Playing around with the clone stamp tool

scottcolbath · February 2, 2010

I'm new to this tool. This is my third attempt at cleaning up a pic.

The before shot:

The after shot:

Looking at it again, I should have cleaned up the wood light post I removed where it meets the control tower. What about the flags? Stay or go? Maybe that other junk on top of the tower could have been removed too.

S.C.

pathfinder · February 2, 2010

If you were a little lower and shot up higher, and to the right, you would have had sky for a background, and not had to worry about using the clone tool........

Whether you remove the flags is up to you, I think. Removing the post in front of the building, depends on what you want to do with this image, and how valuable it is, and your time is. What you have removed looks well done.

RogersDA · February 3, 2010

Scott - like any tool you need to be careful. That swirly-movement with the clone brush produced some rather nasty image artifacts that are very prevalent where you removed that set of lights behind the biker.

I can post an edited version to better show if you want...

scottcolbath · February 3, 2010

RogersDA wrote:

Scott - like any tool you need to be careful. That swirly-movement with the clone brush produced some rather nasty image artifacts that are very prevalent where you removed that set of lights behind the biker.

I can post an edited version to better show if you want...

Please do. I was aware of the artifacts, and tried to blend them in, but apparently didn't hit the mark.

Pathfinder, nice shot.

S.C.

scottcolbath · February 3, 2010

pathfinder wrote:

If you were a little lower and shot up higher, and to the right, you would have had sky for a background, and not had to worry about using the clone tool........

BTW, I looked for the position that would eliminate the background crap and could not get myself in such a location, so I took what I could get.

S.C.

Richard · February 3, 2010

scottcolbath wrote:

Looking at it again, I should have cleaned up the wood light post I removed where it meets the control tower. What about the flags? Stay or go? Maybe that other junk on top of the tower could have been removed too.
S.C.

You did a pretty good job of eliminating the clutter so that the bike stands out. I don't think you need to eliminate anything else. While there's nothing attractive about the background, it does provide a point of reference that gives a sense of how high the rider is. A pure blue sky would not provide that.

RogersDA · February 3, 2010

scottcolbath wrote:

Please do. I was aware of the artifacts, and tried to blend them in, but apparently didn't hit the mark.

Pathfinder, nice shot.

S.C.

Sorry for the delay - had to go to bed, and now school's out with a snow day.

I grabbed your adjusted image, converted it to black and white, and increased the contrast just to show the artifacts. This was all done in Lightroom. You can also use this type of technique to indicate dust spots on the sensor, too. You can see some of these around the edges of the image.

By using Photoshop's clone tool you have to use the right brush and select the right areas. In the case of the sky you should use a larger feathered brush so that edges of the brush do not show.

Also, for sky (where details are not critical) you are oftentimes better using the healing brush rather than the clone tool. Again, use a larger, feathered brush.

In the below example I used Photoshop's healing brush to eliminate the wires throughout, except for where they were in the tree. There I used Photoshop's clone tool as I wanted to preserve the details in the tree.

For the lights I used Photoshop's patch tool. I drew an outline around the lights and most of the pole (stopping just above the roof). Once the selection was done I dragged the selected region to some place in the sky, and the lights are immediately "healed" with sky, and the blending is done.

Here is a cropped/color adjusted/slightly rotated image.

scottcolbath · February 3, 2010

Wow. Nicely done. I'll put those tips to good use. Thanks.

S.C.

BinaryFx · February 3, 2010

I personally would open up the shadows a bit more on the rider (even more so if later converting to black and white), I used the shadow/highlight command on a separate layer, which used a layer mask generated off the blue channel, so as only to affect the rider (the duped blue channel data was inverted and the contrast increased, then slightly blurred).

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

scottcolbath · February 4, 2010

BinaryFx wrote:

I personally would open up the shadows a bit more on the rider (even more so if later converting to black and white), I used the shadow/highlight command on a separate layer, which used a layer mask generated off the blue channel, so as only to affect the rider (the duped blue channel data was inverted and the contrast increased, then slightly blurred).

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

Again, great advice. Thanks. I've yet to play with layers. Just another thing on the list to get to.

S.C.

TonyCooper · February 5, 2010

There have been several good suggestions on cleaning up the image, but I'm stuck with thinking the original image is a better photograph than the edits. Even with all that wire and all those lights, the original gives more of an impression of the biker up in the air. Removing all of that stuff isolates the biker and makes it a detail shot of a man on a bike instead of a man on a bike flying high in the air. The real improvement would be showing the ground and how high the biker was from ground zero.

That said, I can understand the OP's desire to practice with the clone tool and improve his technique of using that important tool. If the photo is viewed as an exercise in using a tool, then its a good exercise. If the purpose is to improve the photo, then I don't rate it as successful.

I've spent hours on a photograph of an old theater taking out wires, construction debris, weeds, a plastic barrel, and a pedestrian. I replaced a missing door and made a boarded-up window a regular window. The result is a rather insipid photograph, but I count it as a success from the standpoint of learning to work with the clone tool, the patch tool, and layer masks. Got much better with my Wacom tablet, too.

That practice will applied to future photographs.

scottcolbath · February 8, 2010

Point taken Tony, and to be honest with you, I have yet to develop any real confidence in my work to a point where I would feel one way or the other about my results.

I'm still feeling around, testing the waters and trying to figure out what is good and what is not with my pictures. Sure, a lot of that is personal preference. We all have our own tastes and desires when we look at a pic.

I have lLots to learn...............Lots.

S.C.

Playing around with the clone stamp tool

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