How to Do Everything With Your Scanner- P39 pptx

This process involves a feature that’s generally referred to as a cloning tool because you copy clone pixels from the surrounding area of the photo.. How Cloning WorksRegardless of which

FIGURES 10-15 AND 10-16 Both of these subjects suffer from the dreaded red-eye

effect caused by an indoor flash (left) Most image-editing programs allow you to zoom in on the eye area and correct the color of the pixels

This process involves a feature that’s generally referred to as a cloning tool

because you copy (clone) pixels from the surrounding area of the photo Cloning pixels is a simple (and fun) process once you get the hang of it, but you might need to use your Undo button and repeat the process a few times to get a final result that bears

no telltale traces of editing

How Cloning Works

Regardless of which image-editing program you’re using, you generally follow these guiding steps to complete the cloning process:

1. Locate the cloning tool provided with your image-editing software using the Help menu for the program Try using the keywords “clone” or “repair.”

2. Zoom in and enlarge the area you want to cover or repair In Figure 10-17, we need to repair the model’s “bad hair day.”

FIGURE 10-17 This model’s hair and smeared lipstick need airbrushing

Smeared lipstick

Hair needs fixing!

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3. Use the cloning tool to take some source pixels from the surrounding area, and deposit them over the flaw that you want to cover, as shown in Figure 10-18 Follow the directions for your particular image-editing program to do this Figure 10-19 shows the completed product

FIGURE 10-18 The editing can be accomplished by zooming in and cloning pixels

from the surrounding area

Zoom in and clone pixels from the surrounding area.

FIGURE 10-19 The completed, cloned result

Tips for Making Retouching Less Obvious

Retouching photos using a cloning tool can give you dramatic and flawless results

It’s definitely a skill you’ll want to master for improving on your scanned photos It does, however, take patience and practice

Here are a few tips to help you improve your cloning and retouching skills:

■ Clone the smallest area necessary to achieve the desired camouflaging result

The smaller the area you clone, the more difficult it is to detect

■ Use as small a cloning brush (or other tool) as possible Repeatedly cloning a smaller amount of pixels rather than trying to clone a large amount all at once results in a better overall match and less detectable result

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■ Take pixels from a destination area as close as possible to the flaw you’re trying to conceal This usually results in a better color match

■ Pay careful attention to changes in color tone in the surrounding background, and try to get source pixels as close to the shade you need

■ Use the soften tool, discussed later in the “Improving Photos with Soften and Blur Effects” section, to blend the patchwork of pixels you’ve created and make the retouching less obvious The photo in Figure 10-20 was edited to get rid of some of the distracting objects in the background, but the retouching is readily apparent in Figure 10-21 Figure 10-22 shows how a bit of blending with the softening tool obscures the otherwise obvious retouching

■ If your software allows you to adjust the opacity, which is the level of trans-parency, of the pixels you’re depositing, experiment with this feature to achieve a better blending effect

FIGURE 10-20 This photo has some distracting objects in the background that can be

airbrushed away