Before and after...

[dpastern]

Thought I'd post a before and after shot. I usually don't bother too much with images like this, but bin them, but this one I liked so I worked it a bit.

Dave

[LordV]

Excellent bit of restoration work :)- wouldn't have known without the before pic :)
Assume this was using the clone and repair tools?
Brian V.

[dpastern]

Clone, heal, spot healing, patch tools all used for various pieces, plus the blur tool. Cloning used to really scare me and frustrate me, but the past 4 weeks I've used it several times and I'm feeling a lot more confident now. I'm certainly not an expert, but the results are half decent at least, and a lot better than earlier efforts. I have to say that I'd rarely do this sort of thing, I prefer to get it right in camera, but sometimes there's an odd photo that you didn't get right and that you can use the clone tools etc to fix up. It's really what I consider cheating though. I have to say that I thoroughy enjoy using Photoshop, never thought I would, but I do. I'm still not very good at it, but I'm learning new things all the time, and I know a 1000% more than I did 9 months ago.

Dave

[LordV]

Clone, heal, spot healing, patch tools all used for various pieces, plus the blur tool. Cloning used to really scare me and frustrate me, but the past 4 weeks I've used it several times and I'm feeling a lot more confident now. I'm certainly not an expert, but the results are half decent at least, and a lot better than earlier efforts. I have to say that I'd rarely do this sort of thing, I prefer to get it right in camera, but sometimes there's an odd photo that you didn't get right and that you can use the clone tools etc to fix up. It's really what I consider cheating though. I have to say that I thoroughy enjoy using Photoshop, never thought I would, but I do. I'm still not very good at it, but I'm learning new things all the time, and I know a 1000% more than I did 9 months ago.

Dave

Dave- like you I do this very rarely, but I do not feel it's cheating- often with macro shots you have little choice on the composition because of the position of the subject so you either take a shot and do this or just not take the pic.
Most worrying thing for me at least is how often you do not notice obscuring elements when you are taking the shot- I guess this is a case where the DOF preview button should be used (I very rarely if ever use it).

Brian V.

[hidden forms]

Nice work Dave, like the composition, i'm learning new things all the to and i think photoshop is an amazing tool, you'll never stop learning new things

[Nymphalidae]

Excellent work!

Nymph

[bandit 1]

Hiya Dave,

Great shot, I definitely prefer the worked version best.

I actually enjoy using Elements 5 for all sorts of stuff, I have a mate that sent me a whole loada old photos of when he was a lad for me to practice on when I have bad days & can't get out shooting, he is well pleased with the results so far, BTW I like the ' Purina dog chow ' story :lol: :lol:

Cheers for now
Mark

[dpastern]

Thanks guys...I've got a before and after II post that I'll be doing in a few minutes, another clone job...couldn't resist ;) Seriously, the more I do it, the better I think I become, as usual, practice makes perfect. Any images like this I make sure are marked as 'cloned' in the file name, so as to not be misleading. If you've nailed a pretty good shot, but have a bit of something ruining the shot, try the clone/patch/heal/healing spot/blur tools, you can possible save an image!

Dave

[Lester Wareham]

Good clone stamp work there.