Learning How to Clone in Adobe Photoshop
Cloning in Adobe Photoshop is an important skill to master for any photo retoucher. The more tools you learn to use, the better your cloning will be for the images you retouch. You have the Clone Stamp Tool, Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush, and Patch Tool. Once you get those under your belt, there are more advanced tools that you can use, like Content Aware, and Vanishing Point. Let's take a look at these in some detail.
Not knowing when to use the right cloning tools can sometimes cause more damage than good. If you have never tried anything but the Clone Stamp Tool, you are really missing out. You should really watch some Adobe Photoshop Retouching Tutorials and bring your skills up to par. If you are new to Adobe Photoshop, then you really need to learn how to use each of the tools available to you. By watching tutorials on cloning, you will see which tools work best in any situation. Ideally, you should make sure you are watching new, and updated Adobe Photoshop Tutorials. If you make a mistake and watch a video for CS3 or CS4, then you will be missing out on the new features they may offer. Our Photoshop Cloning Tutorial will help you overcome the challenges of learning all these tools.
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Clone Stamp Tool – The Clone Stamp, or Rubber Stamp Tool, is the oldest, and most effective of them all. Mostly, this is because you, the retoucher, are in complete control. It takes years to truly master the art. However, there is little this tool can not do.
Spot Healing Brush – The Spot Healing Brush Tool can remove unwanted dirt from an image. This brush will create sample from the area around it. This brush is simply amazing on areas, like gradients. If you happen to be next to a color change, you will definitely start picking up unwanted textures, which would be bad for the retouching.
Healing Brush – The Healing Brush tool is another one that allows you to fix imperfections such as dust and scratches. Unlike the Spot Healing Brush, you are allowed to select your own area that you want to sample from. Photoshop will then mix the color and texture of the two areas together.
Patch Tool – The Patch Tool corrects the image using a sampled area. This is a combination of the Lasso and the Healing Brush. When you simply dont know what to do, this tool will do the retouching for you.
Content Aware Fill – The Content Aware Fill is about modifying areas, with Photoshops artificial intelligence. Since this tool is completely automated, you have little control over the resulting corrections.
Vanishing Point – The Vanishing Point Filter is for cloning in perspective. Once you lay out the grid, you can then, quite easily, clone in 3-D space. It works by cloning on a dimensional plane, and works very well for architectural changes.
Knowing some of the Adobe Photoshop Cloning Tools for retouching is not enough. The job is too important, you should know about everything at your disposal. Each one of these tools can great in one situation, but not in another. To become a skilled retoucher, you really need to learn how to use them all.
The Photo Enhancement skills you will gain are too numerous to mention here. Please take a serious look at our 1 hour and 40 minute Photoshop Cloning Tutorial. There, you will find all the basic skills needed to master these retouching tools. Additionally, you will get all the tips and tricks we have discovered, that can be applied on every single image you work on. Again, Learning to Clone in Adobe Photosho is too important for your retouching skills to just ignore it. If you want to become a professional retoucher, you need to put the time into learning everything you can about it.
