Using Photoshop is, metaphorically, akin to the practice of a martial art, or indeed any art, in that you can learn all the fundamentals but continually develop and realize the nuances of your actions. There’s always something new to learn, some slight adjustment with profound effect.
This neatly brings us to the Clone Stamp Tool. We all know it, but far too many don’t know how to use it to its full extent. Let us explain.
Problem & Solution 1: Rotation
Retouching a face, a body, an article of clothing, or indeed any ‘thing,’ often involves using the Clone Stamp Tool. It’s effective, quick, and versatile. Left unadulterated and unaltered, however, is just letting some of the best in Photoshop pass you by.
If you’ve ever used it, you’ll be aware as you sample an area to clone then move the cursor/tool you see a representation of what you’ve copied – the clone (less or more visible depending on your brush opacity). When you move it to the area where you’d like to ‘deploy’ it, this preview allows you to align it as you like. One of the problems you’ll run into, and quickly, however, is that it’s highly unlikely that the angle and disposition of the sample will match the angle you endeavor to ‘paint’.
I find myself using the clone stamp tool predominantly on hair (eyebrows, beards included) and clothing, and very infrequently do those lines keep strictly straight. So if I’m filling in some hair, cleaning strays, or reshaping clothing, I’ll often find myself presented with a situation like a rounded corner or a rounded lock of hair and the angle of the sample area just doesn’t follow the curve you’re trying for. Many photographers labor under the impression that in those cases you just have to deal with it or use another tool, but the clone stamp tool, in fact, can be rotated to match the angle you like.
That’s the reveal, and it’s a big one for many. When this is implemented and you input that perfect rotation degree so the angles match perfectly, well, that’s what I imagine a shot of morphine feels like when in pain – bliss. It’s also easy to do: Window>Clone Source and then find the rotation input section in the pop-up dialogue, and change to your will. You should get significantly more accurate use of the Clone Stamp Tool armed with this.
Problem & Solution 2: Change Sample Size After Selection
A video made by Unmesh Dinda of PIXIMPERFECT, and aside from the rotation tip noted above, he mentions something I didn’t know, and that’s how to change the size of the clone sample. The benefit of this should be fairly obvious, and to do it all that’s required is taking the sample, and then again holding Shift+alt/opt+ either [ or ] keys to make the selection larger or smaller. That’s it.
You can check it out in action below, and for another of my favorite Photoshop tips that pretty much no one seems to know, check out the following:
Clone Stamp Tool Video Tutorial
To learn more about the clone stamp tool, we recommend the following video by Phlearn. In this video, Phlearn shows you how to master the clone stamp tool. Aaron doesn’t only explain how to use it, but also when and why. Although 17 minutes is kinda long, this is an must-watch.
The clone stamp tool can be used for numerous different, helpful manipulations. You can stamp things out, stamp things in and duplicate areas of your image. In portrait retouching, it’s widely used to remove any wrinkles or blemishes in the skin.
A few of my favorite tips given in the video:
The “Show Overlay” function is activated by default, but you can easily turn it off by going into the Clone source dialogue and unchecking the the box next to it.
Many Adobe Photoshop users tend to only use a soft round brush for clone stamping, but there is an entire array of different brushes that can be used just like the regular brush tool. You can add creative effects to your photos by either creating your own custom brush or using a brush preset from Photoshop. Aaron goes over this and much more in this video.
If you have trouble following this tutorial, the folks from Phlearn have created the a great tutorial series for Photoshop beginners: the Photoshop 101 and 201 DVDs. If you want to learn how to use Photoshop this is definitely the way to go. You can check them out here. For more advanced Photoshop users we also offer a tutorial on professional portrait retouching here.
Do you use the clone stamp tool frequently? Have you other tips for clone stamping? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
