Eraser Tool-what am I doing wrong?

I have a family portrait that I want to erase a glass of beer off the railing (yea I know should have moved it first).

I have PS Elements and am clicking on the eraser to erase the glass, and all it does is smudge over it in white. How can I erase it so the background can show up? Any tips?

Thanks

Hey Josh, there is no background there to erase to since the glass was blocking it from your cameras sensor. The eraser tool removes everything in its path on the layer your working on.
Since you are not working with layers here, all you are doing is erasing the photograph itself and the white that you see replacing it is just the "canvas" that your image is laying over in Elements.
You will need to use the "Clone" tool.You will use the clone tool to replace the glass with other parts of the photograph. In other words, you will want to create the background that would have been behind the glass by replacing the glass with other areas of the photo that would best resemble what it would look like without the glass there.
So, you just have to look at it from a different perspective.. Instead of "erasing" the glass, you will have to "Replace" the glass. the clone tool is the tool for the task.
It takes some practice and time to get it smooth and convincing, but after you get more comfortable with the process it really is not all that tough, usually.
If you would like to post the photo, we can give it a go and show you what can be done.

Thank you Gary for the explanation. Makes perfect sense. I will give it a go, however, would u mind if I sent you the original file? It is a picture of my brother and his family, and I think he wants to blow it up and make a print of it. I cant fit that size on here in this post.

I just messed around with it a little bit and it is tough! Trying to get it to blend in will be difficult until I get the hang of it

Thanks again

Josh, If you'd like, I'll have a go at it. I've been doing this sort of thing for about seven years, and actually got into photography because of my Photoshopping.

My e-mail address is tandemduo280@comcast.net. If you need it enlarged, I have special software that does a better job of that than PS does too. Let me know.

- Joe U.