Help with this photo? (Large image warning)

PhilCollum

So, I've got this image I've been working on the PP for a while. But the spiderwebs are really bugging me. If I had thought it through when I took the shot I would have removed the spiderwebs by hand. But this image was captured on the other side of the continent, so a reshoot isn't possible.

I think the spiderwebs are a distraction, but everything I've tried ends up making it look worse (cloning, healing, some selective colorization, etc.) Any suggestions on a technique to get rid of, or at least lessen, the spiderwebs? Or do you guys think its okay as-is?

I'm posting this image xtra-large, so you can see the spiderwebs more clearly. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to copy and tweek!

gus

If you have Photoshop just use the healing tool (little band aid symbol)

I tried it on a bit of your photo & it worked well.

BinaryFx

Some general retouching tips:

1) Use a new blank layer/s as the target for any retouching, rather than the original or a dupe of the whole original. with the retouching tools make use of the "sample all layers" option (adjustment layers can mess this up is earlier versions, although there are work-arounds). This allows one to vary opacity and blending modes, over and above what the current tool offers.

2) Set the retouching layer to darken mode, when you are trying to cover light marks, or lighten mode when fixing dark marks.

3) Sometimes, the older, simpler clone stamp works better than healing - depending on the sample area and the target area in question.

4) Sometimes, one gets better results by using clone stamp first, then using healing over the top of that in a second pass.

5) It is also good to use two views, one at 100% size and the other zoomed in - that way you can work on the enlarged version while viewing the regular size in real time (it helps to get perspective on things when zoomed in).

6) Luminosity and color blending modes are also great for retouching, in addition to darken and lighten modes.

Attached is a quick example of removing the webs, resized to 800px wide for posting here on DG. If one thought that they added character, they could be enhanced to bring them out more!

I used Adaptive Equalisation in a layer mask to enhance the surface detail on the bolt in the in-focus section, tapering off to the out of focus area. The filtering was blended at about 33% opacity, the effect is meant to be subtle, although I went a bit stronger here for demonstration (I also used two different AE filter settings applied to the image, then added some minor USM). The free plug can be found here, under the free plug-ins menu:

http://www.reindeergraphics.com/index.php


Regards,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/

PhilCollum

gus wrote:

If you have Photoshop just use the healing tool (little band aid symbol)

I tried it on a bit of your photo & it worked well.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'd spent a lot of time with the both healing tools, the clone tool, and others, but have not been satisfied with the results.... Maybe I'm just expecting too much. I'll take another look and try again.

PhilCollum

BinaryFx wrote:

Some general retouching tips:

1) Use a new blank layer/s as the target for any retouching, rather than the original or a dupe of the whole original. with the retouching tools make use of the "sample all layers" option (adjustment layers can mess this up is earlier versions, although there are work-arounds). This allows one to vary opacity and blending modes, over and above what the current tool offers.

2) Set the retouching layer to darken mode, when you are trying to cover light marks, or lighten mode when fixing dark marks.

3) Sometimes, the older, simpler clone stamp works better than healing - depending on the sample area and the target area in question.

4) Sometimes, one gets better results by using clone stamp first, then using healing over the top of that in a second pass.

5) It is also good to use two views, one at 100% size and the other zoomed in - that way you can work on the enlarged version while viewing the regular size in real time (it helps to get perspective on things when zoomed in).

6) Luminosity and color blending modes are also great for retouching, in addition to darken and lighten modes.

Thanks a ton for the editing suggestions, Stephen! That helped a lot, and I was able to get much better results using a few of your tricks.

dandill

BinaryFx wrote:

... I also used two different AE filter settings applied to the image, then added some minor USM...

To my eye the clarity and three dimensionality added to the bolt are striking. Do you recall the two sets of AE filter settings that you used?

Thanks

BinaryFx

dandill wrote:

To my eye the clarity and three dimensionality added to the bolt are striking. Do you recall the two sets of AE filter settings that you used?

Thanks

Dandill, I can roughly remember, although my posted image is too strong in my opinion, I would do it more subtle - I wanted to show how good this filter is in picking out detail (or defects, not good for skin or JPEGs).

The first setting would have targeted lower frequency data or "larger" detail - all of the sliders were in the middle position. The second application I can't recall exactly, but the idea was to isolate "smaller" detail.

With both the Adaptive Equalisation and the USM, on a final job I would reduce the impact of the detail/usm by reducing overall opacity and the light half of the sharpening halo, while keeping the dark half at full strength - using blend if sliders or a separate layer in lighten mode at reduced opacity, with the other in darken mode at full opacity.

Anyway, the whole idea of AE in this use is to play, go extreme, then blend it at a low opacity so that it is not too noticeable, but just noticeable enough to work some magic (why should forensic scientists and MRI machine operators have all the fun?).


Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/