Rotating image / extending foreground

[lsin]

Hi Damien, can you please tell me (or show me) the best way to rotate this picture slightly to the right so that baby is not as slanted and also to add a little bit more foreground and blanket to the right? (i.e. make the baby more centred in the picture) I think you need to use the clone tool for this, but am really not sure how to use this and have not really used it at all.  Below picture is SOOR. thanks

[Damien Symonds]

Hi Linda, is this SOOR?  Have you done any Photoshop work to it yet?

[lsin]

Yes this is SOOR. I have not done any PS work yet as the lack of space around the baby was bugging me and i want to see if i can fix it first

Edited April 20, 2016 by lsin
update

[Damien Symonds]

Excellent.  It would have been much harder if you'd asked me this after you'd done some Photoshop work.

Here's what to do:

1. Go to the Layer menu and choose Smart Object>Convert to Smart Object (the wording might vary depending on your version of Photoshop, but you'll find it)
2. Then Ctrl T to get the Transform handles, and rotate it as you wish.  Press Enter/Return when you've done so, to get rid of the handles.
3. Image>Reveal All
4. Add a new blank layer, and start cloning extra blanket where you want it.

[lsin]

ok, here goes... cloning attempt # 1.... please bear in mind that this is the first time i have ever used the clone stamp and was really struggling with it. I had to abandon my tablet (wacom intus pro) as it was not picking up areas that i wanted it to pick up and would not let me select from different areas so was forced to use mouse on my laptop.... 

can you tell me please what are the correct settings for the clone stamp? e.g. you normally set your brush tool to hardness 0% but for the clone tool i found that even though i selected a clean area of cream blanket, when i cloned it i was getting pieces of skin, blue wrap etc etc. if i increased the hardness of the brush, this reduced a bit but not entirely. you will see in the  left background where there is a blue towel visiible, when i tried to clone it it became very blotchy as my selection point seemed to pick up areas of dark wood even though i clearly selected the blue towel....Anyways, not too bothered about the background as i will be doing blanket fade, but still want to know how to use clone stamp properly. thanks! Also, do you keep "aligned " ticked or not? 

[Christina Keddie]

Have you read this article on cloning?  It's got some basic tips in it that might help you.

You've got to constantly resample, so you don't start cloning unwanted objects onto your blanket.  And if a single clone stamp is pulling in unwanted items, that means your clone brush is too large (and/or your sample area is too small -- draw from clean sections of blanket when you're sampling).  Always leave your clone tool brush hardness at 0% -- vary the size as you need, but always a soft brush.

Also, why are you selecting the blue towel?  Do you want that whole corner of the image to be blue?

[lsin]

Ok i will try again this evening. no i dont want the blue towel in the pic, was just cloning it to fill in the blank area left when i rotated the image and to practice- will be doing blanket fade so that area will not be seen

[Christina Keddie]

You know that your sample source moves as you clone, right?  Watch the little plus sign that appears where you sampled from, and see how it moves with you as you use the clone brush.  This is why you have to constantly resample, and why trying to clone blue towel over the blank spot would pick up the dark wood -- the blue towel is such a small area to sample from.  Choose a much larger, cleaner sample source and you'll have better results. 

[lsin]

interesting, i did not know that about the plus sign. this made it a little easier for 2nd attempt. Is there an way to control the + sign or to stop it moving? is this a good idea or not?

 

Here is my 2nd attempt, is it any good?

[Christina Keddie]

That's the whole point of cloning -- you're literally cloning (copying) the section from which you're sampling.  So if you move your brush up, your sample source will move up commensurately.  That's what makes the cloning look natural, as long as you're choosing good sample sources. 

[lsin]

thanks. so is my cloning in the above picture ok? can i move on with my levels work?

[Damien Symonds]

It's not perfect, but it might be passable.

[lsin]

what can i do to make it perfect? really want to learn (besides getting it right in camera first time - which i hope to learn eventually too!)

[Damien Symonds]

In the very foreground, vertically down from the forehead, see the repetition and little lines where you accidentally cloned some edges?

You have to watch out for this stuff.

[lsin]

ok thanks for the pointers, how is this?

[lsin]

still looks terrible doesnt it?? i just cant seem to control the + sign which takes the sample... one minute its behind my curser, then it jumps to above it or below it or in front of it...

[lsin]

ok, how about this? i googled the content aware fill tool and tried it (Again for first time...)

[Christina Keddie]

The + sign goes exactly where you tell it to go.  You alt+click (or opt+click on a Mac) to set the location of the sample.  Then the first time you click to start cloning, that sets the relative position of your sample source.  If you go up and click to clone, the sample source will go up the exact same amount.  If you go left 20 pixels, the sample source will go left 20 pixels.  And so on. 

If your sample source is starting to pick up things you don't want it to, then you have to alt+click again to reset its location. 

This is why I said you have to constantly resample while you're cloning. 

[lsin]

Thanks Christina. I will try to remember this in future. It just seems like my point is always miles away from where i selected, even though i am trying to constantly resample. I will keep a closer eye in future

So is my last attempt where i used the content aware acceptable?

[Damien Symonds]

Yes, it looks great to me.