Sunset on the Heath

[evacguy]

Which of these two versions do folks prefer? I guess I should prefer the cropped version as it takes out the distracting branches on the side, but I think I prefer the uncropped version? It appears more balanced to my eye.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II
• 70.0 mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/80 sec
• ISO 4000

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II
• 70.0 mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/80 sec
• ISO 4000

 

[MrFotoFool]

If it was my photo, I would keep the first version and clone out the leaves. Just one opinion.

 

[evacguy]

If it was my photo, I would keep the first version and clone out the leaves. Just one opinion.

Thanks Fred, I tried that, but I was always left with a significant artifact. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. I used the Healing option in LR, is there another way to do it?

 

[evacguy]

I agree with Fred.

Does Lightroom have an inpainting tool, or a clone tool? Try both of those.

Also, I would use a brush and darken the light in the nearest lamp to recover some detail.

I tried the clone tool on the big bunch of branches, it left a major artifact, it looked like the branches were just a negative of the original, they didn't disappear. The clone tool did however work on the clump of small branches just above the big clump. I will try darkening the nearest lamp. I guess I should put a mask on this and then reduce the exposure?

 

[evacguy]

I tried the clone tool on the big bunch of branches, it left a major artifact, it looked like the branches were just a negative of the original, they didn't disappear. The clone tool did however work on the clump of small branches just above the big clump. I will try darkening the nearest lamp. I guess I should put a mask on this and then reduce the exposure?

Thanks guys. I've darkened the first lamp as much as I can without yellow patches appearing in the lamp. I've also managed to get rid of the small clump of branches at the top, but the big clump of branches, I can't seem to remove.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II
• 70.0 mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/80 sec
• ISO 4000

 

[evacguy]

I'm not a Lightroom user, I use Affinity. In Affinity I'd try inpainting and see what it comes up with. Possibly a combination of Inpaint/Clone/Heal. Because of the varying light and color behind the branches you're going to need a very soft edge, and clone from immediately next to the branch.

Downloaded the jpeg and played with it in Paint.net. A bit less of a crop, took it just to the left of the straight pole next to the angled one. Cloned out what was left of the sign on the horizon and the leaves. This crop is closer to the original but takes a lot of the leaves out so there isn't so much to clone. I sent the example to you via PM.

Tim, your version is fantastic, but I just can't seem to reproduce this in LR. Perhaps I need to also use Photoshop, but I don't have the smarts to use that yet. I've brought the crop in a bit more, just as you suggested so that there is less tree to remove. But when ever I use the clone heal tool in LR it's like a have a negative of the branches as an artifact. Its an exact replica of what I've tried to take out, but instead of being dark, it's light, so it appears as the negative of the original. I've tried 'content aware remove', 'heal' and 'clone' and I get the same results each time. With the 'clone' tool I've selected a portion of sky immediately adjacent to the bit I'm trying to remove, but still get the same result.

 

[evacguy]

OK success at last! Many thanks guys, and many thanks Tim for your assistance. In the end, I cropped it slightly to reduce the amount of branches to remove, used clone heal in LR to get rid of the sign and masked over the front lamp and reduced exposure, highlight and white to reduce the brightness, all in LR. But I couldn't remove the branches in LR using the Healing tools. So I went into Photoshop (the light version as I don't know how to drive the full version yet) and used the spot heal tool there to get rid of the branches. I'm sure that the LR tools would work if I knew what I was doing. Once again, many thanks Tim and Fred for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II
• 70.0 mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/80 sec
• ISO 4000

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

The lights are blown and obviously not fully recoverable from the get go. On the leaves simple spot healing in photoshop with a suitably sized brush will suffice and the branches removal by a simple lasso tool, followed by patch tool.

If you are serious regarding post processing, lightroom is the poor relation to photoshop and even more so now photoshop Camera Raw and Lightroom recently added masking etc are one and the same engines.

Lightroom whilst it has its strengths for basic post production, it is far behind Photoshop dependant how far you wish to go
in Post processing as well as photoshop having advantages over lightroom as regards Topaz Denoise/Photo AI intergration
including full Raw file processing.

Hope this helps.

 

[evacguy]

The lights are blown and obviously not fully recoverable from the get go. On the leaves simple spot healing in photoshop with a suitably sized brush will suffice and the branches removal by a simple lasso tool, followed by patch tool.

If you are serious regarding post processing, lightroom is the poor relation to photoshop and even more so now photoshop Camera Raw and Lightroom recently added masking etc are one and the same engines.

Lightroom whilst it has its strengths for basic post production, it is far behind Photoshop dependant how far you wish to go
in Post processing as well as photoshop having advantages over lightroom as regards Topaz Denoise/Photo AI intergration
including full Raw file processing.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Ray, I think I've managed to remove the branches using Photoshop Express. I don't know how to use Photoshop yet, only really getting to grips with LR, but will move onto Photoshop asap. I kind of like the lights as they are, I think the make the photograph, lifting the scene. However, I did try to reduce the brightness on the first lamp and brought it down as much as I could in LR using a mask. If I pushed it too far the core of the lamp went a very unpleasant yellow. Do you think denoising software would improve this image? I don't have denoising sofware, I just make use LR or Photoshop Express to reduce noise as best as they can.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Don't think there is much to be gained by further work on your image but it doesn't seem to have heavy noise as far as I can tell from the image posted.

On LR vs photoshop I would certainly recommend photoshop over LR for the reasons I suggested earlier.

On the matter of denoise software ..
like all of us I am sure you have many photos in your portfolio which were shot with high iso and heavy grain and would like to recover them.

With LR or photoshop alone you will have limited success in doing so but with the better dedicated denoise programs you will have much more success.

I would personally recommend topaz denoise (stand alone) but you can also buy integrated within Topaz PhotoAI including sharpening and resolution enhancement packages.

Capture one, DXO Pure raw and Luminar are other denoise packages you can consider and which have been discussed from time to time on this forum

If you can send me your original image and I will mess around with it and see what I can produce for comparison with a description of the steps taken.