Cloning out larger areas.

[thegrump]

I posted this Raven on AP recently and was told to clean up the sky. On a second look, I could see lots of marks, which I did not notice the first time around. I have since cleaned it up a bit more, but found, as I was cloning, I was just leaving cloned marks behind. So it was a slow process in picking clean areas to use. I could go int paint and just cut out the sky and recolour it, but that would be slow. I only use Paint and Faststone, I had PS, but found I could not use it. Is there a way of highlighting the sky so you can pick up these marks, or am I doing things all wrong

DSC_3106a.JPG

[ameerat42]

OK, I answered back in the other thread. Here you have told me what I asked there.

Now this Faststone, can you select the sky, being careful to miss the small feather detail on
bird's neck? If you can, you should be able to apply a filter like Gaussian Blur to minimise the
blotchiness of the cloning marks.

(Now at this point, should I ask why you cloned out the - presumably - foliage at all?)

Also, have you still got the copy of CS2 somewhere (uninstalled)?

Using Photoshop, it is a cinch to do...

Have a look at the pic below, where I used a Surface Blur filter with settings shown. You can
see the selection I worked on. This is to say that cloning has its limits.

TG's Crow blur...
tg-crow.jpg

[thegrump]

am ... I now have the user manual for FastStone ( as I sent them a donation ). It appears you can select individual area via rectangle, oval, or freehand and edit these areas. You can lighten etc. So I need to do some reading.

[Gazza]

With this particular image and that plain white background, I'd just use a paint brush rather than trying to clone. Select that colour and paint over all those unwanted marks.

[thegrump]

am .. I used this method to recolour the entire BG of my wife's family ( at the FIL 100th birthday )

DSC_1665small.jpg DSC_1664100th+1small.jpg

[ameerat42]

FS and Paint have their (severe) limitations.

[thegrump]

Yes I know.........The trouble is SO DO I

[Mark L]

I think you should post the original photo that has no changes done before comments on what you should do can be offered.

[thegrump]

Mark .. it was a simple cloning exercise, took only a few minutes, but left a few off white marks. I was hopping for a simple method of picking these marks up. I know of several long winded methods, of cloning out the BG, as shown with the family above. Cut out the BG and refilled it with a colour. ... I guess, these will be the method I will have to use.