Generate a logo
Let's look at the top of the Photoshop screen now. For this example make sure you still have the Clone Stamp Tool selected (press "s" on the keyboard as a shortcut). Also press Command and the number "0" (Control 0) to expand your image on the screen. In the image to the left I've got two red arrows pointing to the options we want to work with. The first arrow is pointing to the number 60 in a white box with a little black triangle on the right. Click on that little black triangle and a little screen opens underneath with various options. You can select the Size, Hardness, and Shape for your cursor from this little screen.
In portrait work, I mainly use the round cursor shape, though I change the Size and Hardness many times. So with this little screen open and the round cursor selected, go ahead and slide the Size and Hardness bars left and right a few times, holding the cursor over your image occasionally to see how it changes. You won't be able to see any difference on the cursor when you change the Hardness, but when we finally select something to clone (or copy), Hardness will be important. Now click on some different shapes and slide the Size lever left and right. You'll notice with different shapes you can only change the Size, not the Hardness. First, find a way to create a logo then Click the little black triangle again and the little screen closes. The shortcut for changing the Size of the cursor is to use the Left and Right Bracket keys on the keyboard (to the right of letter "p" on the keyboard). So hold the cursor over your image again and change the cursor Size with the Bracket keys and see how the cursor Size changes. In the image below I selected the star shape and moved the Size lever almost all the way over to the right. Now let's look at the Opacity. In my examples so far it's been set to 30%. Depending on which Photoshop version you have, you can change Opacity several different ways. The first way is to click on the little black triangle to the right of the percentage window and a little slider appears underneath that you can slide left or right. The second way is to hold your cursor over the word "Opacity" and a little hand with a double sided arrow appears. Click and slide the cursor left or right to change the percentage. The third and easiest way is to just type a number from the keyboard. If you type the number "1", 10% appears in the window. If you type "34", 34% appears. If you type "0", 100% appears. Depending on the computer you're using (Mac or PC), just be aware that some of the keys are named differently. On the Mac these keys are "Command", "Option", "Delete" and "Return". On a PC these keys are "Control", "Alt", "Backspace" and "Enter". I am working on an Mac, but will indicate the PC key names in parenthesis when necessary. Another thing to keep in mind, unless I indicate it's a right click on the mouse, I always mean for you to left click. With the Clone Stamp Tool still selected, make sure your cursor is the round shape at about Size 150, Hardness at 0%, and Opacity at 30%. Hold the Option key down (Alt key - PC) and click somewhere on the photo. This is how you select what you want to copy (or clone). Now move the cursor to another part of the photo and click and drag the cursor. We're not trying to do anything but get a feel for how the tool works. In the image to the right, I selected the little round door knocker on the wooden door and clicked and dragged it onto the blue part of the wall about half way down on the left side. Then I changed the Opacity to 100%, changed the Hardness to 100% and clicked and dragged again higher up on the left side of the image. The first swipe of the cursor is the effect we want when working on someone's skin -- no hard edges. Now that you've learned the basics of the Clone Stamp Tool, play around with some of the other tools by selecting them and clicking on your image (and don't forget to try some of the tools in the sub-menus). Not all of the tools will have all the options. Some of the tools have completely different options. Get comfortable selecting tools, changing the Size and Hardness, and adjusting the Opacity. |
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