An Introduction to Photoshop’s History Brush Tool

The Main Uses of the History Brush Tool

• Restoring color to black-and-white photos: One common Photoshop effect involves converting a color photo to black and white and then selectively restoring parts of the image to their original, full-color state. For instance, you’ve probably seen photos on Valentine’s Day greeting cards in which the entire scene is black and white except for a brightly colored rose. This technique is easy to pull off with the History Brush tool and is also the tool’s most common application.
• Selectively applying filter effects: With the History Brush tool, it’s easy to make filter effects appear in only certain parts of an image. Say you have a wedding photo and would like to apply a glow effect to the bride’s face, but not to the rest of the image. You can use the History Brush tool to apply the effect only where you want it to appear.

How the History Brush Tool Works

1. With the History Brush Tool active and the History palette visible, you click the tiny empty box to the left of the entry in the History palette that you’d like to use as a restore point. Think of the restore point as the stage in your image editing history from which you’d like to bring back certain effects. For instance, if you are working with a color photo that you’ve converted to black and white and now would like to bring back color to certain parts of the image, you’d choose the entry in your History just before you converted the image to black and white.
2. You choose the size and characteristics of your brush, including diameter, blending mode, opacity, and flow.
3. You paint on the areas that you’d like the History Brush to affect. So, for instance, if you’d like to bring back the color of a person’s face in a photo that you’ve converted to black and white, you’d paint only directly on that person’s face. The remainder of the image remains unchanged.

How to Access Photoshop’s History Brush Tool

The History Brush tool is located near the top of Photoshop’s Tools palette in the same button that houses the Art History Brush tool, a specialized variation on the standard History Brush tool. The History Brush tool’s icon is a brush with a circular arrow pointing counterclockwise. If you don’t see the History Brush icon in the Tools palette, you can find it as follows:

 

1. Click the Art History Brush tool’s icon and move your cursor to the right.
    
   
2. A submenu will appear to the right in which you can select the History Brush tool. (You can also press Shift+Y to toggle between the Art History Brush tool and the History Brush tool.)
    
   

The History Brush Toolbar

Once you select the History Brush tool, the History Brush toolbar will appear just under the main Photoshop toolbar at the top of your screen.

 

How to Access Photoshop’s History Palette

Since the History Brush tool works in tandem with the History palette, you need to have the History palette accessible when working with the History Brush. To open the History palette, click Window in the main Photoshop toolbar, and then click History (Window > History). The History palette will appear on the right side of the screen. The palette shows a list of each History state, or editing step, that you’ve undertaken so far. Next to each step is a checkbox that you’ll check when using the History Brush tool.

 

How to Change the Number of Editing Steps that the History Palette Stores