The one, the only: Clone. Need a mistake fixed, or a miracle worked? What you need is the Clone tool. We keep it in two places: at the very bottom of our list of effects (in the Advanced section, so you know you’re about to get into some realness), and at the bottom of the Touch Up tools.
We keep it in two places because it’s that useful. Just check out the most common situations in which Clone shows up to save the day.
The finger photobomb
Ahhh the future. Sleek, slim phones with sleek, slim cameras that make it a little too easy for your blurry finger to sneak its way into your shot. While it’s not the end of the world, it makes your picture look dumb, and your only solution is to crop it really tight. Until now.
The rebel strand
Your face is your face, and you deserve to be picky about photos of it. “Ugh, delete” is the all too ridiculed selfie-shoot catchphrase, but we’re here to say: delete your heart out. Unless of course it’s perfect. Or, nearly perfect. How often is your favorite shot botched because of one little thing that seems unfixable? Clone saves the shots that would be perfect without that wonky strand of hair.
The noisy background
Backgrounds, right? Who do they think they are! Always vying for attention with crazy colors and random activity and stuff. It’s like, chill, losers, the focus is on the foreground; get over it! But sometimes backgrounds no comprende, and that’s where Clone comes in. Subtly smooth out your background to bring more focus to your subject, or, like the PicMonkeyers who shoot product photography, use Clone to recreate the perfectly even background of a professional infinity wall.
The boldest blemishes
Our Blemish Fix tool zaps zits away in a single click, but for more complicated issues, Clone is unstoppable. Just pick an unblemished area as your source, and then paint that over the blemish. If you feel guilty for magically defying the laws of nature, you can adjust Clone’s fade slider to keep the blemish barely noticeable.
The distracting ewwws
“Is that a stain? That’s definitely a stain. Okay, now that we notice it, all we can see is that stain. Like, we can’t take our eyes off that stain. It kinda looks like a cow, right? Did she not notice that before she posted this? Is she doing okay?”
That’s what people will think if you don’t use Clone to get rid of your stains.
The magic tricks
See that boat?
Trick question; there is no boat. But there was before! It was pretty distracting, taking attention away from this adorable kid and the beautiful day. Something like this, where you’re actually making a freaking boat freaking disappear, might seem too magical a feat to pull off without spending hours in a technician’s lab. That’s a common misconception about Clone (and photo editing in general). Getting rid of that 10-person boat actually took less than a minute!
The actual clones
Clone, of course, can do weird stuff like actually cloning. Third eyes, twin sisters, and seven-fingered hands are not only possible, they’re simple. If you feel intimidated, don’t worry, we’ve got a Clone tutorial ready for you.
