens if I try.

I’ve gone ahead and selected the vector shape layer in the Layers panel. Then, I clicked on the small arrow in the timeline that sits to the left of that layer name. Doing this opened up the animation controls for that layer. Take a look.

If I click on the timeline in the Position stopwatch icon, I’ll immediately see this warning pop up.

It says, “Animating the layer position may not have any effect. You may need to animate the mask.” That’s interesting because at first glance, many people may think they’re attempting to animate the actual layer shape, but in essence, they’re attempting to animate the mask, just as the warning stated. To work around this warning, I’ll steer clear of the Position control and I’ll skip down a few spots to the Vector Mask Position row. That’s where I want to be.

Before I click in the row though, I’ll need to slide the mask over to the left, so it’s just off screen. My goal with this animation is to have the video in question start off in a hidden state and then slide in, while the video is playing, to the half way point. That’s where I’ll have the animation stop and the video content continue on playing. Sort of like an animated split screen.

Okay, I’ve repositioned the mask so it’s off screen. At this point, I’ll go ahead and make sure the playhead is at the 0:00 second mark and then I’ll click the little stopwatch icon that sits to the left of the words Vector Mask Position.

Next, I’ll push the playhead to the 3:00 mark. That’s going to be the end of the transition. After that, I’ll hold down the Shift key on my keyboard to lock any layer mask movement into a horizontal plane and then I’ll drag the layer mask over so the video stops at the center point. When I let go of the mask layer with my mouse, the end point keyframe will automatically appear.

And that’s all I need to do. If I play the video back and want to make any adjustments with the timing, I can easily drag the keyframes around. Those would be just small tweaks.

Basically, adding an animation for a vector mask layer is much like adding one for a regular layer. Again, the only area you need to pay attention to is which type of keyframe you apply.

Here’s a look at the final video. If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to click the link below.

Video Link

Pretty cool!

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I hope I clearly explained how to add an animation to a vector mask in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, please leave them down in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!

When working in Adobe Photoshop, you’ll quickly learn that there are dozens of methods for accomplishing the same thing. It doesn’t take much to set a goal and to work with the most obvious tool for accomplishing that goal. As you become more advanced with the application though, you’ll find that you’re able to use additional or alternative tools to give you the same result, but that will offer different flexibilities later on. Examples of such tool may be the Clone Stamp Tool, Spot Healing Brush Tool, Healing Brush Tool and the Patch Tool. Let’s just say that there’s more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to working with these tools.

In today’s post, I’m going to walk through the process of using two different tools to accomplish the same goal in Photoshop. I’ll use a sample photograph of a woman who has fairly dark shadows under her eyes. To lighten the shadows, I’ll first use the Clone Stamp Tool, along with some specific settings and after that, I’ll use the Healing Brush Tool to do the same thing. I’ll set that tool as well but then after I’m finished, I’ll make one final adjustment that will bring everything together.

The Sample Photo

Okay, as you can see in the photo below, there certainly are shadows under the woman’s eyes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because we all experience shadows, but when it comes to photo retouching, this area is generally corrected. Take a look.

Using the Clone Stamp Tool

Both methods for dealing with this issue are relatively simple. Neither takes much time, but both require explanation. I’ll begin with the Clone Stamp Tool.

To activate this tool, I’ll head over to the left vertical toolbar and click the tool.

Next, I’ll resize the tool by pressing the [ and ] (bracket) keys on my keyboard. I want the size of the brush to be about the height of the shadows. In this case, I’d say that’s around a half inch. I’ll also keep a soft edge.

After that, I’ll move up to the options bar and set the Opacity to 10% and keep the Aligned box checked. Finally, I’ll make sure All Layers is selected in the Sample drop-down box. Sampling all layers means that even if I place a blank layer above the background photo layer (which I’ll do), Photoshop will still recognize that background layer, even if the blank layer is the active one.

Finally, I’ll head over to the Layers panel and I’ll create a new blank layer that sits above the background layer.

Copying Objects & Areas with the Clone Stamp Tool in Adobe Photoshop

Making sure the blank layer is active by clicking on it, I’ll then take a sample of the woman’s cheek by holding down the Alt key on my keyboard and clicking once with my mouse. Basically, when doing this, I’ll be looking for a sample area that I would like to see under the eyes. I’ll sample the clearest and brightest area of her cheek that isn’t too close to any edge.

Next, I’ll paint the shadows with the brush. As I do this, I’ll find that I’m really not making much of a difference. It will take many clicks and drags with the mouse to accumulate any amount of overlay. This is intended because the low Opacity value in the options bar offers a chance for any change to accumulate slowly. I’ll follow these instructions for both sides. After a few seconds of painting, here’s my result.

Notice how I didn’t completely remove any shadow or wrinkle? The goal is to keep things looking as natural as possible. If I had continued on and removed everything, the result would have looked very odd.

Using the Healing Brush Tool

This method is slightly different than the last. To start off, I’ll delete the blank layer I just created and worked with and will replace it with another blank layer. Then, I’ll head over to the left vertical toolbar and I’ll select the Healing Brush Tool.

Working With the Healing Brush Tool in Adobe Photoshop

Next, I’ll revisit the options bar up top and make sure some values are set correctly. In this options bar, I want Mode to be set to Normal, Source set to Sampled, the Aligned box checked and the Sample drop-down set to All Layers. After this, I’m going to follow the same exact steps I laid out above. The only difference will be that instead of applying 10% of the brush strength, I’ll be applying 100%. Things will look very strange in the beginning.

I’ll go ahead and do this now. Here’s the result.

If we look at the above result, I think we can all agree that the shadows have been completely removed, but that the outcome looks a little strange. With the previous method, I applied the correction slowly and over many brush strokes in an effort to build it up. Here, I applied it all at once, which gave me quite the unnatural looking result. In order to fix this and make the shadows look much more natural, I’ll go back into the Layers panel and I’ll reduce the Opacity value to something around 75%.

By doing that, I’ll, in essence, be blending the unnatural looking result with the original shot. I’ll get this result.

This is arguably a much better outcome. Let’s take a look at the entire image.

Wow, that is so much better looking. I hope you agree.

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I hope I clearly explained how to go about correcting under-eye shadows by using the Clone Stamp Tool and the Healing Brush Tool in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any concerns or questions regarding this post, please leave them in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!