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Finding and Fixing Dust Spots in Adobe Lightroom

Dust spots occur in many images. Some of them are easy to see and fix, but others seem to elude me. I’m getting better at noticing them but I still need some help and that’s where Adobe Lightroom 5 comes to the rescue.

In Develop mode, select the spot healing tool and you’ll see below your image there is an option to “visualise spots”. This will turn your image into a black/white contrast outline, highlighting the dust spots so you can fix them. You can switch between this view and the standard view of your image by toggling the Visualise Spots checkbox. This will help you ensure the spot fixes have worked well.

Below are the steps using one of my random images as an example. You can click any of these to view them in higher resolution:

1) Open your image and select Develop Mode. Next, click on the Spot Removal icon (circled) or press Q to enter spot removal mode.
1) View your image and select Develop Mode. Next, click on the Spot Removal icon (circled) or press Q to enter spot removal mode.
2) Once you're in spot removal mode, check the "Visualise Spots" checkbox below the image. This will change your image into the black/white version shown below, highlighting any spots. You can slide the slider next to the Visualise Spots checkbox to change the view and see different levels of detail.
2) Once you’re in spot removal mode, check the “Visualise Spots” checkbox below your image. This will change your image into the black/white version shown here, highlighting any spots. You can slide the slider next to the Visualise Spots checkbox to change the view and see different levels of detail.
3) Using the spot healing brush (which should already be selected) you can draw over the spots to heal them. Toggle in/out of Visualise Spots mode to check the fixes and ensure they blend in. As you do this, the white circles which previously helped us see the spots should vanish. When you're happy you've got them all, click done! And that's it - your image should be free from (obvious) spots.
3) Using the spot healing brush (which should already be selected) you can draw over the spots to heal them. Toggle in/out of Visualise Spots mode to check the fixes and ensure they blend in. As you do this, the white circles which previously helped us see the spots should vanish. When you’re happy you’ve got them all, click done! And that’s it – your image should be free from (obvious) spots.

 

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