Healing brush in Photoshop leaves a darker trail?

Sometimes the spot I just healed acctualy gets darker even though the source isn't. What am I doing wrong?Healing brush in Photoshop leaves a darker trail?
Healing Brush uses a algorythm of everything around the imperfection, to 'meld' the spot you're trying to fix. It will pick up pixels from a spot 10 to 20 pixels away, just depends on the settings for the brush,(also another factor which I'll explain below).


One 'trick' is to make the Healing Brush circle,(brush), smaller so that it doesn't pick up unwanted outside sources. Boy, that's kinda' hard to explain, 'Outside Sources'. Click on the triangle shaped down arrow to the immediate right of Brush, number size of brush,(for example 7), and the brush shape,(sort of an example: Brush 7 o), in the top header. This brings a drop-down menu that shows the Diameter, Hardness, and Spacing. Diameter is purely experimental, but I use a brush diameter that just surrounds the imperfection. This is with the Aligned box checked,(upper header to the right). You can experiment with having the Aligned box unchecked. I usually use 50% Hardness. This is like using a Soft Brush in Brush Tool at 100%. I keep the Spacing at around 5-7%. This means Healing Brush will 'sample' 5%,(for example), of the area's pixel's around it.


You will find that sometimes, no matter how you set the brush's setting's, or how careful you are, it will pick up unwanted colors. The darker you're probably picking up is the dark line around a figure, or it's shadow, that's pretty near the imperfection. It's a complicated formula this tool uses, and I don't see how Adobe could change it. Once you're used to using it, you work around it's 'imperfections'. We,(those who use Photoshop), just fill in with the Clone Stamp Tool,(when the Healing Brush just can't fix it all), using the Opacity setting, Aligned, or not Aligned,(should explain if you're not familiar with this setting. When you use Healing Brush, or Clone Stamp Tool, and the Aligned feature, you'll see the area you chose to copy from's 'spot', move up along with where you're using the H.Brush, or C.S.Tool. It goes up/down/over, etc. right along with it. uncheck the box, this stops. But, use care as your 'copy' source won't match as you move away from it.) I wouldn't fool with the Flow setting in Clone Stamp just yet, but hey, you go! Does this all sound like gibberish? Hope not! As you go along with some of these tips, I hope it'll start to make sense,(kinda' hard to follow what I'm printing, huh?)