Select the Zoom (Z) tool and set the size to 1:1, i.e. 100%.
Select the Healing Brush tool from the Tool Palette.
Do not select the Spot Healing Brush.
Using the Hand (H) or scroll bars, move your window to the upper left corner of the image.
Look for dark spots that do not belong in the image. They typically have fuzzy edges, but may be completely blurred. These are from dust on the sensor chip in your camera. (Do you know the PROPER procedure for cleaning your sensor chip?)
Use the left ([) and right (]) bracket key to decrease or increase brush size to slightly more than cover the spot.
Right click to bring up the Brush dialog box.
On a soft focus area, shift the hardness to about 30%. On a hard focus area, shift the hardness to about 75%.
Hold the Alt key and click the pointer on the area whose pixels you want to use to wipe out the spot.
Center the pointer on the spot and click.
If it is not right, you may need to resample, and try again. If nothing works, go to Undo History in the Palette Bin, and click one step backward (up) until the spot has been restored in all its dubious glory. Every step undoes one action, but there is a limit on the number of steps, so you must pay attention and catch problems early. You should also save the image at intermediate points during the process.
If the Healing Brush, samples too much color from close-lying areas, use the Clone Stamp tool (S), which does not blend nearby pixels into the replaced area. You will want to build it up slowly and carefully, and you may need to blend it together afterward using Blur or Healing Brush.
If it doesn’t make any change at all, make sure you have the correct layer selected. Healing normally works on only one layer at a time, unless the All Layers check box is checked on the Healing Brush tool bar. (It is rare to use this.)
Repeat for all spots within this window area.
Move the window in a systematic way through the entire image until all spots are gone. Try moving the window horizontally until you reach the opposite side. Then move it down, still overlapping the edge of the space you just covered. Then go back the other direction. Repeat until clean.
For a heavily spotted image, repeat starting in the lower right corner, and using a different, but still systematic, method to scan the entire image. You will usually find an area you missed.
Save the image.
