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Photoshop Question

dbrunodbruno Member
in computer hardware & software
I just got Photoshop Elements for Christmas. I don't want anyone to do the work for me, I just want to know if it is possible to remove the guy to the right of the dark-haired woman in this photo. The primary reason I wanted this software was to do some time-to-time removal of objects in some photos.

Again , I don't want anyone to do the work for me, just want to know if it can be done, and is it an operation calling for advanced understanding of Photoshop.

Thanks - Dave

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Comments

  • Neil vNNeil vN Administrator
    This will be a near-impossible job without a heavy crop -- simply because to remove something, you have to add something in its place. 

    Think about how the basic Clone tool or Healing brush works .. you are replacing unwanted stuff with something else. In this photograph, the "unwanted" person takes up a third of the frame ... so what would you replace him with?

    My best suggestion is to make this a vertical crop of the woman.
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  • dbrunodbruno Member
    Neil - Happy New Year to you, and wish you continued success in 2019.

    I'm just figuring out what the main panel of PSE looks like :), so I'm a wicked newbie. So, this photo: someone else in another forum suggested the same thing to me as you did. But, in order to do that, you still have to get rid of "the guy" somehow, correct? If you know how to get rid of him, couldn't you just do the same and leave the photo "as is"?

    Yesterday, as I looked at it, I thought about the "you have to replace it with "something". Couldn't that something be more flowers, copied from the left of the woman, and maybe built up higher to cover the guy? Just a thought from someone who knows nothing about PS/PSE past firing it up.

    Dave
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  • TrevTrev Moderator
    Dave,

    Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and by doing an 'upsize' then do a crop to maintain a close aspect ratio is the only way to go and I agree with Neil.

    Also I think the image is very under-exposed and I know your premise for this is that it was dark and moody, but that does not equate to having a decent exposure.

    I opened it up by 1 stop, then upsized a bit and did a crop.

    The woman on the left was not needed, the big fella on the right also not needed, and it does not matter now with the other guy beside the girl, she's now the main focus of attention.

    However, that's just my opinion personally so am not trying to tell you otherwise.

    Cheers, and a Happy New Year to all.

    Trev.




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  • dbrunodbruno Member
    edited January 2019
    Hi, Trev - Not sure what an "upsize" is, but I'm assuming it's a PS thing.

    I have to say the comment about biting the bullet is true for some images I have that I just have to say "I can't get that "thing" out of this nice image, and I have a few hundred more to go thru ...." You know, right?

    Anyway, the whole thing about this image is, it's the first one I thought of working on - or finding out if it was possible to do what I wanted - with my shiny new PS Elements software. From time to time I have delivered photos I consider pretty good but unfortunately having a distracting item in them.

    This photo, along with about 200 others, were from a Food and Wine Expo for a local television station. My delivered photo had "the guy" minimized with some tools in LR - a radial filter around his head, and some settings that put him out of focus - but not so much that it looked unnatural.

    Anyway, I'm going to keep exploring different ways to adjust this with PSE for my own education. One thing that came to mind is covering the guy with a copy of the plants that are next to the woman, building it up so that it looks like she is in front of a natural looking "barrier" of plants.

    Thank you and Happy New Year to you, and continued success in 2019 - Dave
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  • Neil vNNeil vN Administrator
    Also, this kind of crop and WB correction and exposure correction is best done as part of your RAW workflow. The less time you spend in Photoshop, the faster your post-production will be.

    When you shoot events or any kind of volume work, you can't spend time in Photoshop. Do your corrections on the RAW file.  Easier & faster. 
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  • dbrunodbruno Member
    Yes, thanks. I shoot in RAW, and do everything in LR. Learning PS/PSE really is for the times I wish I could completely remove an object or person from a photo. And also the possibility of offering retouching on headshots, but I'm about 1.5 light years from that. You are right, and I certainly know when you do an event that produces a couple of hundred deliverables, I can't be mucking around in PS for every one of them.

    I have to tell you I really have been learning to pay much more attention to what's in the background when I'm lined up for a shot, whether it's a candid or informally posed. I guess in that sense, the best way for me to minimize my time with PS is to Pay Attention when I go after a shot.

    Dave
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  • Philip_GreenPhilip_Green Member
    This will be a close inconceivable activity without a substantial yield - just in light of the fact that to eliminate something, you need to include something in its place.
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  • dbrunodbruno Member
    Philip - this was from a while ago, but this is what I ended up with using PSE19

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  • MarryAndersonMarryAnderson Member
    edited April 2021
    All photos are beautiful. Thank you for this thread.
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