Creating your own clone in Photoshop. Copying, deleting, cloning

Using the filter is very simple. Let's say we have a document consisting of two layers, this is a background image measuring 500 by 400 pixels, and on the other layer there is a square measuring 50 by 50 pixels. Task: duplicate the square and move it to the right by 100 px.
Step onto the layer with the square and duplicate it by pressing the key combination Ctrl+J. Then go to the Filters tab --> Other --> Shift (Filter --> Other --> Offset) and set the necessary offset parameters, i.e. +50 pixels horizontally, 0 vertically.

As can be seen in the figure, the displacement of the square can be seen immediately, before the final application of the filter (i.e. clicking OK).

If you need to get several copies of the square at the same distance, then duplicate it by pressing Ctrl+J, and then apply the last filter, i.e. "Shift" by pressing Ctrl+F. And these actions need to be repeated as many times as we need copies of the object.

Move objects a specified distance using the Free Transform tool

Using free transformation, you can set not only the distance, but also change the size of the object. Duplicate the square. We press the key combination Ctrl+T and see that an overall frame has appeared around the square, but for our tasks it is not needed.

We will need the settings at the top of the Photoshop working window, in the options bar. By default, the X and Y parameters will indicate the distance of the object's center from the origin, as shown in the figure.

And we need the distance from the center of the object, for which we need to click on the triangle pointed to by the arrow in the picture, and it will be highlighted in gray. Then it will be possible to specify the displacement value relative to the initial position of the square.

The figure shows that the X and Y values equal to 100 pixels are entered to offset the square, and the object rotation is also set to 45 degrees. You can also change the size of the object if you put your values instead of the width and height of 100%.
To complete the transformation, press the Enter key.
To shift and duplicate the object again, you must, as in the first example, clone the square by pressing Ctrl+J, and then repeat the transformation by pressing the combination Ctrl+Shift+T.

Now let's try to automate this whole thing, because... It's sad to constantly hit the keys.
For the example with automation, I took an object more interesting than a square, purely for the sake of clarity.

Automating Moves with Duplicate Layers in Photoshop

In the layers palette, select the layer that you want to duplicate.
Open the Operations palette, or, as it is otherwise called, the Actions or Actions palette. I open it with the combination Alt+F9.

In this palette, click on the “Create new Set” icon located at the bottom and give it a name. Next, click on the “Create new Action” icon and again set the name. On the layers palette, the “Begin Recording” button is highlighted in red. Duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J), then apply the “Shift” filter or free transform as described above. Click on the Stop playing/recording button. That's it, the action is created. The palette of operations will look like this (I called the set “Shift”, and the operation “Shift by 50 px”).

The stamp tool is used to create a copy of a selected area in an image. Quite a bit of it is used to hide or add details. The tool uses brushes to work, so it can be classified as a drawing tool. Let's try to use it in practice.

To demonstrate the effect of the stamp, I chose a photo of flowers to which a butterfly is flying, apparently in search of nectar, so that she would not be lonely, let’s create her friend using the stamp tool.

Working with stamp tool

The stamp is in the same drawing group along with “Brush”, “” “” and others (see). Hotkey selection (S) using (Shift+S) selects “Pattern Stamp”.

Working with a patterned stamp is not much different from a regular one, with the exception that a pre-prepared texture is selected as a source of clones.

Let's get back to work, open the photo, take the stamp.

I want to clone the butterfly onto a new layer so that I can expand the resulting copy of the insect and move it to the desired location in the image. Create a new layer above the background one (Shift+Ctrl+N). Now you need to go to the stamp tool options panel to configure cloning.

Under Swatch, I'll select Active and Below to take a sample from the background layer and transfer it to a new layer. I leave the opacity mode at 100%. Check mark on the item “Alignment.” allows you to work with the tool like a regular brush (if you release the mouse button while working, after pressing it, cloning will continue, otherwise, if the checkbox is unchecked, after pressing the button again, a new cloning will begin).

You can also immediately set the clone blending mode by selecting the desired item from the “Mode” list

I take a brush and use soft edges to set the size using the keys ([) - larger, (]) - smaller.

By pressing the Alt key, the stamp cursor will take the form of a target; by clicking the mouse, I will select the sample for cloning from the butterfly wing.

