In addition to solid colors, Elements also lets you add patterns to your images. The program comes with quite a few patterns, and you can download more (see Stuff from the Internet) or create your own. Patterns let you add interesting designs to your images or give more realistic textures to certain repairs.
You can use the Healing brush or the Pattern Stamp to apply patterns. The Healing brush has a pattern option in the Options bar. The Pattern Stamp shares a Tools panel slot with the Clone Stamp, and it works much like the Clone Stamp, but puts down a preselected pattern instead of a sampled area. The tool you use to apply the pattern makes a big difference, as you can see from Figure 9-8. The next two sections explain how to use both tools.
Tip
Elements gives you lots of ways to use patterns, including creating a Fill layer that’s covered with the pattern you choose. Fill layers are covered on Fill layers.
The Smart brushes (Correcting color with a brush) also let you apply patterned effects to your images, although Adobe officially calls these effects “textures” rather than “patterns.” They’re particularly nice for creating interest in a flat or empty background area. In the Options bar, just choose Textures from the thumbnails pop-out menu.
Figure 9-8. The same pattern applied with the Healing brush (left) and the Pattern Stamp (right). The Healing brush blends the pattern in with the underlying color (and texture, when there is any), while the Pattern Stamp just plunks down the pattern exactly as it appears in the pop-out palette. To get a softer edge on the Healing Brush’s pattern, choose a softer brush from the pop-out palette.
The Healing brush’s Pattern mode is great for things like improving the texture of someone’s skin by applying skin texture from another photo.
Using patterns with the Healing brush is just as easy and works the same way as using it in normal healing mode: Just drag across the area you want to fix. The only difference is that you don’t have to choose a sampling point, since the pattern is your source: When you drag, Elements blends the pattern you selected into your photo.
After activating the Healing brush (keyboard shortcut: J), click the Pattern radio button in the Options bar and then choose a pattern from the pop-out palette. You can see more patterns by clicking the two arrows in the palette’s upper-right corner, or you can create and save your own patterns. Figure 9-9 explains how to make custom patterns.
Tip
Changing the blend mode (Blend Mode) when using patterns can result in some interesting effects.
Figure 9-9. It’s easy to create your own patterns. In any image, simply make a rectangular, unfeathered selection, and then choose Edit→“Define Pattern from Selection.” Your pattern appears at the bottom of the current pattern palette, and a dialog box pops up so you can name the new pattern. To use a whole image as a pattern, don’t make a selection—just go to Edit→Define Pattern. To rename or delete a pattern later, right-click/Control-click it in the Pattern palette and make your choice. You can also download hundreds of different patterns from various online sources (see page 602).
This tool is like the Clone Stamp, but instead of copying sampled areas, it puts down a predefined pattern that you select from the Pattern palette. The Pattern Stamp is useful when you want to apply a pattern to your image without mixing it with what’s already there. For instance, if you want to see what your patio would look like if it were a garden, you could use the Pattern Stamp to paint a lawn and a flower border on a photo of your patio.
To get started, click the Clone Stamp in the Tools panel, and then choose the Pattern Stamp from the pop-out menu. Then click the pattern thumbnail in the Options bar to open the Pattern palette so you can make your selection. Other options for this brush (like the size, hardness, and so on) are the same as for the Clone Stamp. The one extra option is the Impressionist checkbox demonstrated in Figure 9-10, which is mostly useful for creating special effects.
Figure 9-10. If you turn on the Impressionist checkbox in the Options bar, Elements blurs your pattern, creating an effect vaguely like an Impressionist painting, but only if you use a soft brush. Here you see a pattern put down with the Pattern Stamp using different settings: with the Impressionist setting turned off (left) and with the Impressionist checkbox turned on using a hard brush (middle) and a very soft brush (right).
Once you’ve selected a pattern, simply drag in your photo where you want Elements to put that pattern.