Post processing help needed for a noob!

[mwvt9]

Hi everyone. I am new to the fourm and haven't posted in this section before.

I was hoping to get some help with an edit of the image below. It was taken at a local farm right around halloween this year with my then one and a half year old son. I am fond of it because my son really like trucks, tractors..really anything big with wheels.

When I look at the photo I find the electrical tower and lines to be distracting. I was hoping that someone could edit it out (a clone maybe?) and then walk me through what you did so I don't have to ask noob questions for next time. :)

I have a really old version of photoshop (7.0), but I am not very good with it at all. I really just started with a DSLR a few month ago and I am spending most of my time trying to figure it out.

Thanks in advance.

[sobad]

I'm a noob to PS myself but here ya go.

[mwvt9]

Thanks! Can you walk me through what you did? I can tell the picture pops a little more..not so flat. Did you add some contrast and saturation? Any sharpening?

The pic I posted was straight from the camera. At that point I was still shooting with jpeg.

Did you use the clone tool to get rid of the tower?

[Roach711]

In Photoshop, get the clone stamp tool (looks like a rubber stamp). Put the cursor over a spot in the cloud near the right border then hold down the ALT key and click the mouse button. This sets your sampling point. Now put the cursor on the right side of the tower, click/hold the mouse button then paint out the tower. Notice as you paint that there is a cross that moves with your cursor. That cross shows where the clone tool is currently sampling from. To make your brush larger or smaller press the left or right bracket keys ([ ]). It's usually best to resample often and paint in small sections to make the repair look natural. You shouldn't have to do that with this image though.

[mwvt9]

Great. Thanks again.

[sobad]

I pretty much did what Roach711 said and bumped up the saturation a little then added some usm.

[ssim]

I would like to make a further recommendation on top Roach711's good response. I always make a blank layer and do my cloning on this. If you are going to do this you have to ensure that your sample is set to "Current & Below" or "All layers" in the tool bar when you have the clone tool selected.

This allows you to just throw away your layer and start over if you feel you have screwed up too much (been there, done that). Sometimes your cloning is a little too obvious and you can adjust the layer opacity to reduce the impact of it.

When I first started in photoshop I did just about everything on the background layer. I am a firm believer now in making changes in separate layers and when you are finished you can always flatten it if you want a smaller file size. If you are going to work on the background layer make sure to save your file often so that you can do a revert if you need to start over. This will mean that any changes up to the point of the save will be there when you do your File-Revert or F12.

[penodr]

I would like to make a further recommendation on top Roach711's good response. I always make a blank layer and do my cloning on this. If you are going to do this you have to ensure that your sample is set to "Current & Below" or "All layers" in the tool bar when you have the clone tool selected.

This allows you to just throw away your layer and start over if you feel you have screwed up too much (been there, done that). Sometimes your cloning is a little too obvious and you can adjust the layer opacity to reduce the impact of it.

When I first started in photoshop I did just about everything on the background layer. I am a firm believer now in making changes in separate layers and when you are finished you can always flatten it if you want a smaller file size. If you are going to work on the background layer make sure to save your file often so that you can do a revert if you need to start over. This will mean that any changes up to the point of the save will be there when you do your File-Revert or F12.

Thats a good idea, I always just copy the raw/jpg file to a "working" copy and that way I never change the original photo.

[howzitboy]

and set the clone tool to like 33% opacity and flow. that way u work slower and it wont show up as boldly. To get it done best, work slow.

[DAMphyne]

Be sure to increase the number of "History States" , the default is only 20 and that goes fast when you're cloning.

[mwvt9]

I have a lot to learn. Thanks to everybody for taking the time to post.

[Roach711]

I heartily agree with SSIM's advice about using layer copies and adjustment layers for your edits. They make your editing much more flexible - if you go too far you can re-adjust if you're using adjustment layers or, if you're editing on a layer copy, you can delete the layer and start over.

Cloning onto a blank layer will also make your files much smaller than when using a layer copy. I'm not sure whether that approach is available in CS2 and earlier. It works fine in CS3.

[flyinbrian]

I have a lot to learn. Thanks to everybody for taking the time to post.

we all have a lot to learn just keep trying thats what counts