David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Retouching Scratches and Hairs

Sometimes an otherwise perfect portrait is spoiled by the tiniest of imperfections—a stray hair or an unsightly blemish, for example. Professional photographers, whether working digitally or in a traditional darkroom, routinely remove such minor imperfections from their final prints—a process known as retouching, for clients known as self-conscious.

The Retouch brush lets you do the same thing with your own digital photos. You can paint away scratches, spots, hairs, or any other small flaws in your photos with a few quick strokes.

The operative word here is small. The Retouch brush can't wipe out a big blob of spaghetti sauce on your son's white shirt or completely erase somebody's mustache. It's intended for tiny touch-ups that don't involve repainting whole sections of a photo. (For that kind of photo overhaul, you need a dedicated photo-editing program.)

Tip

The Retouch brush is particularly useful on traditional photographs that you've scanned in. You can use it to wipe away the dust specks and scratches that often appear on film negatives and prints, or those that are introduced when you scan the photos.

To use Retouch, click the Retouch button on the toolbar/tool panel.

Once you've selected the Retouch brush, your pointer turns into a round brush. (Use the slider to change the size of the brush cursor.)

Now you're ready to enter the airbrushing studio.

• iPhoto. Find the imperfection and "paint" over it, using short dabs to blend it with the surrounding ...