some things to check:
are you cloning from (source) an empty layer? is the clone tool set to normal mode in the options bar? is the layer you’re cloning to (destination) set to something other than normal w/ 100% fill and opacity? are the tool’s opacity and fill set to 100% in the options bar?
what version of ps are you running?
I have a related question…I’m having trouble understanding the relationship between the clone source and destination.
How can I see what I’ll paste more easily?
Is there a product enhancement suggestion box somewhere?
Sounds to me like a cursor issue…
Change your painting cursors in the PS Preferences to brush size.
Grab a decent sized brush to test (40-60 or larger depending on resolution). You should see a nice CIRCLE that is the exact size of your brush. Center that circle over what you want to clone, then Alt-click. That is what the very first click of the mouse will copy…
TIP: Make a mental note of this circle and make sure you start cloning outside to prevent repetitive patterns.
TIP2: Pratice on an image that is easy to tell what’s going on when you clone. A good way to do this is open an exising picture and double the size under Image/canvase size (put everything to one side, not the middle) Then just start cloning into the blank area…it’s a little easier to see what’s happening if your not distracted by an existing background….
Sounds to me like a cursor issue…
Change your painting cursors in the PS Preferences to brush size.
Grab a decent sized brush to test (40-60 or larger depending on resolution). You should see a nice CIRCLE that is the exact size of your brush. Center that circle over what you want to clone, then Alt-click. That is what the very first click of the mouse will copy…
TIP: Make a mental note of this circle and make sure you start cloning outside to prevent repetitive patterns.
TIP2: Pratice on an image that is easy to tell what’s going on when you clone. A good way to do this is open an exising picture and double the size under Image/canvase size (put everything to one side, not the middle) Then just start cloning into the blank area…it’s a little easier to see what’s happening if your not distracted by an existing background….
HOW does it "not work anymore"?
Are there any error messages?
Have you checked the options?
Thank you!!! Excellent suggestions…now I understand how cloning works…next to try to understand the difference between the cloning and healing tool.
Thank you!!! Excellent suggestions…now I understand how cloning works…next to try to understand the difference between the cloning and healing tool.
Cloning copies the pixels over to the destination. If you have one lamp post and want two, you can clone it.
Healing takes good pixels from the source and matches the texture, lighting, and shading of the sampled pixels to the source pixels.
F1 is your friend – check it out.
Also log into the Adobe Expert Center for some tutorials:
<
http://studio.adobe.com/expertcenter/main.html>
Peace,
Tony
I am soooooooo happy, I finally figured out how to use the clone stamp. I took a pic and I wanted to get rid of the electric/phone wires that were in it. using the clone stamp I "cloned" part of the sky above the wires and then put the clone on top of the offensive wires in my photo. I am soooooo happy I was able to figure this out by myself and I did not have to bother anyone on this forum with such a simple operation. I have learned SO much since I found this forum and my photos have improved so much that I "almost" think I don’t need a new camera anymore. imagine that, it wasn’t my fault the pics weren’t all that good, it must have been the camera. maybe I need a new & better (more expensive) one. well anyway, thanks to the wonderful people here I am finally learning how to use PSE 2 and my "photos" are starting to show it.
George … Isn’t it great when you figure something out and it works 🙂
My brother has always joked that my best pictures all have power lines in them. And he is right, as some of the better ones DO. But now, thanks to the clone stamp, they can be taken out.
I made some photos standing on a place where all the lines come out of our local Cape Cod Canal power plant into a junction area, just for him, and then showed him the same pictures after I had clone stamped the wires and towers all out.
That was a hit, he got quite a kick out of that.
Jane
Jane, do you have Mikkel Aaland’s book? There’s a really effective power line removal technique in it that doesn’t use the clone tool; works on areas of sky where there are relatively continuous tones (p.160-161). Basically, you make a rough selection of the wire with the lasso tool or selection brush and feather the selection by about 5 pixels. Then you use the arrow keys to move the selection above or below the wire into some clear sky. Then, while holding down the Command-Option keys, use the arrow keys to ‘nudge’ a copy of the sky in the selection back over the wires. Might require a little cloning to clean up, but it’s pretty fast!
Chuck
Chuck,
I found that technique in Mikkel Aaland’s book a while back and find that it gives a much better effect on larger areas than the clone tool does. If I’m feeling lazy I don’t even bother with the "nudge" I just go in there with "move" then tidy up the edges afterwards.
Wendy
I just got his book yesterday, and I have just begun to look at it, and it is awesome! Much of it will be beyond me at the moment, but it shall be right here on my desk for projects that I can understand. Oh, what a book!
