How would you remove the head?

[Jay Gould]

Here is a bit of a different approach to being Eager To Learn: I have tried various methods to remove the head between the two Black Browed Albatrosses to no avail - I just can't make it look presentable.

The image does need cropping which would place the two albatrosses on the left third and a substantial crop off of the top perhaps down to the botton of the albatross that will be cropped out on the left side.

How would you remove the small albatross' head between the two adults displaying typical mating behavior?

Anyone who wishes to suggest PP as well please feel free.

Perhaps like some of the tests that are posted by Artie and others this might be another approach to everyones' - at least mine :p - education. :D

[David MacAlpine]

Great post valentine picture. This should be pretty easy with the clone tool in photoshop. You have lots of surfaces an crannies to copy a new rocky texture into that area. A steady hand and patience should do the trick.

[Jay Gould]

David, I tried to do it with the Clone tool about a dozen times before this posting. The problem I ran into was the closeness in color to the head and the left adult's neck.

Yeah, my b-day was yesterday and I had hoped to have this done for posting.

Thanks for thinking about it. Hopefully one of the PS Magicians will have some suggestions how to proceed with the line between the head and the neck.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay, Hoped I could be of some help. I worked with the ledge to the right of the right hand bird's neck...
Did it quickly... I'm sure others would take it from a number of areas...

[David MacAlpine]

Always easier said than done :) As the foreground and ledge are separated from the background (and if you are not averse to cropping), you might be able to mask the two birds and foreground ledge out and shift the foreground to the right. If there is enough space, the birds will pop on the darker background of the cliff on the right. Might be fun to play with this when I get home.

Cheers,

Dave

[Jay Gould]

Hi Jay, Hoped I could be of some help. I worked with the ledge to the right of the right hand bird's neck...Did it quickly... I'm sure others would take it from a number of areas...

Hi Dave and thanks. I got that far; for me the problem is how to make the line along the left adult's neck where the cropping occurs as clean and sharp as the right adult's neck. I think the rock work and the crop are great.

Anybody: is the only way to get a strong sharp line to do it pixel by pixel?

[arash_hazeghi]

There you go don't need to clone just select the area in between the heads, drag the selection somewhere that matches the BG, feather 8 px and copy paste. move the new piece to cover the spot between two heads and use eraser tool to trim it.
you can also select the BG and run some NR to smooth it, whites are toast (250+ RGB).
watch out for the exposure next time you are shooting white birds against darker BG.

[Jay Gould]

There you go don't need to clone just select the area in between the heads, drag the selection somewhere that matches the BG, feather 8 px and copy paste. move the new piece to cover the spot between two heads and use eraser tool to trim it.
you can also select the BG and run some NR to smooth it, whites are toast (250+ RGB).
watch out for the exposure next time you are shooting white birds against darker BG.

Arash, thanks for taking the time to do and teach.

I will have to practice making the selection carefully, and then dragging the selection to somewhere that matches the BG. You did and quick and dirty - really appreciated - so I can see the repeat pattern. I would try to grab a place within the area I am going to discard by crop.

I agree the whites are overexposed; yet in the histogram the left side spike is so very small I am surprised. It is as though I should have ETTR just short of the right side.

Thanks again.:D

[Alfred Forns]

More than on way of doing Jay !!! ... btw the new CD O'toole has is just perfect for this application !!!

Cropping wise might leave lots of the bg since it looks so appealing !! Sweet re posts !!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash, thanks for taking the time to do and teach.

I will have to practice making the selection carefully, and then dragging the selection to somewhere that matches the BG. You did and quick and dirty - really appreciated - so I can see the repeat pattern. I would try to grab a place within the area I am going to discard by crop.

I agree the whites are overexposed; yet in the histogram the left side spike is so very small I am surprised. It is as though I should have ETTR just short of the right side.

Thanks again.:D

Jay turn on the exposure warning, the toast whites will blink in red easier to see, histogram peaks are sometimes very small.