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help in Lightroom please


doctordog

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Hiya!

I took photos for fun .. however, one issue with snapping pics out of a moving-car window is that it can be hard to compose properly..

I ended up with a shot I quite like, but the problem is that the pole in the front of the composition is a visual obstruction. I'm using lightroom and tried to remove it, but the problem is that when it clones an adjacent area, the curved black powerpole lines come out uneven.

would it be a very hard job to remove the pole and then have the black lines match up properly?
 

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Doctordog, thanks for coming here with your question. I have altered the title to add Lightroom. This way it will catch the appropriate attention more readily, as we don't have a category specifically for that software. Thanks and hang on. The forum was slow last night but our pros will be around soon I am sure.
 
I love LR, and use it a lot in my work. However, even the newest Creative Cloud version of LR is mostly limited to making global adjustments. It is not really designed for pixel level adjustments and repairs, which is what you are effectively asking for. Photoshop is the tool of choice when you need to do this sort of work.

You are running into one of the most fundamental and important photographic decisions you will have to make in this modern age: You can either spend a bit of time to take a good photograph (ie, stop the car) that won't need much post processing, or you can spend a lot more time trying to fix up a bad photo, and the result will never be as good, even if you are the world's best Photoshopper, LOL.

Of course, there are situations where one is perfectly happy to spend the time after-the-fact in PS, e.g., the photo situation simply can't be re-created / re-photographed / re-lived; your real interest is in learning the techniques and this photo is just an excuse to do so; the result doesn't have to be perfect; you're retired and have lots of time on your hands; etc.

Personally, I have zillions of photos just like yours that I've also taken out of car windows, especially when rushing around on a trip. I can only think of a couple of cases where I spent any time trying to fix such problems. Instead, I almost always leave them as they are, and mentally place them in my "personal memory jog ONLY" category, to be seen only by my wife and myself, and enjoy the glitches (like your light pole) for what they are - true memories of that trip, not some doomed attempt to make art out of the proverbial "sow's ear", LOL.

Just my $0.02,

Tom

PS - Hopefully, I'm not belaboring the point, but just for fun, I dug up one of my own examples of the difference between a "memory while driving photo" and what u can get if you pull over for a minute and can pay attention to photography, not driving. These two shots were taken a minute or two apart, the 2nd one, a hundred feet or so further down the road, after I pulled over, looking 90 degrees to the left.

I could have Photoshopped the 1st one till I was blue in the face and it would never come out as good as the 2nd (still no prize-winner) . Both were taken on the same little point and shoot camera. Of course, I did increase the contrast and saturation in the 2nd shot. OTOH, photographic improvements notwithstanding, the 2nd shot gives me absolutely no sense of where or when I took it, whereas, from the 1st, that whole day comes back to me, even if it is a complete failure from a photographic POV.

taken_while_driving.JPG

stopped_got_out_of_car_turned_90_degrees.JPG
 
Ignoring everything I said previously about spending time on a poorly exposed photo, I did exactly that, because, like you, there is something about that scene that I quite like.

Much of what you see was done in ACR, and the light pole removed in PS using the content-aware fill tool followed by a bit of work with the patch tool. Obviously, I didn't want to spend the time to remove every last trace of it for this little demo, but see what you think. Final color tweaks were done using Topaz Adjust.

Just humoring my gaudy inner child :-) .

T
 

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Tom,

I definitely get what you're saying. I think I have a bit of a 'hoarder' mentality when it comes to photographs -- it's quite rare for me to get out and be able to take pictures, and that scene we were driving past is a highway area that doesn't permit stopping. So I try and do my best to make some use of every picture I take. I know I should practice 'letting go' a little more, but I messed around with that particular picture in VSCO and the scene looked so great that the pole broke my heart a little.

I have no expertise in Photoshop .. but will play around and see what I can do.

Your edit does look good, though. I know it defeats the purpose of learning here, but is there any chance you would be willing to send me the edit you made *without* the funky colors? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!
 
Spot healing tool, straightened bottom of image up, played with colours.
pylons.jpg
 
Wow, that looks great too Paul!

There was a specific filter I was intending on using, so didn't want the colors adjusted. Is there any chance either of you could send me (or attach?) a copy of the pole fixed with the original colors intact?
 
Hi DrDog - If I could, I would be happy to give you what you requested, except that I didn't make my changes in an order that would permit that.

The reason is that I first made the majority of my tonal and color adjustments, and, only after that, much later in the process did I remove the light pole. This means that at no step along the way did I ever have a version of your photo that had the original color AND the light pole was removed.

Unfortunately, this means that unless I start from scratch, about the best I can do for you is to make a B&W out of my final product. I hope this is of some use.

The other problem in fulfilling your request is that because I only intended my version as a quick-and-dirty forum posting, I really rushed through the process of removing the light pole. There are lots and LOTS of errors in the new version, which I'm sure you will see if you look at the full-rez version attached below.

Regards,

Tom
 

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