How to Manually Remove Red Eye in Photoshop CC 2019

Different ways to get rid of red eyes in Photoshop 2019

By
Sue Chastain
Sue Chastain
Sue Chastain
Writer
  • St. Petersburg College
Sue Chastain is a former Lifewire writer and a graphics software authority with web design and print publishing credentials. She's also skilled in WordPress administration.
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Updated on November 22, 2021

What to Know

  • Using the Red Eye Tool, open a photo and zoom in on the eyes. Click and hold Healing Brush Tool and select Red Eye Tool. Click a red eye.
  • To manually remove, zoom in on the red eyes, click and hold the Eyedropper Tool and select the Color Sampler Tool.
  • Then, click an area that has some natural color. Click and hold the Brush Tool and select the Color Replacement Tool. Paint over the red parts.

This article explains how to remove red eyes from photos in Photoshop. Instructions apply to Photoshop CC 2019 for Mac and Windows.

How to Use the Red Eye Tool in Photoshop 

Sometimes when you take a photo of someone with a flash, the light from the flash enters through the subject's pupil and is reflected by the blood vessels at the back of the retina. As a result, their eyes appear to glow red. Thankfully, there are a few ways to remove red eyes in Photoshop.

The Tree Frog image on the left shows the Red Eye Tool and the Tool Options. The image on the right shows the use of layers.

To quickly remove red eyes in photos:

  1. Open the photo and zoom in on the red eyes.

    Open the photo and zoom in on the red eyes.

  2. Click and hold the Healing Brush tool and select Red Eye Tool at the bottom of the list.

    Click and hold the Healing Brush tool and select Red Eye Tool at the bottom of the list.

  3. Click on the reds eyes and watch them turn to normal.

    Increase the Pupil Size in the tool options bar to widen the area the tool will be applied to. Adjust the Darken Amount to lighten or darken the result.

    Click on the reds eyes and watch them turn to normal.

How to Manually Remove Red Eyes in Photoshop

If you want more control over how the final result looks, you can also remove red eyes manually:

  1. Open the photo and zoom in on the red eyes.

    Open the photo and zoom in on the red eyes.

  2. Click and hold the Eyedropper tool and select Color Sampler Tool.

    Click and hold the Eyedropper tool and select Color Sampler Tool.

  3. Click on an area of the iris where you can see a hint of the natural color.

    Click on an area of the iris where you can see a hint of the natural color.

  4. Click and hold the Brush tool and select Color Replacement Tool.

    Click and hold the Brush tool and select Color Replacement Tool.

  5. Paint over the red parts of the eyes.

    Use the eraser tool to clean up any overspray from painting outside the iris. If you want to darken the pupil area, use the Photoshop Burn tool.

    Paint over the red parts of the eyes.

  6. Select Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

    Select Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

  7. Set the Radius to 1 pixel and select OK to soften the edges of the painted area on the layer.

    Set the Radius to 1 pixel and select OK to soften the edges of the painted area on the layer.

Once satisfied with the result, you can save the file as a PSD file or in your preferred image format.

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