Clone tool vs. Healing brush

Healing Brush vs.Clone Tool

By Karen Jossel

To experience the real difference between using the Clone Tool (Rubber Stamp) and the Healing Brush in Photoshop, here's a simple example using a obvious birthmark as a perfect case in point to correct the image using both tools.

Get an image of Mikhail Gorbachev like this one here. ( I'm sure there's a million available on the internet).

Be sure to make two more copies in your PSD file by either dragging the picture into the little icon at the bottom of your layers palette next to the trash can or use the short cut Command J (Layer via Copy under Layers).

First try removing his birthmark with the Clone Tool (the Rubber Stamp) and title layer clone.

Next get a new picture and try removing it with the Healing Brush (it looks like a Band-Aid and it is directly above the brush tool when you have a single column tool bar - with a double column tool bar in earlier versions of Photoshop it’s above the Rubber Stamp tool).

Make sure you get the Healing brush and not the Spot Healing Brush, which is the first one showing by default. Click and hold your cursor on the Spot Healing brush and a fly out menu with tool choices will appear. Get the Healing Brush.

You may ask why use the Clone Tool, and this next exercise should help you see that different circumstances call for a different tool. Although you can often use either sometimes one is better than the other.

Now with this next picture do the same thing, make two more copies of the main layer and use the Healing Brush to remove the stop sign and make more clouds, and then try the Clone Tool to do the same thing.

What works better for you? Send us your thoughts and comments.

About Karen Jossel

Karen is an award winning graphic artist including the Promax silver and gold awards for TheWBpass.com
multiple websites devoted to all the affiliates of the former WB TV station. Visit  her website

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