I took this photo on a foggy, misty day and did not notice until after I downloaded that there were rain spots on the lens. I also did not like the lobster boat in the photo, as it is much darker than the Tall Ships and distracts the eye away.

I use the Clone Brush (shortcut C) on almost every photo in my digital scrapbooking.

Here I have circled the water spots and the boat I am going to remove.

The water drop in the sky will be the easiest to remove, so I do that one first. I activated the Clone Brush by typing the letter (C) and set my brush size, shape, and opacity. I will change these settings as necessary as I clone. I have chosen an elongated oval for this step. To select the area I am cloning FROM, I find an area of the sky that is similar to where the spot is and RIGHT mouse click. You will get a black X in the shape and size of your brush. I then zoom way in, and in one smooth stroke, brushed away the water spot.

Retouched sky area close-up.

The next area, the water, is going to be a little bit trickier. I will again right-click where I want to clone from, but this time I will need to choose a clone area, right-click, place the brush over the spot, left-click to remove some of the spot, repeating until it is gone. I will need to change the location I right-click on often so my water blends nicely, using some darker and some lighter areas. Remember to zoom way in when working with this brush; it makes a big difference! It took five different clone areas just around the spot to remove it.

Retouched water area close-up.

Now the challenging one! To remove the lobster boat, I will have to clone water and sky. I need to change brush size and shape for this one as well. There is dark water, light water and sky, as well as some blending of both to consider when removing the boat, and I do not want to remove that little sailboat either.

Here you can see the boat is half-gone. It took me about 10 minutes to remove, plus multiple brush changes. I also changed the hardness of my brush to soften the edges; it really makes the color changes blend.

Retouched boat area close-up.

All the areas corrected.

If you are careful and patient with the Clone Brush, it will be your best friend, making your so-so photos look great!

Layout by Dee-Ann Decker
larger view

	Note: Commercial license versions of Digital Fancy Corners 2 Brush Set and ScrapSimple Tools - Scripts: Golds 4601 are also available.

Tutorial written by Dee-Ann Decker