Cloning for success

mercphoto

I'm looking to improve my cloning skills. I know that the Photoshop clone stamp tool has two main variables: the brush size and its hardness. I'm not sure how to choose though, when to use big brushes and small ones, hard or soft ones. I'm sure there is no universal answer, so maybe a particular scenario. How would you choose your parameters to brush out the camera rig in shots like this, and why would you choose those parameters?

http://automotiverigs.com/scion/index.html

Icebear

Great question!
I have no advice for you, but I am SO subscribed to this thread. Cool rig, but kinda sux in traffic, wat?

sirsloop

I choose a relatively large brush size for the area i'm cloning, with a soft edge. It provides a smoother more natural looking photo. When you get to hard edges I switch to a smaller harder brush, then go back to a soft brush and smooth out any wierd looking places.

You probably can't tell... but I cloned literally like 200 people out of this image...

mercphoto

Icebear wrote:

Cool rig, but kinda sux in traffic, wat?

Yeah, you have to use a rig like that with no traffic, and at very low speeds (think engine off, car coasting, only a few mph -- use long shutters).

About 4 mph, camera suction-cup'd to driver's door:


About 10 mph, camera in passenger footwell:

mercphoto

sirsloop wrote:

I choose a relatively large brush size for the area i'm cloning, with a soft edge. It provides a smoother more natural looking photo. When you get to hard edges I switch to a smaller harder brush, then go back to a soft brush and smooth out any wierd looking places.

Good info. Thanks! And yeah, I cannot tell you cloned out 200 people in that shot! I'm going to try to make a home-made camera rig this weekend and try some shots in the next week or two, then start cloning.

k2butter

I use the clone tool a lot, I don't have one set way I do it, but in general, I use a softer/ larger brush when I have something larger that I want to clone out, AND when there is not a lot of detail around the object, like the top of the camera rig, I would use a larger brush and softer, then I would shrink the brush as I get closer to the car... I usually always use a soft brush, I can't think of a time I use a hard one.- oh, I also select the item I want to remove and feather the edge slightly, but sometimes that does not work because you can see the item, a lot of it is trial and error for me.

Icebear

Heh-heh
Gotta go. I'm practicing cloning out obnoxious watermarks

pathfinder

Bill,

My approach to cloning is varied a bit by what I am trying to remove or improve.

For example, when cloning out wrinkles in a face in a portrait, I use a soft brush, but do the cloning on an adjustment layer. That way the final image can be adjusted by varying the opacity of the adjustment layer, since I may not want to remove the blemish entirely, just tone it down quite a bit.

Large objects get started with a large, soft brush. Edges with sharp boundaries get approached with smaller, harder brushes.

I prefer no cloning at all if possible

mercphoto

Thanks for all the cloning tips. My rig is almost complete but I'm a bit skeptical it is going to actually work all that well. Should know more tonight or tomorrow.