Photoshop Clone Tool makes short order of…

adding or subtracting a subject to or from your picture.

Are you ready to use the Photoshop Clone tool to remove an unwanted subject from your picture?

In Photoshop the very first thing I always do is make a background copy of the picture I am working on. There are two reasons for this. First, if I make an irreversible mistake of some kind, I can always close out the copy and just make another one.

Second, Many Photoshop changes can only be made to a copy. If you are working on the locked background Photoshop will open a window asking if you want to make the background a copy. For me, this is a dangerous thing to do.

I will spend an hour on a picture only to have it go “Ha, ha, fooled ya! Now you gotta start all over!” When this happens (and it has!) I have to close out everything and reload the picture from the folder in my computer. Good thing Photoshop only loads a copy to start with, huh!?

To make a copy, first click and drag a picture into the photo bin at the bottom. Learn how to load a picture here. Next, click and drag from the “Layers” bin (lower right hand corner of your screen) onto the little square at my red arrow.

This will automatically duplicate the picture and both will be in the “Layers” bin. The result should look as below except both the original and the copy will have the little eye showing in the box to the left.

Over time you may find you make several or even many copies of a single picture in the “Layers” bin. There are times I make a bunch at once so I can just grab one when I need it rather than making it at the time. Kinda like storing up for the winter, I guess.

The main screen is called the “Editor.” Each thumbnail with the eye showing is visible in the editor. I click off the eye on my original background so that layer never shows and I never make any changes to it. That means it is pretty much useless to me except as the all important backup.

Also, notice the original background has a little padlock to the right. That means the layer is locked. You can make very few changes to it. You will make changes to the copy.

If you try to make changes to the original background the time will come when Photoshop puts up this window.

I always click cancel and make my own copy. If you click OK, Photoshop converts the locked background to a copy. Now you have no backup.

Before you do too much work with the clone tool or any other full edit feature of Photoshop, be sure to check out the Wacom Tablet! Richard does a great job of showing why a tablet and Photoshop are the ultimate digital editing tools.

Here we have an old locomotive... that resides in a train museum. Thing is, there’s some newer stuff in view. In order to make the picture look like it was taken a way back when, we have to use the Photoshop clone tool to take away anything that is not from the era.

The first thing I did was run the usual Quick Fixes on the picture.

Now there is a sign and a 1960’s diesel locomotive that I want to remove. Notice the arrow is pointing to a sign above the door. It looks like a plastic sign that says “baggage.” I will remove that first.

If you make a change to a picture that you do not like, reverse it by simultaneously hitting the “ctrl” key and the “z” key on your keyboard.

This is a little closer view of the door and sign. It gets blurry at this magnification, but it will work for our purposes.

In order to remove the sign we will use the Photoshop Clone tool. Look below and see the left side of your Photoshop screen. Click on “Full Edit” then look down the left column.

You will see an icon that looks like a little ink stamp. That is the Photoshop Clone Tool. Click on it. Now back to the top tool bar. The first clone stamp on the left is the reset tool. You can use it to reset the Photoshop clone tool or to reset all the tools simultaneously.

The next one is the Photoshop clone tool stamp we will use. The third stamp is called the “Pattern Stamp Tool.” The Pattern Stamp is for another day. Click on the center stamp tool.

Now look right. The fuzzy squiggle is the type of “brush” we will use. If you click on the tiny arrow immediately right of the squiggle you will see a drop down box containing all the available brushes.

Notice the slide on the right. Slide it up and down. As you do so, look to the left side of the window. That contains a little shape. It is the pattern that each brush will make as you clone.

The top one I have showing is a solid brush. The third one down is a soft brush. We will use the soft brush today. The soft brush blends the "paint" into the existing, surrounding area for an unnoticeable splice.

The accompanying numbers are the number of pixels the brush will cover. It is adjustable with the size adjustment.

After you familiarize yourself with the tool we are using today, try out the other brushes and see what each one does. That way you can create your own personal look in any picture.

Mode, leave in “normal.” Very seldom will you use the rest of the settings until you are Photoshopping in your sleep. This becomes addictive, so expect to spend some late nights playing with the Photoshop Clone tool!

The other settings all have useful and fun capabilities but I find it best if you can do the fundamentals blindfolded before you delve into some of the more advanced stuff.

Branch out as you feel comfortable with it. Just make sure you’re having fun!

O.K. Now we’re ready to begin removing the sign. Hope I can convey it in a comprehendible manner. It’s kind of like copy/paste. We will copy one area and paste it over another in order to cover up what is currently there.

The Photoshop clone tool is like duplicating an area of the picture and using that to “paint” over the sign. Move your mouse over a starting point. That being the area you want duplicated.

Click on the “Alt” button on your keyboard. You will see the white circle change to a little crosshair or bulls eye. While holding the "Alt" key, center the crosshair over your exact start position. Left click your mouse and let up. That tells the Photoshop clone tool that you want to start the copy right there.

