Tutorial #18 | Detagging
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Program Used: CS3, Translatable
Uses: Clone Stamp tool
Difficulty: Experiance may be needed.
Note: THIS ISN'T A VERY NICE THING TO DO TO SOMEONE'S PICTURE. WHAT YOU USE THIS TUTORIAL FOR IS NOT UP TO ME. PICTURES ARE TAGGED FOR A REASON.
Ok, I would like to point out that this isn't a very nice thing to do to someone's picture. PICTURES ARE TAGGED FOR A REASON. I wouldn't recommend it (hypocrite), BUT it does involve a few techniques that will help you with other stuff. So here we go.
First of all, detagging is a time-consuming process, and it's not easy. I have tried to make this fairly easy for the beginners. Whether an image is easy to detag or not depends on your skill, and the size of the tag. For example, DeviantArt tags are not easy to remove because of their size (known from experience). If you're a beginner, I recommend sticking to photos that are not tagged on the face, they seem to be much easier. Also, eyes and mouths aren't easy to clone, so stay away from those too. Detagging can be acheived with many versions of Photoshop, but you'll only need the Clone Stamp tool.
Let's start with the tagged image (original size:1024x687).*
It is much easier if you zoom in on your image about 300% or more. With this image I zoomed to 400%.
In this image you can see that a small part of her hair, her forehead and the wall behind her is tagged. Usually the part that is one solid color is the easiest, so let's start with that.
The 'is your tag.' part of the tag is on top of a solid pattern, so we'll start with that. For this you'll need the Clone Stamp tool. Be sure to use a fairly small brush, maybe one around the size of 13, with a hardness of 63%.
Alt + Click somewhere above or below (above recommended) the 'is your tag.' This defines your area to clone. When you have defined that area, you can start brushing. This should be fairly easy because of the consistant pattern. Carefully brush over 'is your tag.' USING SMALL CLICKS TO BE PRECISE.
Now. Part of the word 'This' is on top of the wall also. This can be erased using the same technique. Be sure to Alt+Click to the right of the 's'. Also be sure to use a brush with a hardness of around 93%, and make sure not to clone over her forehead!!
You should have this when you're done:
We're almost done, but now it gets a little harder! Let's do her forehead, again using the Clone Stamp tool. For this, we'll want to use a smaller brush, maybe around size 6 with a hardness of 71%. Alt+Click somewhere below the 'hi', preferably somewhere close. Again, DO NOT BRUSH. Carefully click away the 'hi'. Be sure to redefine the area to clone, so that you are matching the colors of the skin. Around the hairline, be sure to use a brush with less hardness, maybe around 15%. Using a brush with a low opacity helps also.
You should end up with something like this:
Now use the same techniques on the hair. This time, use a low opacity, clicking over the same area more than once. Recommended brush settings: size:6, hardness:18%, opacity: 47%.
Also, experiment with your Alt+Click placements. If you want something to the top/left(diagonally) to be cloned over the 'T', then try to Alt+Click a few times to see where you'll exactly need it to produce the desired effect. You can always use the History pane to go back!!
You should end up with the tag completely gone!
NOTE1: Resizing the image helps to hide noticability. Detagged images look better as icons!! But, if you plan to use actions or other coloring on your detagged icon, be sure to do the action FIRST, as the coloring may effect the detagging, making it more noticable.
NOTE2: Other tools can be used as needed. One example is the brush tool (primitive, but you'd be surprised!). Experiment with others!
See: After
*Stock image from http://www.sxc.hu, tagged by me.