[seawolf]

Here is a shot of my son getting taken down. But this is my first attempt to edit out unwanted background. Just ahead of the ball carrier were two people walking down the path. I used clone stamp to cover them with background.

[Dabhand16]

I think i can see where you have cloned them. There are 'repeating patterns' level with the ball and about halfway to the bush. This is caused by not changing the sampling source. With this sort of terrain, you need to keep re-sampling to avoid this effect.

You might have removed the pole/tree growing out of his head wjile you were at it!

I've done this and cropped the RHS because there was nothing happening there. I've also given it a little lift with levels. It might have worked better if you had left the people in, and just removed the pole/tree.

[seawolf]

Yes, I like it better w/o the tree.

[Rob Barron]

The art of cloning is not as simple as some might think and it does take time to learn the subtleties of it. You have done a pretty good job here Seawolf. Bear in mind we are coming from a viewpoint where you have told us you have cloned so naturally we are now looking for the evidence and su repeated patterns are likely to be found.

Try showing it to a few friends and simply ask them what they think: my guess is most won't notice what you have done.

As an addition to what Graham has mentioned about changing the sampling source frequently, it is worth remembering that some things clone better than others. If you have an area of foliage that you can use, this is very useful as it is almost undetectable without really looking for evidence. In this picture, you have a large bush on the right which could have been used to clone over rather than clone out the people.

What i suggest is cloning and then recloning: first clone out the people in the way you have done, no need to worry a lot about repeated patterns but don't let them be too obvious. Now, clone into the same area some foliage from the bush, not simply copied but cloning from two or three different parts of the bush, over the top of where you cloned out the people. That should leave you with a pretty good clone that is undetectable without getting a magnifying glass out

Good effort here, keep practicing and you'll get better and better.

cheers,
Rob

[seawolf]

Rob I actually read your piece on cloning (the one with the soccer ball) in another part of this site. Good stuff. Thanks for the support.

[Rob Barron]

My pleasure Seawolf, glad you found it useful