How do you remove an eyesore???

MLangton

Help,

I took a really cool picture, and have it almost ready for processing, BUT I lack the expertise to remove a vehicle that was driving though the shot. Since it is a major roadway, the odds of getting this shot without a car in it somewhere was slim to none... Unless I took it at 0300. :dunno

Is there a tutorial on how i could remove this car using something like GIMP or PS???

I know there is a way to do it RIGHT, this is just a little beyond my expertise. I came close... But it looks like crap. Here is a crop with the ugly car. Any suggestions???



Best I could do... Not good enough...

Tim Kamppinen

Umm... yes, there is a way to do it right. Go back, point your lens at the part fo the road you want to take photo of, and wait for there to not be a car. Now press the shutter release.

Seriously, why do you want to get rid of the car? Even if you did, there wouldn't be a clear subject left to the photo and nothing appears to be in focus anyway. Unless I'm missing something... is this just a small crop of the image? In that case you can try using the clone tool in PS, but if it's at the edge of the frame I'd just crop it out. Or if you have another shot of the same spot without a car there you could cut that section out and blend it into this photo...

MLangton

Thanks, I'll look for a clone tool.

This is a small crop of a rather large pic. It is a roadway winding through a park, in front of the downtown skyline. If I crop the road out... It just does not look right.

Thanks a million. I'll keep working on it.

anonymouscuban

I agree with Tim... the easiest way would be to take a second shot of that part of the road without the car and then layer that in over the shot with the car.

The other alternative is to take the shot at dusk and use a long exposure. You may end up getting some light trails but that may add an esthetically pleasing element to the photo.

If a reshoot is out of the question, cloning should be pretty easy since you have a lot of texture in the background there. But if you've never used the clone tool before, it may take some time and practice to ge it right.

anonymouscuban

I was bored so here you go....
2 minute job with the clone tool in CS3. Not perfect but wanted to give you an idea how well you can clone it out.

MLangton

This forum is priceless. THANKS!

I had never heard of the clone tool before, but once you told me, I just looked it up.

Not perfect.... But for a newbie that is transitioning from 35mm... I'm happy.

Yes, I still have a long way to go, but I am loving the learning process. Look Ma, no car!!!

Thanks again.



Now... I realize this is no masterpiece, but I am still learning. Perhaps next time I'll try a new location, or at night with light trails as mentioned by anonymouscuban. It just sucks that all of the good vantage points are no parking zones. I was running...

anonymouscuban

That doesn't look bad. However, it's a small crop so hard to see the detail. The trick with the clone tool is to make sure you are not creating repetative patterns. Sample from different areas and layer the cloning in to help with the repeat patterns. Also, work in at least 100% crop if not at greater magnification to really make sue you aren't creating wierd artifacts.

BTW... if you need more practice with the clone tool, I'd work on cloning out that square fence structure smack in the middle of your picture. Honestly, I think that would improve the shot much more than cloning the car out. I would probably clone the light posts out as well.

MLangton

anonymouscuban wrote:

BTW... if you need more practice with the clone tool, I'd work on cloning out that square fence structure smack in the middle of your picture. Honestly, I think that would improve the shot much more than cloning the car out. I would probably clone the light posts out as well.

Hmmm... Good minds think alike. That black fence sure is ugly.

Thank you again for all of the help. I am going to be doing a lot of practicing.

Wil Davis

Here's one I did from a picture taken at a classic car show. I couldn't really get the owners of the car out of the way, so I took one shot and used PS. Here they are:

Before:



After:



Combined: (you'll need to enable image animation…)






- Wil

Tim Kamppinen

Good work, Will. This stuff can be frustrating while you're doing it because you tend to think that it's really obvious and that everyone is going to see what you did and call you out on it, but in reality, if you do it right, no one is ever going to have a clue unless they've seen the original. Take that shot for instance. Anyone looking at the finished photo for the first time is going to look at the car. That's the subject. They're not even going to think twice about the bushes in the background and whether or not they have a barely distinguishable pattern in them or not (which they don't, because you did a good job with the cloning, but you know what I mean.)

Wil Davis

Thanks Tim! It's interesting because on the face of it, it looks pretty simple; and then you start looking at the details (reflections on the bodywork, chrome, glass…) …then you spot "Old Glory" (on a British car???) yup, the Devil is in the Details!

- Wil

pathfinder

Another technique for this kind of situation, is to shoot a dozen frames or so from a fixed tripod. The people will move about, and appear in different positions, while the car is stationary.

Open the files in Photoshop, and stack them one on top of another in a series of layers. Paint out the folks in the layers and all that will be left will be the car.

Zanotti

pathfinder wrote:

Another technique for this kind of situation, is to shoot a dozen frames or so from a fixed tripod. The people will move about, and appear in different positions, while the car is stationary.

Open the files in Photoshop, and stack them one on top of another in a series of layers. Paint out the folks in the layers and all that will be left will be the car.

You do know that PS will do that automatically!?!

Load into a stack, then go to layer - smart objects -stack mode-median

If you have stacked several shots together, it will take out people, cars, anything that has moved.

Saves lots of time!

Z

RalphAdam

works only with ps extended

Zanotti wrote:

You do know that PS will do that automatically!?!

Load into a stack, then go to layer - smart objects -stack mode-median

If you have stacked several shots together, it will take out people, cars, anything that has moved.

Saves lots of time!

Z

Need the "extended" version of PS to do this -- Ralph

pathfinder

I know about the Median filter, but as mentioned, I think that requires the Extended Version of PS, which I have never ponied up for personally. Or is this true?

For the car scene with people, I think that could just be done with several shots in layers and and a paint brush to mask out the people.

Zanotti

pathfinder wrote:

I know about the Median filter, but as mentioned, I think that requires the Extended Version of PS, which I have never ponied up for personally. Or is this true?

For the car scene with people, I think that could just be done with several shots in layers and and a paint brush to mask out the people.

Jim:

As is always in Photoshop, there are many ways to handle image challanges - much to the delight of some and to the frustration of others! (As an engineeer, I find it frustrating that three people can show you how to do stuff and give you six ways to do it!)

I do have CS3 Extended and have a median filter in my sub set. I also learned to do it your way - using yours for a couple frames and a small amount of change and the median way for say Grand Central Station at high noon.

Always nice to learn new things!

George Z.