Get rid of power cables crossing the photo

[wormy1]

Hi,

I always encounter with annoying power cables crossing my landscape photos. I know I should not have them in the frame at the first place, but sometimes I just don't want to give up the shot. I have tried using "Clone Stamp Tools" to slowly clone them away. But, besides taking very long time, the photo also end up with a lot of noticeable flaws. Is there any better way of PP the cables away? Hope you could share with me. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Wormy1

[harveyzone]

Hi,

I always encounter with annoying power cables crossing my landscape photos. I know I should not have them in the frame at the first place, but sometimes I just don't want to give up the shot. I have tried using "Clone Stamp Tools" to slowly clone them away. But, besides taking very long time, the photo also end up with a lot of noticeable flaws. Is there any better way of PP the cables away? Hope you could share with me. Thanks in advance.

Blooming overhead power cables seem to creep into so many photos don't they!

I think Don is right - the best way is the use of clone stamp and healing tools. As the background is fairly plain the healing tool might be better for parts, but you will need the clone tool around the details. If you are struggling with flaws from the edge of the brush then you can try adjusting the edge hardness, or selecting a different brush shape (e.g. an airbrush pattern shape rather than a circle) which may help.

[David Kilpatrick]

There is a good quick way to do this - set the mode of the clone tool to LIGHTEN and it will only affect the wire itself, if the source gradation you pick is close to gradation (or darker than it by a tiny amount). You can use a larger clone stamp with a big soft edge (I normally set hardness to zero) and blend in the cloning; the LIGHTEN mode will ensure that it acts selectively. Example: use a 50 pixel clone, working from the area of the sky just above the wire, and set the mode to LIGHTEN. Since the area higher up the sky is darker than the sky lower down (by a tiny amount) the tool will leave the sky unaffected. Work very close to the wire, making a parallel clone sweep, with the source just avoiding touching the wire. It will disappear by magic and the sky will be unaffected.

I often use the clone stamp in either lighten or darken modes, because it allows really easy retouching up against complex subject profiles and textures. You can extend this to working in colour channels separately, but that is not needed for sky retouching.

David

[Javelin]

wow thats a great tip and works really well. how would you deal with a wire that shows as white against trees?

Like in this picture the lighten setting was used on the black wire and darken on the white wire but theres the other white wire (it's actually black and white) that crosses the trees ?

[wormy1]

I gave DK's method a try. Definitely much faster and better. But I still mess up the foggy background. I'll need to practice more as Sonolta said. And I will learn the healing brush tool recommended by Tom. Thanks for all the advice guys.

Cheers,
Wormy1

[Birma]

Hi wormy1 - I think you did a good job of removing the power lines. A good topic to raise as it has got some excellent replies. I'm sure a lot of us will be trying these methods now.

[David Kilpatrick]

The trees are fractal-type data. Just clone and pick your original to match, change at random. Any foliage, street, skin etc is the easiest thing to clone invisibly when you have access to areas of similar pattern.

David

wow thats a great tip and works really well. how would you deal with a wire that shows as white against trees?

Like in this picture the lighten setting was used on the black wire and darken on the white wire but theres the other white wire (it's actually black and white) that crosses the trees ?