Photoshop Elements >

Clone Stamp Tool > 1 - Basics

Clone Stamp Tool v.

Healing Brush Tool

With the Clone Stamp tool, you sample part of a photograph.

Then, the Clone Stamp tool covers another part of the photograph with the sampled area.

In contrast, the Healing Brush tool blends the sampled area with an area on the photograph.

Think of the Clone Stamp tool as rolling paint on a wall.

The paint on the wall is completely covered with the paint on the roller.

Think of the healing Brush tool like sponging a wall with paint.

The paint on the sponge is blended with the existing paint on the wall.

Do You Need to Cover or Blend?

Use the Healing Brush tool when you're retouching a face.

You'll probably want to blend the sampled area with the retouching area.

The blending helps to camouflage the retouching.

If the area to be retouched is unsightly, then it should be covered up completely.

Use the Clone Stamp tool to cover an area with the sampled area.

The Clone Stamp tool can be used to cover:

• Dust marks, rips, and fold marks.

• Distracting objects, such as stray hairs and telephone wires.

• Distracting areas, such as brown grass, a bright patch of sky in trees, glare on a face, and lens flare.

You can also cover a closed eye with an eye from someone else in a group photograph, or from the same person from another photograph in which he or she isn't blinking.

Let's replace the mulch in the background of the photograph below with green grass.

Be sure to check off as you go along.

The above photograph is by RHP.

Preparation

1) Preserve your original file.

If you haven't already done so, go to Preserve Your Original File.

2) Create a Background copy layer.

If you haven't already done so, go to Create a Background Copy Layer.

3) Zoom in to enlarge the section where retouching is needed.

Setting Up

1) Select the Clone Stamp tool.

2) Select a brush size, in the options bar, that's smaller than the area to be retouched.

Use a small brush.

The Clone Stamp tool works best when you click the brush many times on the area to be retouched.

If needed, use a feathered brush.

If you haven't already done so, go to Feathered Brush.

There's no way to change the feathering, or hardness, in the options bar.

You can vary the feathering by using keyboard shortcuts.

Shift + [ = Decrease by 25%

Shift + ] = Increase by 25%

Remember:

• A brush with a hardness of 0% has the most feathering.

• A brush with a hardness of 100% has no feathering.

If you haven't already done so, go to Brushes -  Basics.

3) Usually, make sure Aligned, in the options bar, is deselected.

Beginners should skip ahead.

Example of Aligned

Aligned needs to be tried out, in order to understand what it does.

Here's a word example to get you started.

To make the feature easier to understand, two photographs are used, instead of sampling and pasting with only one photograph.

Let's say the sampled photograph has:

On top	A mountain
In the middle	A village on the far shore of a lake
On the bottom	A lake

Aligned Is Selected

When Aligned is selected, the entire sampled photograph is pasted.

Here's what happens when you brush on the destination photograph.

When you brush on the top, the . . .	. . . mountain appears.
When you brush in the middle, the . . .	. . . village appears.
When you brush on the bottom, the . . .	. . . lake appears.

Aligned Is Not Selected

When Aligned isn't selected, the center of the sampled photograph is the "paint" on the brush.

If you click and hold, and brush away, you'll see the sampled photograph emerge.

The village appears, and then the rest of the photograph.

But—if you release the mouse button—and then brush some more—the sampled photograph is once again centered as the paint on the brush.

If you brush on the top of the sampled photograph, the village appears.

If you release the mouse button, and then brush on the bottom, the village appears.

When you brush on the top, the . . .	. . . village appears.
When you brush on the middle*, the . . .	. . . village appears.
When you brush on the bottom*, the . . .	. . .village appears.

* After releasing the mouse button

Go to Aligned on the options bar.

4) Usually, make sure Sample All Layers, in the options bar, is selected.

Occasionally, you may have something on a layer that will interfere with cloning.

If so, do the following.

a) Undo the poor cloning.

b) Deselect the eye icon of the offending layer.

Or:

a) Deselect Sample All Layers in the options bar.

b) When you sample, make sure the Background copy layer is active (highlighted).

c) When you clone, make sure the blank layer is active.

Retouching

1) Make sure the Background copy layer is active (highlighted).

2) Center the brush (the black circle) on the photograph where you want to sample.

Press Alt, hold, and click.

The cursor will change to a bulls-eye when your press and hold Alt.

You've sampled the area.

As mentioned, the sampled area can be from another photograph, not from the photograph on which you're working.

3) Click the Clone Stamp tool brush on the area of the photograph that you want to retouch.

Repeated Clicks

As described, repeated clicks of a small brush are usually more effective than a few clicks with a large brush.

Click & Drag?

You can click, hold, and drag the Clone Stamp tool brush.

However, the strokes should be short.

If you use long strokes, a second copy of the photograph may start to appear in the area being retouched.

Repeated Sampling

Repeated sampling can be more effective than applying the same sample throughout the retouching area.

Here's the original and the retouched photograph.

Before

After

Saving the Photograph

If you haven't already done so, go to Saving Files.

The next section discusses ways to refine the operation of the Clone Stamp tool.

1

Next