The Saturday Special – The Clone Stamp Tool
Hi. Kate here with our Saturday Special for this week. I’m going to show you how to use the clone stamp tool. I use Photoshop CS3, so I’m not sure what other programs use to get the same effect sorry. So, ever have a photo that you like but you can’t really use because of something that is in the background?
For example:
Here is a photo of my husband and his brother – a nice photo of them together (and rare because they hardly see each other) – so I’d like to be able to scrap it, but it looks ridiculous with that lady in the background right? Quite distracting from the subject.. her face is so blurry. Haha, just kidding.. but it is distracting!
so, using the clone stamp tool, I removed her from the photo.
now, technically mine is VERY rough, but I was really proud of it and happy enough with it to scrap it.
Here is my LO. You may notice I actually ended up removing the menu board too.
Template from Sya’s blueprints, kit: Jakey’s Jinx from Erica Zane
Here is how I did it, and you MUST try it because it’s so incredibly simple!
First, open a copy of your photo in your program. This works best if you zoom in to get the details right – although it does pay to zoom out again and make sure it looks right overall too. Change your tool to the ‘clone stamp tool’. Make sure your brush size isn’t set too big.
Now you need to decide what you want to paint over your item with. I decided to pretend that the window just ran right along, and painted over the woman with some trees and windowsill. So I selected some trees by clicking on them and holding down the option key.
I then started painting over her face, just like using a brush or eraser.
You need to do just a little at a time, and keep selcting different parts to paint with. It’s hard to explain, but as soon as you try it you will see that it becomes very obvious if you are just repeating the same part over and over again. It takes patience, but it’s worth it! Keep painting over the item until you are happy that the background looks natural enough. Be wary of subtle shade changes too, they can catch you out.
And that is seriously all there is to it. You just keep selecting parts of your photo and use them to paint over the item you wish to remove.
I hope this helps you fix some photos that are difficult to use. Sometimes cropping can only do so much!
p.s. check and re-check your photo after you’re done – you don’t want to end up on photoshopdisasters.com! Haha! I did one recently and only after I’d finished I realised I had completely missed someone’s hand.. so I had a photo of my daughter with just a random hand sitting on the chair next to her. Not a good look!
And now some magic from our team!
From sahlink – here is her before and after photo:
And here is her LO:
From kimbytx
Before & after:
GG Digital Designs The Happy Place and WHere The Heart Grows, Britt-ish Designs Black, white and red all over, and Designs by Tater worn polka dot alpha
From monsu:
Before
After
Extraordinary Collab by Jennifer Barette and Juno Designs
Simply Dated by WM[squared] Designs
(Template by Fei-fei’s Stuff)
Aren’t they great? And doesn’t it make a difference to the photo? I can’t wait to see what you make!
Make sure you upload or link us to the before photo too. Upload your LO to the Saturday Special gallery, and post an image and link in the forum here, and don’t forget to specify if you use any newly released products to earn yourself another point. The challenge runs until the end of the month. I will pick one winner who will receive an extra point.
Happy scrapping!
