How to Use the Photoshop Magic Eraser Tool

The Magic Eraser tool is used by clicking, not dragging, which is different like other Photoshop eraser tools (and most other tools, for that matter). It acts similar to the Magic Wand tool, but instead of selecting like-colored pixels, it erases them. The Magic Eraser tool is very useful if you have made mistakes, think of it as a sponge that would soak up colors on a canvas instead of painting them down like a brush.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Photoshop 5.0 ~ CS4
• PC Windows OS, XP or Vista recommended
• Mouse
• Keyboard

1. 
   Magic Eraser tool

   Use the Magic Eraser Tool to automatically clean continuously similar color areas on your image. Click on an image area that you want to erase after setting options for the tool (see Steps 2 - 4 for settings).
   
   Double left-click on the Magic Eraser tool to bring up the options window. Single left-click on the Magic Eraser tool on your toolbox to use.

2. For clearing limited area: Double left-click mouse key to select the Magic Eraser on the toolbox; Ctrl + E shortcut for keyboard. Put a check mark in the "Contiguous" box in the dialog window; it should already by default. This allow the eraser to work only on the adjacent areas. If the option box is unmarked, the tool will erase similar color pixels all over the image.

3. Specify the Opacity and Tolerance options. These control the Magic Eraser tool's sensitivity and opacity of your "clicks" while erasing.
   
   The Tolerance option sets how much variation in the selected color will be cleaned. A high tolerance level wipes out pixels within a broader range while a low tolerance level erases pixels that are very close in color to the pixel you select.
   
   When set to 100% "Opacity", the eraser wipes out the select area to complete transparency. When set to a lower value (e.g. 40% opacity), semitransparent pixel will be left according to the color pixel that was chosen.

4. Choose "Anti-Alliased" option to smooth edges of pixels near the erased areas.

5. Before using the Magic Eraser tool, choose a color that you want to fill for the pixels that is going to be erased. If none is selected, Photoshop will make the erased areas white or transparent by default. You can access colors from the Colors palette, Swatches palette, or by clicking on the color sample chip on the toolbox.
   
   Colors and Swatches palette: Window > Show Colors, Window > Show Swatches, if not showing.

6. 
   Original image

   Example image before using the Magic Eraser tool. The top half background with gray color pixels will be erased.

7. 
   After Magic Eraser application

   Example after using the Magic Eraser tool with the marked "Contiguous" box to clean out only the upper gray area portion on the image, instead of erasing every gray-color hued pixels on the entire image.

8. And then again, you can use a paint brush to paint out the gray areas, but it is time consuming. With a paint brush, you would have to deal with fine and irregular lines/shapes near the areas that you don't want to paint over. Photoshop can do this for you with just a click on a select area with the Magic Eraser tool, which will erase the similar color pixels instantly.