Skill Level:

• Intermediate – Advanced

Have you ever gotten just that perfect shot of your son or daughter only to discover that it looks like a tree is growing out of the top of their head? Or how about that perfect vacation photo that has an unsightly street sign right in the middle?

That is exactly what happened to me when I took this night photo of the Alamo and I am going to show you what I did to fix it!

All you will need is:

• Photoshop Elements 4.0 or later version
• Photograph that needs some touch-up

Open your photo in Photoshop Elements and zoom in on the area that needs to be fixed. Don't worry if it is blurry when you zoom in on the object just make sure it is large enough that you can work with it.

Once your object that you want taken out of the photograph is enlarged, click on the Clone Stamp Tool (Ctr+S).

Making sure the Clone Stamp Tool (not the Pattern Stamp tool) is selected. Your cursor should now be a circle. At this point you can choose what type of stamp (also referred to as a brush) you will use and also adjust the size. Simply click on the drop down box that says "Show selected brush presets". You will find this to the right of the two stamp icons. You can now choose what style of brush you want to use. I prefer to use the Soft Mechanical 16 brush because it has a feathered edge and seems to blend nicely. If the brush is too large or too small click on "size" and adjust the slider. Once this is complete you are ready to start cloning.

Set your brush on an area you would like to clone, press alt and the circle should change to something that looks like a bullseye. Continue to hold down the alt key and left click on your mouse. You have just started the cloning process!

Move your cursor to the area you want to remove and left click on the object. You will notice that a small crosshair will be beside the brush – whatever the crosshair is on, that is what is being placed onto your object by your brush. Watch the crosshair closely because you don't want to pick up something that is not wanted. If this should happen, just press ctr+z and this will undo your last move.

Continue left-clicking with your mouse until your object is removed from your picture.

Once your object is completely removed and you are satisfied with end result; save your altered photograph in a new file. It really is that simple!

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