Master the Clone Tool

James Paterson fixes distractions, removes messy details and clones in perspective with these tricks

- James Paterson

The basic mechanics of the Clone Tool are very simple: you Alt-click to sample pixels from one place, then paint to replicate them in another. But there is a real skill involved in cloning, and the tool takes experience to master. In fact, with the possible exception of the Pen Tool, the Clone Tool could claim to be the most involved tool in your Photoshop app.

At first glance, there’s not much to it, but when you delve into the Clone Source Panel, experiment with brush Blending Modes and discover cloning in the Vanishing Point filter, you’ll soon realise there’s much more to the Clone Tool than meets the eye.

Our image here is the sort of seascape where precision and clean lines are vital, but there are a few glaring errors. First, spots of water on the lens have created blurry blobs and smears across the scene. This is a problem you’ll often encounter in windy conditions at the coast, and it’s exacerbated by shooting into the sun. Second, there are little distractions like the boat beyond the pier and sensor marks in the corner of the frame. These issues and more can be improved if we spend a few minutes working over the image with the Clone Tool.