Photoshop edit please

[osprey877]

Here's a shot I took yesterday. It was difficult to get a clear shot and in the end I still ended up with a branch obscuring the beak. I am thinking someone will know how to remove it in photoshop and save the picture. I have photoshop CS3, but have used it mostly for adjusting exposure/colour etc., not editing out items. Also, the whiteface is overexposed. How do I turn it down a bit without effecting the rest of the shot? Was taken with a hand held point and shoot (Nikon P80) at about 10' away on max zoom, which may account for any lack of sharpness. Anybody out there know how to fix this photo?? Thanks

[Medley]

I have the image, but no time right now. I'll take a full stab at this this afternoon. Is this the original, or do you have a larger version? Normally, the best results come from working on the largest version. You can e-mail it to me at tandemduo280@comcast.net.

- Joe U.

[SARtech]

Best I could do.

Check out my heron post!
Another rough day at work...

Kristine

[Singletracklovr]

Anybody out there know how to fix this photo?? Thanks

Hi ospray877,
I use the rubber stamp tool to remove sticks and twigs like this.

The basic steps:
Bring up a copy of the photo. Not the original.
zoom in to the area you want to fix.
select the rubber stamp tool
select the brush size. I usually pick one slightly larger with a soft edge.
place your cursor in an area you wish to copy
hold down the alt key and then left mouse click to copy that area.
Move the cursor over the twig and left mouse click as many times as needed.

With a little practice you will figure this out in no time.

hth

[Medley]

- Joe U.

[Singletracklovr]

Wow Joe, I can't believe you were able to bring back some of the neck feather detail from the overexposed area. Nicely done.
I would have assumed it was totally burned and the data was lost.

[Medley]

Thanks. Just a Shadow/Highlight adjustment, with Shadows at zero, and Highlights punched up quite a bit.

I'm not completely happy with the coloration of the bill with the improved contrast. To me, it looks oversharpened, though all sharpening was removed from that area. If it had been my image I probably would have done a localized saturation adjustment, and possibly a blur to reduce the contrast a bit. But since it's not my image, I thought I'd keep things as real as possible- to avoid over-editing.

- Joe U.

[osprey877]

Joe: Super job!! I'm going to try it myself now and see if I can duplicate your results.

[osprey877]

Joe: Heres my before and after shots using the clone stamp as you suggested. I removed the fainter branches from the body as well as the big one through the bill, and also tried, although not too successfully, to remove the red shadows cast on the tail area. I'm quite pleased for a first effort, and will use this technique often I think! Thanks again.

[SARtech]

ummm... since I didn't get a reply to my edit, could you tell me what you didn't like about it?

Kristine

[osprey877]

Kristine: My apologies!!. I misread the post and thought your edit was Joes. I didn't realize their were two, as yours and Joes are very similar. I should have paid more attention. I know how frustrating it is when you go out of your way to help someone and they can't even bother to respond! Again my apologies. Did you use the same technique as Joe ie the clone stamp??

[SARtech]

That's ok. I was wondering!
Yes, I used the clone stamp tool for the branch and the quick selection tool for when you only want to correct lighting/color in one area.