Hawk’s Clone Tool Tutorial
January 16th, 2010 by HawkThis tutorial will help you with the basics of using the Clone Tool in Adobe Photoshop to remove unwanted Text on an image or wallpaper. By doing so you increase the usability of the image. In the first image you will notice the text in the center of the wallpaper, that is what will be removed in this tutorial.
You will be selecting the Clone Tool from the Tool Box in your Photoshop or by clicking on the S key on your keyboard.
After selecting the Clone Tool you will need to adjust the Opacity. I prefer to use the setting of 50% for text removal, but you can adjust it to whatever your preferance would be.
The next setting to adjust will be for the Flow. The setting for this will vary on what you are working on.
When removing text at first in a dark area you can leave it at a heavy setting of 100% (full strength).
The above setting you see is used for touching up the image to correct the edges of the clouds (on the wallpaper). I use the setting of 26% and then down to 13% for any final touchups. The setting of 26% allows you to slowly see what your work area is looking like, in the event that you need to adjust your direction. Brush size is up to you as well as what type you prefer, that is up to personal preference. Direction of the brush when cloning is important and should be kept in mind to prevent unwanted touchups or if you need to match up edges etc..
After making your adjustments to the settings for the clone tool you will notice ( depending on the type of brush ) a white circle representing the brush on the following image.
In order to select the area you will be cloning from you will first need to think about your selection. Keeping in mind to stay somewhat close to what you are working on cloning out, colors shapes edges etc.. all need to be thought out. The next step when you find the area you will be cloning from, you will be clicking on the left Alt key and left clicking your mouse to complete this step.
If you have correctly completed the previous step in this tutorial you will see a Cross shape (in the upper right corner of this image) that designates your selected area to clone from. You will also see in the above image what I was referring to as for the 26% Flow setting. Adjust the settings to what you feel comfortable with or works best for you to give you the desired results, the settings I suggest are what works for me. In the next image you will see more of the text being removed with the clone tool.
* Remember to keep an eye on the direction you are moving your clone tool, as sometimes you might end up creating an edge with the brush which you will notice in the following image. look to the left of the clone tool to see what I am talking about.
After removing the text from an area you will want to refer back to the original image to make your adjustments. In this case I need to add clouds and some of the lights in the image to hide the straight edge first created by the removal process. Carefully selecting the next area helps to provide you with a better end result. On this step I would suggest a lower rate of Flow around 13% to complete your clone work, once again keeping in mind direction of your brush strokes and referring back to the original image for reference.
With patience and practice you can easily edit out text/ blemishes in any image. The image below is what was achieved with the use of the clone tool, and some settings adjustments.
Thank you for taking the time to read my Clone Tool Tutorial and I hope that it helps you in making those texted images more usable for your graphics needs.
About the Author
Hawk is a moderator and legend from PlanetRenders, and takes the “No Challenge too big” approach to rendering.
He can also be found at his personal web page http://home.comcast.net/~prhawks_nest/index.htm
The text is still readeable though.. Nice tutorial anyway.