At any place in the image, releasing (Alt) with light movements of the stamp, I begin to draw a new butterfly.

Of course, it will not be possible to accurately reproduce it along the contour; some part of the background will also be copied. But you can easily get rid of it using a layer mask. You can create it using the corresponding button at the bottom of the layers palette.

Paint the mask using a brush of the opposite color (white mask – black brush and vice versa).

After working a little with the move and transform tool, I got this composition

We can continue the work and add another clone, but this time we will use the butterfly from another photo. The main thing here is that both files have at least approximately the same size.

Working with a stamp on two images

To make a clone of part of one photo and transfer it to another using a stamp. You need to open this very second image in Photoshop (you can use it as a source of clones and more of them; this point is not of fundamental importance, the technology is the same).

I chose this photo:

Selected the source for cloning with the tool while holding down (Alt). Created a new layer on the image with two butterflies and transferred the clone there.

All that remains is to create a layer mask and hide areas of the background, apply transformation (Ctrl+T) and position the object according to the design idea. The result of the manipulations is presented below

I hope from my opus you understand the technology of application tool stamp in Photoshop.

List of tools needed for cloning:
1. Digital camera (film is also possible, but difficult)
2. A tripod is a necessary thing
3. Adobe Photoshop or equivalent that you like
If you have all this and know how to use it, let's get started!

Step 1
Attach your digital camera to a tripod and find a good place for “cloning”. The most interesting places for this are those where there is something like a row of chairs, a pay phone, or a large open space, perhaps a closet with mirrors (mirrors are always fun to play with) or even just your room. Don't limit your imagination!

Step 2
Place your tripod-mounted digital camera in the location from which you will be filming. If you are working alone, make sure that you are not in the way of a crowd of people who can not only ruin the shot, but also carry away your camera and tripod while you are running from one place to another. Be careful! (I advise you to look around and immediately decide on the places in which you will pose and the actual poses).
Set your exposure settings and set a timer on your camera. Try to manually adjust as many settings as possible, as the automatic settings may change with each shot, which will affect the picture. All this, of course, can be corrected later in Photoshop, but this will require time and certain knowledge and skills. It is much easier if all the frames are the same in color, exposure, etc. I advise you to set the timer for at least 10 seconds.

Step 3
Press the "trigger" of your camera and run to the first place where you want your clone to be. Once you are in place, take a pose that you do not repeat. Keep an eye on the timer indicator on your camera and be aware of the time.

Step 4
Important note - do not move your camera from its original position! Leave the camera on your tripod, and leave the tripod where it was before, don't move anything. You can view your first photo, but be careful not to move the camera when you press the buttons. If you move the camera even a little, you will no longer be able to restore its position 100%, and your next shot will not match the first one. If the camera has moved, I would advise repeating Step 3.

Step 5
Repeat Step 3 in a different position and location.

Step 6
You can repeat Step 5, but since this is a beginner's guide, I'll stick to making just a couple of clones to make things easier. I'll use these two images:

Step 7
Open the photos in Photoshop. I would recommend using a photo with the cleanest background possible (with the least amount of extraneous objects or people in the frame) as the bottom layer.

At this stage, try to align the images with each other as much as possible. If Step 5 worked well for you, then aligning the images will not be difficult, or you may even not have to align anything at all.

Step 8
Since we are only working with two photos, select the top layer with the second photo and add a vector mask.

Step 9
Without clicking anywhere else after Step 8, press Alt + Backspace to fill the vector mask with black. (Option + Backtrack one character for Macintosh users). If you do click somewhere else, make sure you click on the vector mask before pressing Alt + Backspace. This action hides the top layer from display. The following steps will allow you to display only certain parts of the top layer.

Step 10
Right-click on the vector mask, and select Disable Layer Mask. This allows you to temporarily display the top layer.

Step 11
Select the Brush tool (press the B button), and choose a hard round brush about 35 pixels in size (depending on your images).

