Removing objects from the background...

[ceejtank]

Hey All,

So I shot my sister in laws wedding. It was a beach wedding, there was some rain so most of it was indoors. However at the end we made it to the beach...

I took a few shots of them at the end, with the beach and sunset in the background, but alas.. with public beaches, there were other people in the background. I've never done any serious removing of objects from a photo before.

This photo is not finished editing wise (need to correct white balance/exposure, remove blemishes etc) but before I get into the nitty gritty I decided to try my hand at removing the people from the background. Can you guys take a loot and see if I did a good job at removing the people from the water/beach and making it look realistic still? Anything off from that you guys see, let me know so I can get to the other work of this.

THANKS A BUNCH FOR THE HELP!!!!

People in background:



No people in background:

 

[brett_93_ex]

Looks good to me except the splash or wash from the person in the red shirt. Other than that I think you did a great job.

 

[MLeeK]

that first person removed closest to us the spot is a draw to the eye still.
I'd REALLY like to play with this image a bit. Do you have it in raw?

 

[rokvi]

Don't forget to straighten the horizon! I think maybe a tighter crop would help here too.

 

[ceejtank]

that first person removed closest to us the spot is a draw to the eye still.
I'd REALLY like to play with this image a bit. Do you have it in raw?

Send me a PM with your email address and I can send you the RAW image.. my one request is if you do edits to it, let me know (semi detailed if you can - understandable if not) what you did. I am trying to learn post processing techniques better and am interested. Thanks.. I look forward to seeing your edit.

Don't forget to straighten the horizon! I think maybe a tighter crop would help here too.

Here's an unedited tighter crop I shot of pretty much the same photo right after I clicked the one above.



Thanks again for the comments guys. I really don't want to mess this picture up cause I like it so much, but I know I need to remove those people. I'll be working on cloning the water on the area where the kid with the red shirt is to make it more uninterrupted tonight.

 

[amolitor]

Once you get done cloning it all out, then select the whole background area along the beach and add a little more blur to the background. Not enough to really notice, but it should help cover over the sloppier bits.

 

[ceejtank]

Once you get done cloning it all out, then select the whole background area along the beach and add a little more blur to the background. Not enough to really notice, but it should help cover over the sloppier bits.

Will do. Great advice.

I was going to add a layer over the people as well to smooth it out a little bit, so maybe i'll smooth the entire thing out first, see how it does with covering my beginner clone skills, if more is needed, I will definitely do what youre saying. Thanks for the tip sir.

 

[SixShotEspressO]

Man I have literally thousands of picture from Spain/Portugal that would benefit from this type of treatment.

I know that the original may tell a different story but the proofs I see look AWESOME. I REALLY need to learn PS. Thanks for the post.

 

[ceejtank]

Ok I tried to remove that spot. Please more C&C if you can see any imperfections from the removal process. I also smoothed out the background a little as suggested.. and removed some of their blemishes.. thoughts/comments? This is one of my favorite shots from the wedding so I'm trying to get it as perfect as possible. Will adjust horizon later.

Thanks for viewing!



Original Edit(with the distracting area):

View attachment 20186

Original(so you dont need to scroll up):

View attachment 20185

 

[Jaemie]

A longer lens and shorter DOF could have eliminated or at least minimized the background issues. But, I guess you wanted the beach, waves, and horizon to remain visible.

 

[ceejtank]

A longer lens and shorter DOF could have eliminated or at least minimized the background issues. But, I guess you wanted the beach, waves, and horizon to remain visible.

Yeah.. it's a beach shot, meant to know they're on the beach. They live by the beach, so was kind of the theme. It was a beach wedding. Would seem pointless to exclude the beach from a beach wedding.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Once you get done cloning it all out, then select the whole background area along the beach and add a little more blur to the background. Not enough to really notice, but it should help cover over the sloppier bits.

EWWWWWWWWW fake Bokeh!

A longer lens and shorter DOF could have eliminated or at least minimized the background issues. But, I guess you wanted the beach, waves, and horizon to remain visible.

Yeah.. it's a beach shot, meant to know they're on the beach. They live by the beach, so was kind of the theme. It was a beach wedding. Would seem pointless to exclude the beach from a beach wedding.

Not pointless. You can still shoot a slightly wider aperture and the beach would be very obvious, just in a more subtle way in the bokeh.

What you've got to analyze, from a workflow perspective, is how much time you want to be spending on each individual image. It can get really time consuming, really fast! I understand you like this image and want it to be as perfect as possible.

I wish the clients were fully in frame, I find the composition a bit strained, with the man cut off on the right. I do like the image and the expressions beside that!

 

[ineed2shoot]

Personally you are damaging photography when you have to put brush to photo, why didn't you make the sea a backdrop to the couple. You did a good job even though i don't agree with this tier of image modification

 

[ceejtank]

Personally you are damaging photography when you have to put brush to photo, why didn't you make the sea a backdrop to the couple. You did a good job even though i don't agree with this tier of image modification

The 1800's called. They want you back.