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You have heard, read and watched me talk about the importance of exclusion in composition. If the object in the frame does not add to the story or narrative, does it need to be there?

It could be upsetting the visual flow by altering the hierarchy of elements (focal points).

Removing unnecessary objects that compete for the viewer attention and create distraction can not be any easier on your iPhone or Android smartphone.

Unlike other healing and cloning tools available in other apps, TouchRetouch has an advanced algorithm. The results speak for themselves blending source and target areas.

The optional full manual controls allow more precise control for those complex tasks, including restore, reapply, brush size, edge hardness, opacity and edge awareness.

 The simple and smart interface balances simple and advanced tools without becoming overwhelming for the beginner to object removal.

And, best of all, TouchRetouch by ADVA Soft is available on both Google Play and App Store for less than the price of a single coffee!

The optional full manual controls allow more precise control for those complex tasks, including restore, reapply, brush size, edge hardness, opacity and edge awareness.

Yes, Adobe Lightroom mobile has a healing and cloning tool. The advanced feature of using the Eraser in the Object tool and Restore inside Cloning offers advanced control inside TouchRetouch making it a clear winner. My workflow using LIghtroom mobile always finishes inside TouchRetouch for that clean and simplified look to my photos. 

The results are so much more than just copying from a sample area and pasting it over the top of the unwanted area. Simply pinch and zoom to get in nice and close, then tap or swipe over the unwanted distraction. If the results are not perfect, you can use the restore eraser to bring back the original. What I love about this app is you can tap on settings and change the size, hardness, opacity and edge awareness of the eraser!

The additional option you have is to tap on Auto, switching to Manual. This allows you to see precisely where you are selecting and make refinements using the eraser or lasso before tapping Go. At any stage, you have the before / after icon in the top right corner to compare the awesome results.

A quick tip: Double-tap on the slider adjustments to reset to the default position.

Previously available as an auto feature to remove the line you tap on, you can now manually control the selection. In addition to setting the thickness of the line, you can also tap and drag mid-points to change the direction of the line to cater for every line removal scenario. This can include powerlines, edges and even a satellite moving across your long exposure star trails photo... yes, you can do that on your smartphone!

The Segment tool is really handy to swipe over the line that you want to remove. The app will limit the line replacement to where you swiped instead of trying to identify and remove the whole line.

A quick tip: Tap on the line and the app will attempt to select and replace the whole line

This is a new feature that I did not know I even needed. It replaces the mesh with surrounding pixels. The results are surprisingly accurate and clearly demonstrate the power of the speed and accuracy of their algorithm.

A quick tip: Minimise the line thickness as close as you can to the mesh to be replaced then fine-tune the results using object or line removal.

In the above example, I used the Objects tool to complete the object removal. I did not need to use the advanced cloning tool and new restore feature to make precise object removal.

The clone stamp allows you to 'paint' a section of the photo over another. Again, pinch and zoom to get in close and change the opacity settings to create a more natural blend.

The stamp samples a source area and follows as you swipe across the screen. 

The new interface is so well designed, that you will discover a feature that you (me included) did not realise was there. The clone tool has a mirroring option to change the 'painting path' of the sample area. As you choose a starting point to sample and swipe, you can control which direction the source area will copy from. How genius is that? This is really helpful to mix up the area you are copying from and avoid that obvious repetition of copied areas that other apps produce. 

Another unique feature inside the Cloning tool is the option to select three different types of cloning, known as source behaviours; Classic, Slide-back and Texture.

You access these by long pressing on the screen. Classic will drag the source area in the same motion that you are swiping over the area to be replaced. This is really handy for replacing content in a line. Slide-back will reset back to the original sample location each time you lift your finger off the screen. The texture tool will copy the texture of the sampled area.

Cloning can also be used creatively to duplicate something or even someone inside the same photo!

A quick tip: Always reduce the opacity and swipe over the area multiple times if needed.

The app has wonderful tutorials built in that you can access at any time. in the home screen. You can tap on Reset Onboarding to activate the guide, access App Tools to see a brief explanation, select Useful Tips or Tutorials for further explanation.

Below are my suggested settings to enable inside settings on the home screen:

Show Zoom Tool – enable this to display a magnified box of your selections

Appearance – enable tool names. This is so helpful, even if you are already familiar with the icons.

Also, try both dark and light themes. For me, the dark theme makes photos pop more and easier to work with.

There are many more options available that you can adjust to your liking... save edits to a separate folder, change the export size of photos, etc.

As you can tell... I have been a huge fan of this app for years now. Version 5.0 is a massive upgrade that I did not think we needed. But, wow... the app has really stamped it's position as the leading app in object removal.