Now that we’ve examined each tool in depth, let’s close by recalling a few things to keep in mind if we want to clone with professional results.
Take Your Time
As you undertake a cloning project, the quality of the result is directly proportional to the amount of time you put into it. Cloning photographic details can be incredibly tedious work. The world has become well acquainted with Photoshop magic, so never assume that no one will notice your blunders
Duplicate the Active Layer
The very first step to take when cloning parts of an image is to duplicate the layer you’ll be working on (or to just work on a new transparent layer). Realizing that you made a mistake so long ago that your Undos don’t go back far enough to fix it is beyond frustrating. Keeping the original image on a hidden layer gives you the flexibility to revert any part of an image to its original state.
Be Selective With Your Tools
Each cloning tool has its strengths and weaknesses, as outlined above. Never arbitrarily grab a tool and stick with it for the duration of a project. Consider which tool is best suited to the particular area of the image you’re working on. On large projects, no single tool creates believable results on its own. Use two or more tools in synergy to achieve a realistic result.
Watch for Obvious Duplication
If you’re not careful, duplicated pixels can become painfully obvious. This is especially true of areas that should look fairly organic, like the grass above. Instead of appearing natural, an obvious pattern emerges when you use the same section of an image over and over. To avoid this, make heavy use of the Clone Source palette. Use multiple sources; and change the size, rotation and orientation of the areas you’re cloning to give the illusion of an unmanipulated image.
Avoid Disasters
When retouching significant parts of an image, overlooking certain areas becomes all too easy. If you’re not careful, you could eliminate enough vital body parts to make the image humorous. Your goal is to prevent your work from showing up on Photoshop Disasters, which is where you’ll find the image above
Conclusion
Cloning in Photoshop is a difficult task that requires significant time, studious attention to detail and an in-depth knowledge of several tools and commands. To improve the quality of your results, invest some time learning Photoshop’s entire cloning arsenal. Experiment with all of the options for each tool to get a better feel for where you can excel.
