Date

[Nekomi]

Came across this couple as they were laughing and talking together outside my apartment complex. They were heartwarming, so I decided to take a candid shot.

Compression took the image quality way down, of course.

[sugarzebra]

Welcome to POTN and thanks for the nice candid shot. I know this isnt posted in the critique corner, but the exposed tree branches caused by the recent pruning are very distracting and perhaps would benefit from being removed with PS. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your posts.

[Nekomi]

Sugarzebra, thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with you, and tried to tone them down in PS for a long time to no avail. I tried adjusting levels, curves, brightness/contrast, and using the burn tool. Nothing produced a natural looking result.

Do you have any tips on how to fix it? By the way, C&C is always appreciated no matter where I post. Thanks a bunch.

[Nekomi]

After playing around a while more, I think I've mostly fixed the problem. Let me know what you think.

Here's what I did: Selected the overexposed areas, feathered the selection by 5 px, and deleted it. Created a new layer below the main image, and duplicated the beige rock in the image foreground. Pasted that into the new layer. Moved the rock underneath the cleared (previously the overexposed) areas to fill them back in. Repainted the holes left from the branches to make it look less like a rock and more like the tree limb remnants that were originally there. ;)

[sugarzebra]

That looks much better, especially the large lower cuts. The smaller ones at the top of the tree can probably be done with the clone stamp. Great idea using the rock....Photoshop and ingenuity can go a long way!

[BIGTUFFGUY]

looking good
i like the edited version better!