How to Use the Clone Source Panel in Adobe Photoshop

The Clone Source Panel works with the Clone Stamp Tool to give you the ability to define up to five sampling sources, and also to transform the sample by rotating, scaling, etc. You can even define a sampling source in another file. In this example, we show how to repair a dog-eared corner.

This feature works the same in all recent versions of Adobe Photoshop: CS5, CS6, and Creative Cloud (CC).

1. Select the Clone Stamp Tool.
2. Adjust your brush size so that it matches the width of the photo border and make sure the Opacity in the Options Bar is set to 100.
3. Go to a relatively intact corner, position your cursor directly on the corner, then click Alt (PC)/Option (Mac) to sample.
4. Go to the Panel Dock and click the Clone Source Panel icon .
5. In the Clone Source Panel, set the angle to -90.
6. Position your cursor over the damaged corner. Align it with the outside edge of the border. Click, hold, and drag upward to repair the damage. Notice that as you're painting, the sampling crosshairs move inward along the bottom edge because of the angle you set in the Clone Source Panel.
7. Position your cursor back over the damaged corner and then click, hold, and drag inward along the bottom edge. The sampling crosshairs move up the left edge.
8. Zoom in on the damaged corner, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and draw a small marquee around the ragged edge of the image.
9. Select the Clone Stamp Tool and then go to the Clone Source Panel and set the angle back to 0.
10. With the Clone Stamp Tool, sample in a clean area of the border and then move into the marquee area and paint to create a clean edge on the image.