How to Use Photoshop’s Patch Tool

The first step in using the Patch tool is to select the problematic portion of the image that you’d like to fix. In the sample image shown here, the problematic portion contains a scratch in the sky. The steps that follow show how to select the problematic area and replace it with a “clean” part of the sky by using the Patch tool.

 

1. Select the Target Area

With the Patch tool selected, circle the problematic portion (the “target area”) of the image with the mouse. Selecting parts of an image with the Patch tool works just like it does with standard Photoshop selection tools, such as the Lasso—you simply circle the target area while keeping the mouse button pressed down, then release the mouse button once you’ve circled the entire target area to finalize the selection. When you release the mouse button, a line of marching ants will appear around the perimeter of the selection. There’s only one rule of thumb to keep in mind when making selections with the Patch tool—try to make the selection as snug as possible around the target area.

 

The Patch Tool Cursor

Modifying Your Selection After You’ve Made It

Once you’ve made a selection with the Patch tool, you can add to it, subtract from it, or select the area in which it intersects with another selection. You can access each of these options by clicking on the buttons on the left side of the Patch toolbar.

• Add to a selection: Click on the button in the Patch toolbar, or hold down the Shift key. A tiny plus sign will appear next to the standard Patch tool icon. Starting from any point outside the boundaries of the original selection, click and drag to select the area of the image that you’d like to add. Make sure to end your selection on any point along the boundary of the original selection. Photoshop will then add the new selection to the original selection.
• Subtract from a selection: Click on the button in the Patch toolbar, or hold down the Alt button on a PC (or the Option button on a Mac). A tiny minus sign will appear next to the standard Patch tool icon. Starting from any point outside the boundaries of the original selection, click and drag to select the area of the original selection that you’d like to remove. Release the mouse button once you’ve made your selection. For example, if your selection takes the form of a circle, you’d click outside the circle, drag the mouse over the area inside the circle that you’d like to remove from the selection, and then release the mouse button. Photoshop will then subtract the unwanted area from your original selection.
• Intersect with other selections: This option lets you select and repair the area in which two selections overlap. Photoshop selects only the overlapping portion of the selections and deselects any remaining portion of the selections. The Patch tool then applies to the selected portion only. To use this feature, click on the button in the Patch toolbar, or hold down Alt+Shift on a PC (or Option+Shift on a Mac).

To create an entirely new selection with the Patch tool at any time, click on the leftmost of the four buttons and then make your new selection.

2. Click and Drag the Selected Target Area

In the sample image, the original selection was of the sky, whereas the duplicate selection was of the corner of the bridge tower and its immediate surroundings—the piece of the bridge is pasted into the original selection.

 

3. Choose a Selection that Fixes the Flaw in the Original Selection

Photoshop will use the pixels in the duplicate selection to patch, or repair, the problems in the original selection. As a result, it’s crucial to choose a duplicate selection whose pixel content matches that of the original selection as closely as possible. For instance, in the sample image, if your goal is to remove the scratch in the original selection, you would not want to select the corner of the bridge. Instead, you’d want to click and drag the duplicate selection to a clean portion of the sky that looks as similar to the contents of the original selection as possible. Note that the two selections need not be absolutely identical—Photoshop will make them align as closely as possible once you’ve made the duplicate selection.

 

The Patch Tool’s “Transparent” Option

4. Finalize the Duplicate Selection

Once you’ve chosen a portion of the image to use to patch the original selection, simply let go of the mouse button. Photoshop will apply the pixels from the duplicate selection to the original selection and then automatically adjust the new patch so that it matches the surrounding area’s color, lighting, texture, and shading. The result should be a seamless, flawless repair of the original flawed selection.