How to Remove Stray Hairs in Lightroom

How to Remove Stray Hairs & Fix Flyaway Hair in Lightroom

Using the clone tool in Lightroom generally works the best for flyaway hairs.  In fact, whenever I am trying to remove something from my photo where there is a lot of contrast between the background and the object I am trying to remove, the Lightroom clone tool is generally the best option to choose.

Using the healing tool will try to blend the object being removed with the background, so it is not usually the best option for this type of edit.

A medium-sized brush will work best for removing a large clump of stray hairs.  Click and drag a spot that will cover the flyaway hair.

Remember that if Lightroom doesn't choose the best source to replace the stray hairs, you can always adjust the source spot by clicking and dragging it to a better location.

If you are trying to remove just one small stray hair, make sure to decrease the size of your brush - something slightly wider than the stray hair will work well.  Then use the brush to trace over the stray hair.

Keep in mind that, generally, it is best to do the cloning in small chunks.  This will make it easier to find a spot on your image that will work to fill in the background if it isn't too large.

If you are more of a visual learner, I put together this short video demonstrating how to edit and remove flyaway hair:

Tips for Using the Lightroom Heal Tool

Healing works best when you are trying to blend something and don't want or need an exact match.  The Lightroom Heal tool works great for fixing things like blemishes when working with an area that is similar in tone to the spot you are trying to fix.

Healing will blend the area you are fixing with an area that Lightroom chooses.  Of course, you choose your own spot by moving the one Lightroom selected automatically for you.  You can also use the "/" (forward slash) key to have Lightroom automatically choose a new source spot.

I put together this short video demonstrating how to fix a blemish using the Lightroom Heal Tool:

Additional Tips when Using the Clone & Heal Tools

• Play with the size and feather of your cloning/healing brush.  The closer you are to a hard edge, the less feather you will want to use on your brush.

• If you are hoping to remove something large, it's generally best to work in small chunks and not with just one large clone/heal job.  This also works best if you have a limited "good" area that you are using to pull from.

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