Removal with the Select and Refine Edge

Here is a technique that uses Photoshop CS3’s new Refine Edge tool, which is useful when you want to clone an area rather than a line as a clone source:

1. Keep Clouds RGB_Repaired open and zoom in on one of the scan lines that appears in the clouds. You can try and often successfully use the preceding Clone Stamp tool technique here, but sometimes you will find that the clone tool leaves some artifacts or you have to work too hard to achieve the results you want. This is when area cloning can help.

2. Select your Lasso tool (press L), and then in the Options palette, configure it with the Feather amount set to 0 pixels, and Anti-alias selected.

3. Draw an oblong and slightly irregular selection around an area in the sky, either above or below the scan line. Select an area that is similar in appearance to the area through which the scan line cuts.

4. You can switch back and forth between the Normal and Quick Mask view (that offers a more accurate view of your selection edge) by pressing the Q key. Note that because you only applied an anti-aliased edge and did not feather it, the edge is fairly abrupt, and if used like this, might print with obvious edges. Hey, I know it’s easy to forget to feather a selection edge prior to creating it. And besides, how do you know how much you want to feather an edge before you create it? The good news is that Photoshop CS3 provides you with an excellent selection edge modification tool known as the Refine Edge adjustment.

5. Now click the Refine Edge button on the right side of the Options palette (you can also access this dialog view via the Selection -->Refine Edge menu choice or by typing F+Option+R for the Mac or Ctrl+Alt+R for Windows). The Refine Edge dialog box appears.

6. This Refine Edge dialog, while a tad bit confusing, allows you to completely control the characteristics of your selection edge and (here is the really cool part) it does so while you see the results of your changes in real time. For the selection I have made here, I applied the following adjustments:

Setting Value Effect
Radius 1.2 Larger values widen the edge zone internally.
Contrast 0 Larger values narrow the edge zone internally.
Smooth 22 Larger values create a softer edge zone.
Feather 3.0 Larger values widen the edge zone externally.
Expand/Contract +1 Expands or contracts the dimensions of the
original selection—very handy!

Note: In addition to all these controls, you have the ability to select from a range of ways to display your selection by clicking on the looped icons near the bottom of the Refine Edge dialog box.
Click OK when you have your edge configured the way you like.

7. Press F+Option (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt (Win) while clicking your selection. Your cursor will appear as a double-headed arrow, indicating that it is now a copy tool.

8. Drag your selection over the target scan line, and release your mouse and keys; the scanline disappears and is replaced by a cloud!  And because you have used an irregular, well-feathered gradational edge, you can be confident it will print without any clone artifacts.

Selection cloning like this works well with many types of areas such as skies, clouds, and backgrounds that have either consistency or randomness, or both, in their element patterns. And it is best to use the Lasso tool rather than a marquee tool, so that you can create irregular selection edges that are less likely to create visually apparent cloned edges when you print.