Clone Stamp Tool

Clone Stamp Tool

Learn how to use the Clone Stamp Tool to remove imperfections in Photoshop. 

When to use

The Clone Stamp Tool is useful any time you want to retouch landscape or portrait photos in Photoshop. 

Instructions

Getting Started

• Begin by opening one of the three landscape photos from the resources folder for this module. 
• In this example, I will be using the mountain image with the lake. 
• Double-click on the Background layer to unlock it, and then add a New Layer on top.
• Select the Clone Stamp Tool (S) from the toolbar. 
• Notice the options you have in the top toolbar of the interface.
• Here you can choose a soft-edged brush with the Opacity and Flow set to '100%'.
• Let's click on the dropdown menu next to 'Sample' to reveal a dropdown menu.
• From the menu, let's choose 'Current & Below' which will allow us to sample anything below our current layer.

Using the Clone Stamp Tool

• Let's begin by finding an area of the image that we want to cover up. In the mountain image, I will be covering up the branch on the right side.
• When using the Clone Stamp Tool, it's important to sample a part of the image that you want to use to cover up the object you want to cover.
• To do this, hold the Alt/Option Key and click on an area of the mountains where there is no tree branch.
• Now that you've sampled a clean portion of the background, begin clicking and painting over the tree branch.
• You can use the left and right brackets to change the size of the tool to sample smaller or larger areas.
• Continue to sample clean parts of your image and then brush over the branch. 
• Pay close attention to the lines where the trees meet the water and the darker line in the water itself to try and match things up.
• Repeat these steps until you have removed the tree branch from the right side of the mountain photo.

Hints & tips

• Using 'Current & Below' allows you to keep all of your Clone Stamping on a layer of its own.
• Using a soft-edged brush with the Clone Stamp Tool (S) works well because it will blend the edges together more seamlessly as opposed to a hard-edged brush.
• The Clone Stamp Tool (S) can yield great results when doing photo retouching and using this tool instead of Photoshop's Generative Fill will prevent your images from getting tagged as AI Generated.