Time to Go - Half Moon Cay: Grabbed this shot while on vacation. It was time to go back to the cruise ship and the guys looking after the boats and stuff were relaxing after a busy...

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Grabbed this shot while on vacation. It was time to go back to the cruise ship and the guys looking after the boats and stuff were relaxing after a busy day.

Funny but I have never been really happy with this shot. Here's what I did with it:

GIMP: Cropped to place the ship at top left thirds intersection. Increased Saturation a tad. The ship was too dark. Selected the ship with Scissors Selection tool and increased the brightness of the ship with the levels tool.

So far so good, but look at the sail on the right hand boat. It's filthy! I don't want to crop it, but it's an option. Is it better to say "That's the way it was"? Or do I make a selection around the dirt and clean it up? But then it would be . . . . . suggestions?

Chuck_893 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Shakey wrote:

Grabbed this shot while on vacation. It was time t... (show quote)

Under the Cool New Rule I have gone ahead and had a crack at it in Photoshop Elements 11. I am still learningwill be learning forever, so my skill level may be considered at best semi-skilled. I first adjusted the levels to overall brighten the whole thing, and I cut the contrast about 15%. I still thought the ship was too dark. I didn't want to knock down the bright sail so I selected and further lightened the ship. Then I attacked the sail. I'm sure somebody else could do waaaaay better, but it's a toughie since it's so wrinkled and textured and stuff. I think that if you never knew the blot was there your eye would stay away from it. I. hope.

Curiously one thing that bothers me is the gap between the water bikes in the lower left! Isn't that odd? I wish the gap weren't there. It keeps hauling my eye away from the ship.

I think it's overall a good shot. What you did with it was a good start. What I did with it is, I hope, a good start. :-)

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Good job with both ship and sail, Chuck. Thanks for your work and advice.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Shakey wrote:

Good job with both ship and sail, Chuck. Thanks for your work and advice.

I guess we all see things differently... To me the subject of the photo are the staff members in waiting. The ship doesn't necessarily have to be completely in the frame in my opinion. Of course, cropping it down this much does not bode well for quality and noise.

Half Moon Cay Crop

Nightski

Shakey wrote:

Grabbed this shot while on vacation. It was time t... (show quote)

Shakey, post this in the post processing forum too. You might get some help with something like this that you don't get here. :-)

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Shakey wrote:

Grabbed this shot while on vacation. It was time t... (show quote)

Hi Shakey, I like your photo and what you did to it. Here's my dirty sail fix, done using the content aware healing brush and clone tool in Photoshop Elements 11.

I sent the sail to the laundry and used a sailor's needle to stitch it too. I took a weed (?) out of the water and quickly hosed a few spots off the boats. If only it were this easy to clean my actual house.

If the position of the left-hand yellow boat bothers you, Photoshop Elements 12, and I'm sure the new version of Photoshop, has a content aware move tool. This would be a perfect place to use that tool to slide that boat closer to the other ones. I don't have version 12 yet.

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Heirloom Tomato wrote:

Hi Shakey, I like your photo and what you did to i... (show quote)

That looks great, too. You are a star, Heirloom Tomato. Sent it to the laundry? You can't do that with gimp!

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Shakey wrote:

That looks great, too. You are a star, Heirloom Tomato. Sent it to the laundry? You can't do that with gimp!

I'm glad you like my version, Shakey. I love the photo and it certainly didn't need that awful stain on the sail to spoil it for you. If you have a clone tool and a content aware healing brush in your software, you can practice this kind of fix on your original now that you know what to use to get rid of it. Tips: work at 100% magnification and frequently adjust the size of your tools as needed. Try different sizes and see how it looks. Zoom out and in frequently to see how you are doing. Once you get the coordination down, it's pretty easy. If you make a mistake you can hit "undo" and try again.

Laundry is one of the nice features in PSE11. :P

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Heirloom Tomato wrote:

I'm glad you like my version, Shakey. I love the p... (show quote)

Thank you for the detailed instructions. I will most certainly try that. (You really have a laundry tool in PSE11? Sheeeese!.)

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

mdorn wrote:

I guess we all see things differently... To me the subject of the photo are the staff members in waiting. The ship doesn't necessarily have to be completely in the frame in my opinion. Of course, cropping it down this much does not bode well for quality and noise.

Thanks for the crop, mdorn. The captain was a little upset at what you did to the ship. Ah well, your opinion, my opinion.

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Nightski wrote:

Shakey, post this in the post processing forum too. You might get some help with something like this that you don't get here. :-)

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

Thanks, Nightski. I have had some excellent advice, but I note your kind advice.

MIKE GALLAGHER Loc: New Zealand

Shakey - 'content aware healing brush' is Resynthesiser in Gimp. Have you got it? And is it working ok now?
I'd like to know what 'laundry tool' is. I've got Gimp but I'm using CS5 and if it's there it might be called something else. Looks pretty useful eh?
Mike

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

MIKE GALLAGHER wrote:

Shakey - 'content aware healing brush' is Resynthesiser in Gimp. Have you got it? And is it working ok now?
I'd like to know what 'laundry tool' is. I've got Gimp but I'm using CS5 and if it's there it might be called something else. Looks pretty useful eh?
Mike

Laundry tool is a special tool for boat sails and spilled ice cream on little kids' clothes. Just kidding!!

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

MIKE GALLAGHER wrote:

Shakey - 'content aware healing brush' is Resynthesiser in Gimp. Have you got it? And is it working ok now?
I'd like to know what 'laundry tool' is. I've got Gimp but I'm using CS5 and if it's there it might be called something else. Looks pretty useful eh?
Mike

Thanks, Mike. I have that tool which is working fine. The previous Resynthesiser did not work well as it insisted on giving me portions of the sky to fill the selection.

My only problem is I don't have the link for the latest Resynthesiser/Heal tool. This is driving me mad as others have asked me for it. Do you have the link? I can't find it when I search the GIMP plugins page. It's age I think. LOL.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

Nightski wrote:

Shakey, post this in the post processing forum too. You might get some help with something like this that you don't get here. :-)

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html

Hey, Nightski! Will you stop sending customers across the road? At least give me a chance to earn my keep....But it's 0120Hrs so it will have to be tomorrow.