Having trouble cloning..

fzfile · Jul 13, 2005

I cant seem to get the clone stamp working properly.

I have a cityscape pic and need to remove the edge of a building from a corner of the pic. Daytime pic with blue sky.

When I try and use the clone stamp (PS7) it will "blue out" one swipe of the building but then start whiting out the rest.

What is the best way to use the clone tool??

-mike

Big Mike · Jul 13, 2005

You may have to pick your source point more carefully & maybe not use big swipes but small careful clicks or strokes with the clone tool. You may have to do it in several steps rather than just one swipe.

I'm no expert so hopefully someone else will chime in.

Meysha · Jul 13, 2005

Big Mike's right. The white part that's appearing is probably another part of your picture being cloned. Make sure you re-select the bit you want to clone from whenever you make a big movement. (Alt+Click on windows to reselect)

I wouldn't use a really small brush if you're dealing with the sky because you might end up with funny looking lines if the clone isn't dead right. Of course, the brush size depends on the size of the photo, so I can't exactly tell you what size brush to use. sorry.
But you can sort of do a rough cover up with the clone tool, then change your opacity to a bit lower (around 25%) and then go around the edges of the area you just created blue, and clone a bit more... this should soften up the edges and make it blend more. Use a soft brush too and not one with hard edges for the sky as well helps I find.

PlasticSpanner · Jul 14, 2005

Check which blend mode you're using too. Sometimes it's better to use "replace" and other times it'll look better using "normal"

Thats just from experience. I'm still very much learning PS!

fzfile · Jul 14, 2005

Cool .... I'll try all of that.

I am used to using Pixia and when you alt+click in that, you can drag the marker so that the clone point is always x amount and at Y angle from where the cursor is continuously ..... so you can then kinda just swipe along in one contiuous motion for a whole are.

Thanks

-mike

Meysha · Jul 14, 2005

You can do that in Photoshop aswell. I forget what it's called exactly, but there's a little check box up the top (once you've selected the Clone tool) and it says something like continuous. I can't remember. Arrgghgh! hehehe sorry, going crazy... haven't reinstalled PS yet. *sob*

PlasticSpanner · Jul 15, 2005

fzfile said:
........so you can then kinda just swipe along in one contiuous motion for a whole are.

It will probably be better to copy from smaller and slightly different areas otherwise you might get repeating patterns that stand out too much!

fzfile · Jul 20, 2005

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH...........!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freaking power outage restatrted my computer(s) and the one I was working on this picture on now switched to "Readers Digest Extra Large" resolution and 16 colors ...... with no ability to change.

OK no big deal ...... just reinstall the drivers.

Except upon doing so the computer froze up and now wont boot up past the compaq (yes ... I know .... therein lies the problem) and I cvant even get into safe mode.

I F*&*(ng HATE COMPUTERS.

-mike

fzfile · Jul 26, 2005

OK.

The computer is back up and I only lost 2 layers? of the project noted above.

Now however I cant seem to clone at all. ????

I did some contrast/luminosity/saturation tweaking though and may keep it in the pic.

But still ..... now theres no clonong action going on at all when I try to use the clone stamp. Everything else seems to be working fine and i am pretty sure its not a glich in PS ...... so I must not be doing something right.

Any thoughts????

-mike

Big Mike · Jul 26, 2005

Is it possible that you are not on the proper layer while trying to use the close stamp? You have to be on an image layer and not on an adjustment layer or image mask.