I’m not sure where those directions came from, but they sure leave a lot to be desired! The Clone Tool is one of my favorites, although I don’t normally use the Align feature.
First, get your image ready to have cloning done. If this is the first time you’re trying it, I suggest you make sure you’re working on either a copy of the picture or doing your cloning on a duplicate layer. If the editing doesn’t go well, you always have the option of trashing it and starting over from scratch! I’ll give instructions for cloning on a duplicate layer.
Open the Layer Palette. You’ll see one layer, which has a little padlock thingy to the right of the name. You need to "simplify" that layer before you begin to Clone. Just double click on that first layer in the palette. You’ll be asked to rename it, but you don’t have to.
Next go to Layer>Duplicate Layer. Name this new layer "Clone" or something original like that.
Now select the Clone tool from the Toolbar on the left of the screen. After the Clone tool has been selected, you’ll see some choices emerge in the Option Bar. This is where you can choose the brush shape you want, adjust the size of the brush in terms of pixels, decide if you want to work with the Clone tool in the Aligned or Unaligned mode, and you can choose the opacity of the brush.
You’re the one who is going to have to make the decisions about the type and size of brush you need, and it will also take some experimenting to determine if you really want the Opacity set to 100%. Sometimes that works well, but other times you may want to reduce it some.
Now that Align thing. I don’t like it. I prefer the Unaligned option, because once you pick a spot from which to take a color sample you get that same spot replicated every time you click down. The Aligned option does have value, but I think for a first time user you’ll experience less frustration by avoiding it.
To actually USE this thing now that it’s all set up, you put your cursor down on the spot on your picture that’s the color you want. Hold down the Alt key, click once, and you have just obtained a sample of that color. Now move the Clone tool to a spot on the line you want to eliminate and click there. Your sample will be transferred. You can keep using the same color sample repeatedly, or you can take a new sample by holding down the Alt key and clicking again.
I checked the Elements Help file and see they really don’t do a good job of describing the difference between Aligned and Unaligned options. Otherwise, they give some good information on using the tool, including a more thorough discussion of the various settings available in the Option Bar. If you haven’t already read through it, you might want to.
If your efforts at cloning go well, you’re on your way. If you don’t like how it turned out, just delete your "Clone" layer, make a new duplicate layer and start over again. Good luck, and if you’re still having trouble, just repost.
