Remove Larger Things?

If the thing you need to remove from your image is much larger than a speck, maybe something like a sign, there’s a tool or two for that. First, try Content-Aware Fill and see how that works: Get the Lasso tool (L), put a selection around the thing you want to remove (make the selection a little larger than the object—it needs to be a loose selection, not tight right on it), then go under the Edit menu, and choose Fill. In the Fill dialog (seen above left), choose Content-Aware from the Contents pop-up menu and click OK. If the fix doesn’t look good, undo it (Command-Z [PC: Ctrl-Z]) and try this: Get the Patch tool from the Toolbox (press Shift-J until you have it; it’s nested with the Healing Brushes [see above center] its icon looks like a patch). It works kind of like the Lasso tool, so draw a lasso-like selection with the Patch tool around the thing you want to remove. Then, take the Patch tool, click inside the selection you just made, and drag it to a clean nearby area in your image. Release your mouse button, and it removes the object (usually rather well, I might add). The success of this tool is really based on where you dragged that selection to. If you picked a good, clean, nearby area with similar texture, it works really well. If you can’t find a clean area that large, it might be . . . well . . . kind of a mess. In that case, you’ll have to go “old school” and get the Clone Stamp tool (S; seen above right) and manually clone over it with stuff nearby (Option-click [PC: Alt-click] on a clean nearby area and start painting that area over the thing you want to remove). It takes longer, and requires a bit more care, but if you’re patient and use a small-sized brush, there’s just about nothing you can’t remove—it just takes time.