Hi,
I found a this Broad-bodied Chaser this evening, I got hundred odd shots as is my madness, I've processed three and put on my site, this one I like the best but for the OOF twig. Does anyone have any tips for cloning it out or should I go get another hundred?
It can be done with the colour replacemenst tood, gradient tool and the healing brush, I just think it will drive you mad... take it out on the twig...
Hi Tim.. I have been there so many times with Dragon flies, I now do my best to check the back ground before the shot, not always possible I know, but it helps some times..Its much easier with Wild flowers, as the stay put, but a minute moving the odd grass stem saves alot of time in PS.....................Very nice shot by the way, may be try cloning out that twig in the back ground????
Tim,
I'd be tempted to go and shoot some more. The cloning route is always more trouble than it's worth. You'd never be really happy with the end result, and you'd probably end up going for another shoot.
As bug shots go, it's a cracker; not my thing at all, but none the worse for that.
The twig is slightly distracting, but the quality of the subject far outways this fact. Perfection would require its removal, but is it worth the effort? Only you can decide.
It's not perfect by any means (blotchy background, two many different shades of green in the wing that aren't in the background, lower wing lower edge not perfect). But it shows that it can be done, and didn't take that long.
I started by selecting the background areas with the magic wand tool (tolerance 15, anti-aliased and contiguous), until most of the background was selected, including the OOF stick. I then cloned the stick out, trying to match the greens where they meet the wing with what I planned to replace the bits in the wing with. I then made a colour layer to make the brown in the wing into green. This was a hazy semi-transparent and soft-brushed approach. Then a bit of local contrast work with the burn tool set to enhance shadows to make the viens more their original black tone. Then I erased a few bits of the colour layer so that the shiny highlights didn't have a green tint (with a small, hard edged brush).
By the way, an ace shot of the male- love his pale blue pastel colour. I photographed a male and a female perching close to each other, but they were on the other side of a hedge, and I was using a 500 with 1.4x to get them reasonably sized in the frame- no keepers unfortunately.
It's still definately best to get everything right in camera, this PS work is not as satisfying as nailing the perfect shot!
Fantastic skills Ben!! Extraordinary attention to detail, changing colour cast well I never would have thought that.
See it's wonderful this communication thing, you learn all sorts.
It is a fine shot as it is, you could spend hours removing the OOF twig but IMO it is not too much of a distraction and would only make a fine shot a superb shot.
Life is too short, it is better spent out there taking the images, just make sure you look at the bg as well as the subject in the VF
Hello Tim
Ben has certainly given us all a good lesson in CS work, with some very useful tips, but I have to agree with Phil, life is too short and you are too good with a camera to spend unnecessary time in front of the computer monitor. Anyway, it's still a good image. twig or no twig.
Best wishes
Phil
A decent shot to start with but Ben has worked wonders on the image. With nature photography it is not always easy to get the perfect background so good Photoshop skills can really help, I must learn more myself. I agree with Phil it is best to get the image as right as possible at the moment of capture, but sometimes a bit of PS magic is required after the event.
Discussion
15 repliesI found a this Broad-bodied Chaser this evening, I got hundred odd shots as is my madness, I've processed three and put on my site, this one I like the best but for the OOF twig. Does anyone have any tips for cloning it out or should I go get another hundred?
Cheers
Tim
T
I'd be tempted to go and shoot some more. The cloning route is always more trouble than it's worth. You'd never be really happy with the end result, and you'd probably end up going for another shoot.
As bug shots go, it's a cracker; not my thing at all, but none the worse for that.
John
Rene de Heer
http://micklem.com/Broad-bodied-Chaser_ben.jpg
It's not perfect by any means (blotchy background, two many different shades of green in the wing that aren't in the background, lower wing lower edge not perfect). But it shows that it can be done, and didn't take that long.
I started by selecting the background areas with the magic wand tool (tolerance 15, anti-aliased and contiguous), until most of the background was selected, including the OOF stick. I then cloned the stick out, trying to match the greens where they meet the wing with what I planned to replace the bits in the wing with. I then made a colour layer to make the brown in the wing into green. This was a hazy semi-transparent and soft-brushed approach. Then a bit of local contrast work with the burn tool set to enhance shadows to make the viens more their original black tone. Then I erased a few bits of the colour layer so that the shiny highlights didn't have a green tint (with a small, hard edged brush).
By the way, an ace shot of the male- love his pale blue pastel colour. I photographed a male and a female perching close to each other, but they were on the other side of a hedge, and I was using a 500 with 1.4x to get them reasonably sized in the frame- no keepers unfortunately.
It's still definately best to get everything right in camera, this PS work is not as satisfying as nailing the perfect shot!
You know a trick or two then Ben
John
See it's wonderful this communication thing, you learn all sorts.
Tim
It is a fine shot as it is, you could spend hours removing the OOF twig but IMO it is not too much of a distraction and would only make a fine shot a superb shot.
Life is too short, it is better spent out there taking the images, just make sure you look at the bg as well as the subject in the VF
All the best
Ben has certainly given us all a good lesson in CS work, with some very useful tips, but I have to agree with Phil, life is too short and you are too good with a camera to spend unnecessary time in front of the computer monitor. Anyway, it's still a good image. twig or no twig.
Best wishes
Phil
David
Rene de Heer
A decent shot to start with but Ben has worked wonders on the image. With nature photography it is not always easy to get the perfect background so good Photoshop skills can really help, I must learn more myself. I agree with Phil it is best to get the image as right as possible at the moment of capture, but sometimes a bit of PS magic is required after the event.
cheers
Sean
A real shame about that twig in the background which takes the edge off what would be a cracking result.
Excellent PS work from Ben,I wouldn't have known where to start.