Fix Your Pix!!! 1/1/11
Here we go…
Take a look at my family pic
There are quite a few distracting things going on here. I want to take the focus off those distractions and put them back onto my family. We’ll concentrate on just one for now… getting rid of the emblem on my husband’s shirt.
I’m going to open my pic in my photo editing software. (I’m using Photoshop CS3. I hope your program is comparable.)
I zoom in nice and close to my working area. Clicking ctrl and the plus sign gets me there much quicker.
I duplicate my background layer and work on my copied layer. That way, if I mess things up too bad I just delete that layer and start all over again 
I click on the Clone Stamp Tool. And I set my brush pretty small with a relatively soft edge. Here I used a brush size of 35px and 40% hardness. Although I find myself changing the size and hardness many times during a project to get the look I want. Changing the opacity helps too.
Now I click on a solid part of my husband’s shirt while pressing the alt key. I place my brush over the area I want to “erase” and click again (without pressing alt). I work in little increments so that it looks more natural and I don’t end up with darker or lighter colored circles instead of the emblem. That would defeat the whole “getting rid of distractions” idea. I also keep changing my brush size (the left bracket key reduces the size of the brush and the right bracket key increases it) and change the opacity as needed to keep the look natural. And wallah…
While I was there, I helped my teenage boys out with some acne on the face, got rid of that annoying gap in my bangs and smoothed out the hat ring on my husband’s forehead. A little soft filter and we’re ready for business.
If you’re patient, you can really do some magic with this little button. I used the clone stamp on this pic…
and was able to remove the power lines
This button is your friend The possibilities are endless!
Check out the inspiration from our CT…
This one is from me… (image is linked)
using Scrap By Numbers: Just Call Me Sasha by Stolen Moments and Joyeux Noel by Becca & Stolen Moments
LeeAndra used the Clone Stamp to get rid of some cheek shine and skin blotchiness on her photo. Doesn’t it look great?
by LeeAndra using Merry & Bright by geniaBenia Designs
Bonnie used it on this amazing photo to darken the sky and to get rid of a couple light flares & some cloud haze. Her results are amazing.
using Magical Winterland by the ScrapMatters Design Team; Hazy Silver Alpha by GeniaBeana; Chrome Chic Alpha by Jady Day Studio; & Cindy’s Layered Templates: Set #82 by Cindy Schneider
These are just a few examples. You can use the Clone Stamp just about anywhere. This challenge runs through all of January 2011. Please upload your layout to the SATURDAY SPECIAL GALLERY and then post back to the SATURDAY SPECIAL FORUM so I know you are playing for points. You’ll get one point toward your Matter of Scrap tally when you do. Also remember, using a new release (released within the past week) will get you another point. No double dipping… your layout must be new and exclusive to this challenge. So that’s it! Have fun! Let me see what you’ve got
January 1st, 2011 at 8:03 am
Wow, I use the clone brush tool but not to this extent! I’m going to have to play some more with it. Thanks for sharing your tips!