The Lightroom Healing Brush Straight Line Trick You Need to Know

Your Weekly Photo Editing Tip with Erika Swafford

Trying to remove power lines, fences, or other straight-line distractions in Lightroom Classic? The Lightroom healing brush straight line trick makes it easy—no steady hand required!

Let me ask you, can you draw a straight line with your mouse? Or even just your finger on a pad or monitor?

I’ve tried and it is dang near impossible for me! And this is really apparent when I’m trying to remove power lines, fences, poles, or other straight-line distractions from a photo.

But I found a ridiculously simple keyboard trick that lets you heal in a straight line when you run across those objects that could use a straighter selection.

Say hello to the Shift key trick—your new best friend for healing straight lines in Lightroom Classic.

Using the Lightroom healing tool shift-click method is super easy so let me walk you through how to make your editing workflow faster and easier.

How the Shift Key Trick Works

Lightroom’s Healing Brush tool is already a lifesaver, but here’s how you can make your selection a straight line with a single key:

Step 1:

Open the Healing Tool (shortcut: Q).

Step 2:

Hold down the Shift key, then start making your selection. Lightroom makes the selection in a straight line whichever direction you move it.

Boom. Just like that, you have the easiest straight line for healing. And this works with ANY of the healing tools in Lightroom Classic.

Best Use Cases for This Trick

This trick shines in many photo editing scenarios like removing:

Power lines

Fencing

Scratches or cracks

Poles

Instead of scribbling along the line with your mouse or finger (and sometimes missing a spot here or there), you get a perfectly straight selection with this trick.

Why You Should Start Using This Trick

Speed and precision—what’s not to love?

It’s fast—and fun!

It’s accurate. Keeping a steady hand can be tricky, but Lightroom’s straight-line healing selection trick makes it easier than ever.

It works with ALL the healing tools. Content-aware? Yes. Generative AI healing? Yup. Healing tool? You bet. Cloning tool? For sure!

Pro Tips for Best Results

To get the most out of the Shift key selection trick, try these killer moves:

Zoom in for better accuracy. This helps when working on detailed areas.

Add to the selection: Maybe you just need one side with a straight edge. If you’re using the Generative AI healing tool, you can add to the straight line selection as needed before removing the object.

Try It Out!

This trick is worth keeping in your editing “tool kit” for removing straight-line distractions in Lightroom Classic. Give it a try the next time you need to heal power lines, fences, etc. from a photo.

Happy editing,

Erika

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Hey there photographer!

I'm Erika. I'm a private photo editor for wedding photographers and photo editing educator. Think of me as your techy friend who loves figuring out the shortcuts in Lightroom Classic so you don't have to.