The power lines will really get their come-uppance with this book. Saved and will print your tutoral and put it into the book. All my PSE books are full of printed instructions from this forum, and they are in the right places to go and find them when I need them. All my books look as if they have white ears,,,,and tailfeathers,,, What a library I have accumulated, and it is all here when I am ready, thanks to you all here!
Jane
Jane, do you have Mikkel Aaland’s book?
Chuck,
That is one of my all time favorite clean up methods. It works great on lots of things. Aaland’s Book is a keeper.
Dick Smith
Dick, I agree – I have lots of books, but it’s still my favorite.
Chuck
Yes, I just bought Mikkel’s book, haven’t had time to look at any of my 3 new books yet as we have had a big project going on here, but should have some bad weather soon, and I will be forced back indoors, and able to get back to PSE and my new books. Took a quick glance, an awesome book!
Jane
Chuck…or anyone,
What is the name of Mikkel Aaland’s book and where can I buy it? Bert
Bert,
Good for you, it’s an excellent book! One of my favorites; I think it’s a must have for PSE 2 users.
Barb
Barb,
They even gave me free shipping, which was nice. Now, I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and upgrade to 2.0…although I imagine most of the techniques will apply to 1.0 as well.
Bert
Bert and Barb: The books are nearly identical. There’ll be a few things you can’t do with PE1, but not much. Bert, it may spur you to invest in 2!
Chuck
Thanks Chuck. I thought that would be the case. I almost ordered the PSE 1 version by accident myself when I got mine many months ago…the books look almost identical at Amazon.
Barb
I’ve been planning to upgrade both Elements and Album to 2.0. It’s not the money…I’m just used to the 1.0 versions, and so there hasn’t been any great need to upgrade…but I figured buying this book would give me a push…
Bert
Bert,
That Selection Brush, as mentioned by Barb in Post #16, alone is worth the price of admission IMHO
Shan
PS: Got your e-mail. Hope you’ll enjoy your tour, and bring back lots of pictures to show us..
Shan,
Thanks. I guess I better bite the bullet.
And yes, I hope to get lots of pix. We’re actually only spending about 19 days in Africa. Then we fly to Venice and go on a 12-day cruise in the Mediterranean. I’ve wanted to do that for a long, long time, and the timing worked out just right so we can do it on the way home.
Bert
As a new Photoshop Elements user, I would appreciate advice on how to use the clone stamp. I have activated the clone stamp, postioned the pointer, Alt-clicked and dragged to paint but no luck! Any help would be welcomed. Thanks.
JB
Joyce,
You did not provide many details regarding your work flow. Is your layers palette out of the well and open, and are you working on an active, duplicate layer? The alt click allows you to sample the "donor" site and then subsequent clicks/drags cover the area that you wish to alter. Initially, until you become more comfortable with this tool, set the mode to normal, set opacity at 100%, check the aligned box, and check use all layers.
If you need more help, post again with your query.
Ken
One of the most common problems (and I still do this myself every once in a while) is to forget to activate the layer that actually has the image on it. If you’ve done any kind of an adjustment layer and still have it selected as the active one, there’s nothing there for the Clone Stamp to ‘see’. 🙂
Another possibility – although I think you might have mentioned getting the message if this had happened – is that you haven’t simplied the background layer. That needs to be done before the clone stamp will work, too. All you have to do is double click on the background layer in the Layers Palette and click OK when it wants it renamed. Then, go to Layer>Duplicate Layer to create a copy to use for your cloning. Duplicating isn’t a required step, but it’s always a good one to use, because if you don’t like the cloning work you’ve done, you can just delete the layer and start over!
By the way, here’s another example of how different people use the options in Elements in different ways – Ken advises using the "Align" option for the Clone Stamp, and I never use it! Neither of us is doing it "right" or "wrong", we just get into different habits. 🙂
Joyce,
I always create a new blank layer above the background and do all my cloning on this layer. You must have "Use All Layers" check marked. An advantage to doing it this way is the ability to reduce the opacity of your corrections or change the blend mode, which I frequently do (not to mention the easy, complete deletion if you change your mind).
Nancy
Nancy,
I had never considered cloning onto a blank layer. It is an elegantly simple way to increase control over the clone stamp, as well as maintaining the integrity of the background.
Thank you for posting the tip!!