Step 12
Set white as the foreground color. How to quickly do this is shown in the figure below:

Step 13
So, you have selected the Brush Tool, preferably with a hard round brush of about 35 px, and set the main color to white. The vector mask for the top layer should also already be locked (Step 10).
Now left-click on the vector mask. Using the Brush Tool, go over your image on the top layer photo. It will seem like nothing is happening, but with each brush stroke, you are displaying part of the top layer through the vector mask. If both of your images are well combined, you won't even have to be particularly careful.
Now, you can right-click on the top layer and click Enable Layer Mask to see the progress.
If you think that too much of the top layer has been exposed, you can change the base color to black and “erase” the part of the image that you exposed with the white brush. Of course, you can always use the History panel or Ctrl + Alt + Z to undo your last action.

Don't forget to show all the shadows and reflections of your clone.

Step 14
Once everything is done, click Enable Layer Mask. You should see something like this:

After you learn the simple things, you can make more clones of yourself.

Who might need such step-by-step instructions? At a minimum, for people suffering from split personality disorder.

You will need the following cloning tools:

1. Any digital camera.

2. Stable tripod with three legs.

3. Adobe Photoshop software or any other popular graphics editor.

4. Of course, a computer or laptop.

No special knowledge is required to use all the items from this list, so you can immediately proceed to following the step-by-step recommendations:

1) To create the perfect cloning base, mount your digital camera on a tripod and select a suitable shooting location. This manipulation will look most creative near a telephone booth, in an open space, in a mirrored room, or at a train station, next to several chairs in a row. Do not limit your imagination in any way and give free rein to your fantasies and creativity. However, it is important to ensure that graphic duplicates do not intersect at the same background level.

2) Next, the digital camera along with the tripod must be positioned at the optimal point to create a suitable frame. If you want to film in a crowded place, make sure that other people do not disturb you, not to mention the fact that particularly clever comrades may take your precious equipment with them. Now all that remains is to set the required exposure parameters and select the timer on the camera. If you know your stuff, it will be much better to set up all the necessary custom settings from the beginning.

If you leave the automatic settings in the operating mode, they will change after each frame, and you definitely don’t want such a result. The fact is that making high-quality cloning in this case is very difficult. Of course, it will not be so difficult for a professional to correct all the shortcomings in the Adobe Photoshop software environment, but this is a waste of time and effort. Ideally, the resulting images should be identical in color and exposure. The recommended time for the timer is ten seconds.

3) Press the camera's shooting button, go to the first exposure point to take your position in the photo. Get into a pose that can no longer be repeated. The indicator on the camera will tell you about the shooting status. Try to think through your every step wisely in order to rationally use the available time.

4) You must make sure that your tripod remains stationary while you are working on poses and shots. If you want to admire the first photo, do it as carefully as possible. Sometimes the camera moves, regardless of your wishes. In such cases, it is better to start the work again so that you don’t have to rack your brains at the subsequent stages of creating your own clone. To do this, go to the third point of the plan, and strictly follow the specified recommendations.

6) The total number of clones created depends on how many times you repeat the fifth step one by one. To begin with, it is enough to create only two clones, so as not to complicate the work procedure for a beginner.

7) Launch the Adobe Photoshop software environment. To upload to the application, you should choose a photo with the cleanest background image. We are talking about foreign objects in the photo. It is this picture that will become the main bottom layer.

When fulfilling the seventh point, it is worth achieving the most accurate alignment of graphic objects in relation to each other. You should take the fifth step very seriously, then there will be nothing special to level.

8) In this case, we only need two pictures to work. Since we have already processed the first one, we can safely move on to the second one, setting it as the top layer. Run the vector mask command.

9) Immediately after successfully completing the eighth step, use the Alt + Backspace combination. This should fill the mask with black. It is important that before this you do not click on the free field anywhere. If this happens, click on the vector mask and repeat the unfinished operation. With this manipulation you will simply hide the top displayed layer. Next, you will need to correctly configure the display of some parts of the same top layer.

10) Right-click on the vector mask, and then apply the Disable Layer Mask function to it. After this, the top photo will become temporarily available to you.

11) Now use a tool called Brush. To do this, just hold down the B key. It is best to select a round hard brush about 35 pixels in diameter.

12) Select white as the main background color, following the recommendations from the picture below:

13) When all the above manipulations are completed, the vector mask for the top layer should automatically become locked. After this, you need to left-click on the same mask. Drag the selected brush over the graphical representation of the top layer. This must be done very carefully, since each stroke of the virtual brush will display a certain part of the image using a vector mask. It is not necessary to maintain the clarity of the lines of each transferred object if you initially took the alignment procedure seriously.

