Cloning?

[Bob_Defly]

No not sheep.

Just wondering what method people use for cloning out things? Say you have a few power lines or con trails in a landscape, or a reflection/rig in a car shot, how do you go about cloning them out?

I usually start off with a brush a bit wider than the thing I intend to clone and use 100% opacity, which gets rid of the offending item but leaves patchy results. Then I go over the area with a larger brush on a lower opacity to smooth it all out.

To be honest I have mixed results, sometimes great, sometimes not. I find for any shots with a really smooth gradient such as blue skys or some car bodywork, getting a really good finish is nigh on impossible, especially if converting to B&W where it is easily spotted.

Anyone have any tips or tutorials?

[leightonjames]

I use the patch tool for silly things, like cloning lens flare out. But for cloning i just use a small cloning brush and use between 1-5 pixels and do it in as much detail as poss. or i just use a big soft brush and keep trying till i get it spot on!

L

[Fordo]

I usually clone out the offending item, and carefully use heal tool to get rid of the patchyness. Although i start layering up and doing complicated things if its a really difficult job

[_dobbo_]

The patch tool for me tends to be by far the best method of cloning larger areas. Clone healing brush for smaller areas.

As well as being very funny, this is also quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EKAtO4Anxc

[cottonfoo]

_dobbo_ said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EKAtO4Anxc

Good tutorials there.

Edited by cottonfoo on Wednesday 18th February 12:29

[Bob_Defly]

Thanks for the advice, those tutorials are hilarious!

[Tycho]

"I'm awesome in Photoshop, but I don't know where to start"

[Kermit power]

Does that patch tool exist in Elements at all, or is it only in the full version of Photoshop? If it is in Elements, please can someone tell me where it is?