Byron
It’s the only way i do it as well but my reasons are pure laziness or lack of technical cloning expertise..>> I can erase all the extra crap that i cloned and don’t need. 🙂
I’m new to photoshop and have elements 2.0. When I use the clone stamp most times I find I am working with a circle. On other occasions I get only a cross-hair type tool and have a difficult time maneuvering this. I have tried to change pattern tool but get no result. also have tried changing pixels but the cross-hair stays. I know this is a very small problem to most of you but like I said I’m ‘very new’ to this and would appreciate any help I can get. Thanks, Donna
Check the caps lock key….
Yesterday I posted a message accusing clone stamp for not responding to cloning.
The problem turned out to be low values of the Opacity and Flow. Check them on the tool bar.
Many thanks to all tose who contibuted suggestions to my previous posting
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Thanks in advance
"Bolo" wrote in message
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Make sure that the mode of the clone tool is set to "Normal". —
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
nope, that didn’t do it?
"Mike Russell" wrote in message
"Bolo" wrote in message
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Make sure that the mode of the clone tool is set to "Normal". —
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
Nope that didn’t do it.
"Mike Russell" wrote in message
"Bolo" wrote in message
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Make sure that the mode of the clone tool is set to "Normal". —
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
Do you have layers? Be sure you are working on the right one!
"larma" wrote in message
Do you have layers? Be sure you are working on the right one!
That’s a common problem. Another is having the transparency set to a low value.
—
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 23:46:45 -0600, "Bolo" wrote:
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Thanks in advance
Have you alt/clicked to select the part of the picture you want stamp to replace the dust with?
Borge in sunny Perth, Australia
Bolo wrote:
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Many suggestions have been made. Here’s another one: You have set the tools so that they show as icons, and therefor you cannot see the tool size. You are using such a small size, that it *seems* that nothing happens.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer
http://www.johanfoto.nl
yes, on both parts.
"Mike Russell" wrote in message
"larma" wrote in message
Do you have layers? Be sure you are working on the right one!
That’s a common problem. Another is having the transparency set to a low value.
—
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
yes, tried that too. This is weird. Like i said I have done this a 1000 times, just can figure out what setting is off. I appreciate everyone’s help
"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
Forgive me if this topic has been beat to death. But i must have missed the
funeral.
I have scanned picture of my daughter into photoshop. 5X7. Some dust on photo. I want to use the clone stamp to remove it. BUT, when i do, the results do not appear. The history shows it being applied. What am i doing
wrong. This is PS-CS2 on a pc. Have same problem on my Mac.
Any help or can someone point me in a direction?
Many suggestions have been made. Here’s another one: You have set the tools so that they show as icons, and therefor you cannot see the tool size. You are using such a small size, that it *seems* that nothing happens.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
"Bolo" wrote in message
yes, tried that too. This is weird. Like i said I have done this a 1000 times, just can figure out what setting is off. I appreciate everyone’s help
I’ll throw in my 10c worth …
Usual causes …
(a) Some other area of the screen is already selected (try doing a Ctrl-D first)
(b) Mode set to something other than normal
(c) Opacity set too low
(d) Flow set too low
(e) Sample all layers not set (if cloning on to a new layer).
Try flattening the image and trying again – or take a screen shot of the entire desktop and put it up somewhere where we can double-check it.
CJ,
I checked all these. I have placed a screen shot at the following URL. See what you think.
http://www.cadotonic.com/emily.htm thanks again.
"C J Southern" wrote in message
"Bolo" wrote in message
yes, tried that too. This is weird. Like i said I have done this a 1000 times, just can figure out what setting is off. I appreciate everyone’s help
I’ll throw in my 10c worth …
Usual causes …
(a) Some other area of the screen is already selected (try doing a Ctrl-D
first)
(b) Mode set to something other than normal
(c) Opacity set too low
(d) Flow set too low
(e) Sample all layers not set (if cloning on to a new layer).
Try flattening the image and trying again – or take a screen shot of the entire desktop and put it up somewhere where we can double-check it.
Bolo wrote:
I checked all these. I have placed a screen shot at the following URL. See what you think.
http://www.cadotonic.com/emily.htm
It all seems normal, except of course that we cannot see where you sampled and where you cloned.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer
http://www.johanfoto.nl
it does not make any difference where i sampled or cloned it just does not show up. This is really beginning to mess me up. DO you think the software itself may be corrupt? I have done this before (several times) with grate success. Maybe it is the scan. Thanks for your help Johan "Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
I checked all these. I have placed a screen shot at the following URL. See
what you think.
http://www.cadotonic.com/emily.htm
It all seems normal, except of course that we cannot see where you sampled and where you cloned.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
Bolo wrote:
it does not make any difference where i sampled or cloned it just does not show up. This is really beginning to mess me up. DO you think the software itself may be corrupt? I have done this before (several times) with grate success. Maybe it is the scan.
