Today’s Question: Every time I use the Remove tool to clean up a blemish in Photoshop a new layer is created. Is it possible to perform all the cleanup work on one layer without so much clutter?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can simply turn off the “Create new layer” checkbox on the Options bar to prevent Photoshop from creating a new layer each time you use the Remove tool on an image.
More Detail: While I encourage the use of a separate image layer for image-cleanup work so that the underlying image pixels remain untouched, there’s generally no need to use more than one layer for this type of purpose.
The Remove tool includes a “Create new layer” checkbox on the Options bar, which can be a convenient option for making sure you’re using a separate layer for cleaning up blemishes. However, if you leave that checkbox turned on a new layer will be created every time you apply the Remove tool to an image.
There are two approaches you could use to avoid accumulating multiple image layers. My recommendation is to keep the “Create new layer” checkbox turned off, and then just be sure to create a new empty image layer whenever you’re first applying image cleanup to an image. The other approach would be to turn on the checkbox when first using the Remove tool on an image and then turn it off for subsequent cleanup work. But I think the former provides a more streamline workflow.
Keep in mind that you need to also be sure that the “Sample all layers” checkbox is turned on for the Remove tool on the Options bar to ensure that the underlying image layers (such as the Background image layer) are taken into account for the new cleanup pixels being placed on the separate cleanup layer.