Notice I perfectly align the crosshair where the bottom of the door frame and the white angled line in one of the door slats intersect. This has to be precise.

Now, while still holding the “Alt” key, move the crosshair to an exact start position for the “paint” to begin. Again this has to be precise. Notice how the two areas look like duplicates of each other where the angled white line meets the bottom of the door frame.

Very carefully, without moving the mouse, release the “Alt” key. You will see your circle again. Now carefully left click. This sets the Photoshop clone tool to exactly reproduce the area left of the sign. It “paints” over the sign by duplicating the area to the left. + is being duplicated, O is being covered.

Now you don’t have to be quite so careful. You can just move back and forth and you will cover the sign with the duplicated area. The door frame and the pattern in the door will fit in automatically.

And because we used the soft brush, it will blend nicely and you won’t see any edges. Cool, huh!? However, if you don’t align things correctly you will end up looking something like this! The door slats don’t line up either. So make sure you are careful with the alignment.

Seeing as how we were careful with the original alignment we end up with this.

If you look very closely you will notice immediately to the right of my red dots you can see duplicated imperfections. Some times you will not see imperfections.

Some times you will. Imperfections show in a picture like this where shading changes as you move across the picture. I cloned from the lighter side of the door to the darker side. That left the tell tale imperfections at the dots and the line in the door frame at the arrow.

Now we go back to the left side toolbar. Just above the Photoshop Clone Tool Stamp is the “Healing Brush Tool.” It looks like a bandage. Click on it. Then look at the top toolbar again.

The left most bandage is the reset icon. Next is the “Spot Healing Brush.” Third is the “Healing Brush.” The difference between these two would probably take me a volume to explain because they seem so similar. But if you use each one in the same situation, the result will be drastically different.

The differing result is best learned from the experience of using each. What I can tell you is that the “Spot Healing Brush” automatically samples an area for the healing process.

Thus you have no control over the area you are using for the healing. If you are in tight quarters, as we are now, it will sample an area quite different than you are trying to heal. This gives a lousy result. A good place to use the “Spot Healing Brush”, with auto sampling, is on a person’s complexion.

On the other hand, with the “Healing Brush” you manually set the sample area as we did with the Photoshop Clone Tool. Unlike the Photoshop Clone Tool default setting, once you set the healing area, the brush will use the same starting point with each stroke.

Now you must be careful to not come in contact with a sharp edge or even come too close to it. If you do, either healing brush will substantially blur the edge. If that happens, simply, simultaneously hit the “Control” “z” on your keyboard to reverse the move.

Set up the healing process by holding the “Alt” key and moving your crosshair to the lighter side of the door frame. This is not as critical as the Clone tool. Just set it somewhere in the middle. Left click your mouse.

“Control, z” as necessary. This requires infinite patience. Keep healing and reverting until you have a smooth finish.

Once you have that finished the picture will look like this.

Ta-da! Sign, no sign!

Now I want the diesel out of the shot. I do the same thing as with the sign only it takes a bit longer. I return to the Photoshop Clone Tool. There is not much area around the diesel to work with and there is perspective in the picture. Trying to get the track to gradually diminish in size and disappear into the background is a bit of a challenge.

This could be considered finished should one so choose. I choose not.

Once I have the diesel out of the way I lighten up the entire picture for the next step. This also takes a bit of patience. I have to lighten it in Quick Fix and adjust the contrast accordingly in order to get an acceptable finish product.

I am going to use a single click in the “Artwork and Effects” area. Go to the upper left and switch to the “Quick Fix” tab, from “Full Edit”. Now look to the right. There are three categories. “How To.” “Artwork and Effects.” And “Layers.”

Click the little arrow at “Artwork and Effects” if the window is compressed.

It should look like this.

The third icon from the left looks like a little sun, a little moon, I don’t know, but it is for applying certain affects and filters. Click on it and make sure the Special Effects window says “All.” Move the slide bar, on the right, all the way to the bottom. This will bring up the “Old Photo” effect.

Click on it, then click “apply.” Be patient for a few seconds. This will be the result.

It is a beautiful old photograph from the 1800s or early 1900s. If it is too dark, too light, washed out or anything you don’t like, “Control, z” to your little heart’s content and Quick Fix again. At this point it’s just a couple of easy clicks to substantially change the look.

There are other looks you can go for in this area as well. Here is a simple black and white. I added a white border and some dust and scratches for that beat up 1950s/1960s look. It took a total of about 1 minute to make these two changes.

Or you can add noise or texture as in the next two. Effects in Photoshop give different results depending on the size of jpg file you are working with. I change the file size and experiment for different results. If you have no idea what I am talking about go here to learn about it. This link is forthcoming.

There you have it. Some Photoshop Cloning and a little bit of rearranging and you have an antique looking photograph that you actually took yesterday. Only nobody else ever has to know your secret.

How about now? Do you agree that Post Edit is indispensable? To me it is.

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