No, it’s not the scan. Any image can be cloned, no exceptions. Can you click on your brush dynamics and show a screen dump of what’s been set there? There are some settings that will give you almost no effect, for example if you click ‘Other Dynamics’ and set it to 100% opacity jitter and 100% flow jitter and both controls to a very low ‘Fade’.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer
http://www.johanfoto.nl
Okay here you go.
http://www.cadotonic.com/emily.htm Thanks for your help and insite
"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
it does not make any difference where i sampled or cloned it just does not
show up. This is really beginning to mess me up. DO you think the software
itself may be corrupt? I have done this before (several times) with grate
success. Maybe it is the scan.
No, it’s not the scan. Any image can be cloned, no exceptions. Can you click on your brush dynamics and show a screen dump of what’s been set there? There are some settings that will give you almost no effect, for example if you click ‘Other Dynamics’ and set it to 100% opacity jitter and 100% flow jitter and both controls to a very low ‘Fade’.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
Bolo-
Lets see. You can not see the results? Either the opacity is not at 100%, your on the wrong layer, or you have an active selection. Check the selection first by going to command D to deselect, then check the opacity of the correct layer and with the stamp tool selected check the opacity of it. Then make sure you are working on the correct layer.
Bolo wrote:
"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
it does not make any difference where i sampled or cloned it just does not
show up. This is really beginning to mess me up. DO you think the software
itself may be corrupt? I have done this before (several times) with grate
success. Maybe it is the scan.
No, it’s not the scan. Any image can be cloned, no exceptions. Can you click on your brush dynamics and show a screen dump of what’s been set there? There are some settings that will give you almost no effect, for example if you click ‘Other Dynamics’ and set it to 100% opacity jitter and 100% flow jitter and both controls to a very low ‘Fade’.
Okay here you go.
http://www.cadotonic.com/emily.htm
Thanks for your help and insite
So where’s the brush dynamics window?
Click here:
http://www.johanfoto.com/Emily.jpg —
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer
http://www.johanfoto.nl
Eureka!!!!!!!! It was the brush hardness setting. I changed that and it worked. I found it by going to Photoshop Elements and trying and it worked, then compared settings. Thanks to all – especially Johan!!!!!!!! "Bolo" wrote in message
Okay here you go.
http://www.cadotonic.com/emily.htm
Thanks for your help and insite
"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
it does not make any difference where i sampled or cloned it just does not
show up. This is really beginning to mess me up. DO you think the software
itself may be corrupt? I have done this before (several times) with grate
success. Maybe it is the scan.
No, it’s not the scan. Any image can be cloned, no exceptions. Can you click on your brush dynamics and show a screen dump of what’s been set there? There are some settings that will give you almost no effect, for example if you click ‘Other Dynamics’ and set it to 100% opacity jitter and 100% flow jitter and both controls to a very low ‘Fade’.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
Bolo wrote:
Eureka!!!!!!!! It was the brush hardness setting. I changed that and it worked. I found it by going to Photoshop Elements and trying and it worked, then compared settings. Thanks to all – especially Johan!!!!!!!!
Hm, I doubt it. The hardness setting alone cannot cause this. Even a hardness of 0% still should give a visible result. You probably picked another brush, and with that other brush dynamics.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer
http://www.johanfoto.nl
Did you look at the brush dynamics I had set? I dunno it seemed to work. I changed so many things and tried so many things. Maybe it was a combo of all your recommendations. Again Thanks
"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
Eureka!!!!!!!! It was the brush hardness setting. I changed that and it
worked. I found it by going to Photoshop Elements and trying and it worked,
then compared settings. Thanks to all – especially Johan!!!!!!!!
Hm, I doubt it. The hardness setting alone cannot cause this. Even a hardness of 0% still should give a visible result. You probably picked another brush, and with that other brush dynamics.
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
Bolo wrote:
Did you look at the brush dynamics I had set? I dunno it seemed to work. I changed so many things and tried so many things. Maybe it was a combo of all your recommendations.
I couldn’t look at it, because the screendump you posted didn’t show the brush dynamics. Perhaps you posted the wrong link?
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer
http://www.johanfoto.nl
I thought it was down lower on the page. Sorry…… I put about three screen dumps on that page. Again sorry i wasted your time.
"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message
Bolo wrote:
Did you look at the brush dynamics I had set? I dunno it seemed to work. I
changed so many things and tried so many things. Maybe it was a combo of all your recommendations.
I couldn’t look at it, because the screendump you posted didn’t show the brush dynamics. Perhaps you posted the wrong link?
—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
