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What to try
- Try the aligned repair, then undo it. The source and destination are one wave period apart.
- Move the source with the source button or X and Y controls, then paint over the tear. Compare an aligned wave with a mismatched patch.
What to look for: The offset is fixed for the duration of each stroke. Sampling a snapshot prevents the brush from feeding newly painted pixels back into itself.
How it works
Choose a source before painting. Each destination point samples the corresponding location around that source. A fixed offset lets texture continue along a stroke: a mark moved ten pixels to the right reads a source point ten pixels farther right as well.
Copy from a snapshot of the layer at the beginning of a stroke. Otherwise the brush can repeatedly sample pixels it has just painted, producing feedback smears. The source may contain transparency, which matters when blending the sampled patch onto the destination.
Use it in the Lab
In the Lab, select Clone, choose a source with Alt-click, then paint. Sample near the area you want to repair so the texture scale and lighting are compatible. Work on a duplicate layer for reversible retouching.
Limits & distinctions
Cloning copies existing information. It does not understand objects or reconstruct hidden detail, and repeating an obvious feature can make a repair conspicuous.
Sources & references
Guide updated