Adobe Photoshop's Snot Removal Tool

I couldn't help myself. Except for occasional cropping, I have shunned touching up my digital photos. Perhaps it is because I was raised on film and believe in the inherent truth that untouched photos depict. A sort of photographic code of ethics or integrity.

All of that high falutin' talk went out the window when I snapped a couple of shots of Jeremy that are simply adorable, with the exception of some very distracting dried mucus on his upper lip.

Don't misunderstand me. It is not as if my values are that fickle. I did agonize for about 48 hours over whether I should attempt to touch up the pictures. However, when I came to the conclusion that I would fire up the digital photo editor, I truly thought my efforts would fail and that my purist tenets would be vindicated. A year or so ago, I tried playing around with the touch-up tools in Paint Shop, and I found the results quite crude and noticeable. Little did I know how easy and sophisticated the "healing tool" is in Adobe's Photoshop, which I got a month or so ago. There was virtually no learning curve. Passing the mouse over Jeremy's lip was just like wiping it clean with a Kleenex.

Mothers everywhere must be rejoicing! Now, if you have to choose between blowing your child's nose or capturing the Kodak moment, you can click the shutter and delete the unsightly elements later.