Difficulty Level: 2 of 5
Removing a tattoo from a picture is pretty simple using Adobe Photoshop's Healing Tool. This works best for small tattoos. Your first image might look something like picture 1.
And after giving the image the Photoshop treatment, it will look like picture 2.
Step 1
Open Photoshop and open the image you want to edit. Type "L" to open the Lasso Tool. Draw a marquee around the tattoo.
Step 2
Type "M" to open the Marquee Tool. Using the tool, move the marquee to a spot of skin with no tattoo.
Step 3
Type "CTRL+C" to copy the area, and "CTRL-V" to paste the area. Now move the new pasted piece of skin over top of the tattoo. Type "CTRL-E" to merge the pasted layer with the original layer.
Step 4
Type "J" to open the Healing Brush, set the brush size to 15 and check "Aligned". This is where the real work begins.
Step 5
Put the brush right at the edge of where the pasted skin starts. Move back about 20 pixels and ALT+Click that area. The Healing Brush Tool is a lot like the clone tool; it clones an area that you've ALT+Clicked onto the area that you are painting. The difference between the Healing Brush Tool and the Clone Tool is areas that you clone are merged into the surrounding color and light.
Step 6
Start tapping your mouse button to clone the surrounding skin onto the edge of the pasted skin.
Step 7
See the pasted skin area start to merge into the surrounding skin. Keep doing this around the entire edge of the pasted skin area until the edge has merged into the surrounding skin. You should have something that looks like this:
Step 8
Recognize that this doesn't look all that real. So use the Healing Brush Tool and start painting over the entire area of the pasted skin. For this use your best judgment to get the lighting right. You might have to ALT+Click different areas of the surrounding skin to ensure the lighting is right.
Step 9
Enjoy the final image, which should look something like this:
Tips
- If the surrounding skin is much lighter or darker than the last area you ALT+Clicked, then ALT+Click the lighter or darker area when merging the pasted skin.
- This takes about 10 minutes.
- If you need an even quicker fix, use the Patch tool (if your Photoshop has it). Just follow steps 1 and 2, except use only the Patch tool. Click and hold the Healing Brush button; it's on there.
