The photo I'm enhancing sticks to my cursor

[genec4056714]

I want to enhance a photo which is in my Elements 20 editor. Using the Clone Stamp I place the cursor on the area I want to capture, then I click Alt. But when I move the cursor to its intended position on my screen the entire photo sticks to my cursor. No matter what I do, the photo cannot be shaken loose from my cursor. What have I done this time?  Thank you very much.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, you are previewing the entire image: in the "regular" Photoshop, there is a clone source panel, where you can check the "Clipped" option that would preview the cloning only on the brush size;  not sure about elements, hence me moving this thread to the relevant forum.

[Phinny]

Gene, you are sampling (using Alt-click) an area much larger than you want.  To control this, reduce the "size" option in the Clone tool options bar at the bottom of your screen before sampling (Alt-clicking). 

[hatstead · Accepted solution]

• On the clone stamp option bar, uncheck "aligned" and check "sample all layers."
• Use the bracket keys  ( ]  [ ) next to the letter P on the keyboard to size the brush cursor to  embrace the source point for the clone operation
• Open a blank layer at ther top and do the cloning on this layer. If you screw up, you can delete it and start over
• Press ALT and left click on the source pixels, let go of the mouse, and left click to deposit.
• Activate the move tool and position the cloned pixels to suit.