Can I add more flowers to a field where they don't exist in the original?

[Ashwin]

Hello all,

Let's say I've taken a picture of a field of flowers and I want to add more red flowers on the left side of the picture where there are none. 

Is it possible to use the red flowers on the right and "clone" them or use another technique to copy them onto the left side realistically? 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[firstdefence]

Yes, there are a few methods but the simplest is probably the Clone Tool.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_cloneBrush.html 

There is also the Patch Tool

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Retouching/retouching_patching.html

[Ashwin]

Hi firstdefence,

Thanks for the reply. I'm having some trouble using both of these tools. 

So, following the article, when I start either of these tools, I select the Source and then clone it on another part of the picture. However, using the example of the picture above, I only see the texture of the flower kind of ghostly on top of the green grass to the left of the picture. Is there some setting I'm missing or is this clone tool only for texture and it's up to me to color it properly?

Should I create a Duplicate of the master layer and then clone it on there and then do the coloring if that's required? 

[Ashwin]

Update: 

I'm not sure what I changed with the Clone Brush tool but for now I'm getting the pattern and color of the flower. 

However, I've noticed that after selecting a source, I can drag the Clone Brush selection across the field and it will sometimes give me a red flower and sometimes give me green. 

Do you know how Affinity determines what parts should be colored in and which ones shouldn't? 

[toltec]

Select the Clone tool and make sure the settings are something like this.

Press and hold the Alt key and click on a flower. That sets the Source, then release the mouse button and Clone away.

If aligned is not ticked, (bottom left on the Context Toolbar, below} the source point will stay in the same place. i.e. you will keep copying the same flower, no matter where you try to paint it.

That resets each time you release the mouse button. So clone a flower, release the mouse, and the next time you clone, you will be cloning the same flower.

If aligned is ticked, you will be cloning from a different source point each time. So you will be cloning from elsewhere, not the original flower. (Probably what is happening now).

You need the flowers to look a bit more natural with different sized flowers. Especially at the back of the field where they appear smaller. Set the Scale (on the right of the Toolbar, above) to something smaller as you move back in the field, that reduces the size of the clone as you paint it  . You also want to clone different flowers, so Alt + click on a different flower from time to time.

You could also rotate (rotation) by a small amount too, if you think it is necessary to make it look a bit more random

 

[Ashwin]

Toltec - 

Woah, thank you!! All those points really helped me understand how to use the Clone Brush. Once again thank you so much. This is a really crazy tool!