Erasing and cloning on pure white...with an Example Image
Greetings, folks...I'm hoping for a little help here and I'm hoping some of you might even find this vaguely interesting? The example here has a pure white background, which is to say that R, G & B values are at 255. First question: to get rid of offensive branches, can I simply erase them with a pure white erasing brush? Next question: what would be the best way to eliminate the offending branches that stick out from the perch on which the cardinal is sitting? Which is to say: if I want a straight perch running across the frame, how would I best achieve this? I was playing around with the clone stamp, but couldn't really make things look natural. Please do forgive me if these questions are pesky and/or irrelevant to your lives! I would love some help, if possible. I'm very new to image alteration, and I'm pretty sure I'm talking about some fairly basic stuff here, but I'm not quite sure where and how to get started.
Can't thank you enough for your consideration.
There are a number of ways to do this. Here is a quick way. Cmd is Mac, Ctrl is PC
Make a new background layer Cmd or Ctrl J KEY. Using the Lasso tool...make a rough selection around most of the offending stem on the white baackground, paying closer attention to where the branch joins the thicker branch. Since the background is pure white you need only click Cmd/Delete on a Mac or Ctrl/Backspace on a PC to fill the selection with white background. Tip...hitting the D KEY on the keyboard to make the default foreground/background colors B&W. hit the X KEY to switch the foreground/background colors. FYI- Alt/Delete fills the selection with the foreground color.
Use the quick selection tool (W KEY...hold shift to rotate through tools) and select a part of the branch you want to overlay on top of the stem coming out of the branch. Hit Cmd or Ctrl J to copy the selection to a new layer, select the move tool (V KEY) drag the copied branch on top of the area you wish to cover, use the eraser tool (E KEY) to clean up edges.
Best,
Chas
Last edited by Charles Glatzer; 03-29-2012 at 09:07 AM.
Chas, you prince, many thanks...I'm about to get into this. Just need to wash my dishes first. It's so good of you to share your knowledge...I'm awfully excited to give this a try...
A tool I find useful for this is the clone stamp - set to lighten mode at 100% opacity you can just paint out the offending branches. Adjust the brush hardness to get clean edges. Lower the opacity to lighten the dark branches in front of the paler ones and then in darken mode paint back some texture if needed. Good advice to do your cloning on a new layer.
Here's quick and nasty attempt using the trackpad on my laptop - Wacom tablet would be much quicker and easier.
Erasing and cloning on pure white...with an Example Image
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