History Brush Tool

History Brush Tool

Learn how to use the History Brush Tool in Adobe Photoshop.

When to use

Use the History Brush Tool to restore parts of an image to a previous state.

Instructions

Setting Things Up

• Begin by choosing one of the photos you haven't worked with from the landscape photos.
• Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to the image and make a few other modifications to change or enhance it a bit more.
• Once you're happy with the changes, select the top layer and press Command/Ctrl+Alt/Option+Shift+E to merge all of the visible layers into a new layer.

Clean Slate

• Press Command/Ctrl+N to create a New Document that is 1920 x 1080 and click 'Create' in the lower right-hand corner.
• Return to your previous document with the merged photo.
• Hold the Control Key and click on the merged layer before choosing 'Duplicate Layer' from the dropdown menu that appears.
• Under the 'Destination' section, click on the 'Document' dropdown and select 'Untitled-1' from the list.
• You can now close this document by pressing Command/Ctrl+W and choose 'Don't Save' to make sure we don't save over the previous file.
• You should now see your merged photo in the New Document.
• Select your 'Layer 1' layer and resize it by pressing Command/Ctrl+T and dragging inwards from any of the four corners of the bounding box until the photo fits nicely inside the 1920 x 1080 document.
• Once you are happy with the size and positioning of the photo, press 'Enter' or 'Return' on the keyboard to apply the changes.
• We can now merge these layers together by selecting the top layer, holding the Shift Key, and then selecting the 'Background' layer so both are selected at the same time.
• With both layers selected, press Command/Ctrl+E to merge the two layers into a single layer.

History Panel

• Before we see the History Brush Tool in action, we need to go to the Window Menu and choose 'History' to open the History Panel.
• The History Panel records all of the modifications and changes made to a document in Photoshop, step-by-step.

Making Adjustments

• Press 'M' to switch to the Rectangular Marquee Tool and click and drag a selection around part of the merged layer.
• Press Command/Ctrl+X to cut the selection from the merged layer.
• Press Command/Ctrl+V to paste the selection, and then move it over to the side. 
• Select both layers by clicking on the first, holding the Shift Key, and then select the second layer.
• Press Command/Ctrl+E to merge the layers together. 
• Switch to the Brush Tool (B) and use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to sample some of the sky color before painting over the mountains with a large, soft brush to cover them up.

History Brush Tool

• Select the History Brush Tool in the toolbar, or use the keyboard shortcut 'Y'.
• Go to the History Panel and choose the step that you want your image to be restored to with the brush.
• In this case, I know that we want to go back to the third or fourth step where we first resized and merged our photo with the Background, so we need to click just to the left of that step in the panel. 
• You should see a small brush icon appear next to the step.
• You can now paint over the image with the History Brush, and anywhere that you brush the image will be restored to that previous state.

Hints & tips

• Using the History Brush Tool is a better option than using Undo (Command/Ctrl+Z) or the History Panel by itself as it allows you to keep some of the changes that have been made in one part of an image while restoring parts of the image in another. 
• In order for the History Brush Tool to work, you will need to designate which state you want to restore the image to in the History Panel.