You can admire the result if you right-click on the top layer and select the Enable Layer Mask command. Sometimes there are situations when the clone creator transfers some extra lines and strokes. To get rid of them, you need to change the main color in the settings from white to black, and carefully remove the excess part of the image. You can also go to the History panel (key combination Ctrl + Alt + Z). By undoing the last changes you made, you can start the graphics transfer procedure again, taking into account old errors.

Be sure to check that the shadows and reflections are displayed correctly in the picture.

14) After successful completion of all procedures, apply the Enable Layer Mask function. The result should be similar to the image below:

Not bad, right?

With good practice, you can create miracles like this or even more. Happy cloning!

As a designer and artist who spends many hours in front of my computer screen, I love finding projects where I can invite my kids to take part in an amazing digital art adventure!

In this project, I decided to create a lesson that would be fun and also interesting for the children who will participate in it. So, my daughter and I laid siege to a small area of the city early in the morning, taking a tripod and camera with us, our project was filled with laughter!

I divided the lesson into two parts: parents and children. The parent's assignment includes working with digital technology, including processing files in Photoshop. The children's part of the project includes the processing of children's photographs aged 8 years and older. This part of the challenge will include simple instructions so you can easily follow them to create a fun 'Grow Me!' effect.

Final result

1. Parental Task

Step 1

Finding a good location is a very important task to achieve this effect. You will need an open space with enough room to pose several poses. In addition, the chosen location should be visually interesting, as well as safe for children, when they climb somewhere, there should be no people around!

My advice is to start shooting in the early morning hours before the crowds start to gather. My daughter is used to waking up at dawn, so she was excited about the idea of going somewhere! We decided to film in the courtyard of the shopping center.

Step 2

This is a very important part of the lesson. Use a tripod while shooting! You can shoot manually without a tripod, but remember that this is all for kids, and further photo editing and complex image alignment can be cumbersome and very frustrating for kids. I used a sturdy tripod as well as a remote shutter release to ensure there was no camera movement between shots.

Please note:Security officers in many public places tend to frown when using a tripod while filming, so be polite and explain to the security guard what you are going to do. Usually, hearing that you want to take a photo of your child will reassure them and reassure them that you are not going to make a mess!

Step 3

Choose a composition, take at least one photo of an open space, completely deserted. This image will be used as a background, and will also serve as a “safety net” for solving possible compositional problems, if any arise in the future.

Step 4

Take several pictures of your child using different areas of the scene as well as different poses. Do not change your camera settings! Be creative and also have fun with the photo shoot. Use a tripod if there will be a lot of shots, and also create action. Try not to shoot the same expression or pose more than once.

Encourage your child, let him offer you his ideas, do not refuse to take photographs, even if they are the stupidest images! You don't have to use them all, but your child will enjoy and laugh at the fun ideas! In total, I took about 30 - 40 pictures of the various poses that I would work with, and at this time my daughter had a blast.

Please note in the screenshots above, I have purposely zoomed in on the images to simply show the different poses of the baby - the actual photos have the same composition as the working white space.

Step 5

After the photo shoot, buy your child some ice cream and thank him for his great help! It's not the most important part of the project, but it's fun and the kids love it! Next, transfer the digital photos to your computer and sort them. Place your best photos in a separate folder, and add a photo with empty space there too.

Step 6

Open up Photoshop and then let's go File - Scripts - Load files onto stack(File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack). In the window that appears, in the settings Use(Use), select option Folder(Folder), and then select the folder containing the images. Don’t forget to check the “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images” box and then click the ‘OK’ button.

Translator's note: the author checks the box to align images.

Step 7

Photoshop will load all the original photos from the selected folder into one working document. The program will also straighten them out if there was any random camera shake. Before moving on to the next stage of the project, i.e. To your little partner, make sure that the empty space layer is located below all the image layers, and also make sure that the Layers palette window is open so that you can easily navigate the layers.

Now it's time to call real artists onto the stage!

2. Hey Kids!

Hi all! Children, thank you for your help in the project. I hope you had fun and had a lot of fun during the photo shoot, as did my daughter! Now we will combine the resulting photos and create an effect where a lot of your images are running around. Wouldn't that be great?