Nanc Loc: Rocky Face

I recently took some great pictures of elk during the rutting season in N. Calif. However, in the background are poles, people, and cars. Please tell me a good, not too complicated, way to get rid of these unwanted obstacles. I am willing to buy any software that will accomplish this goal.

PrairieSeasons Loc: Red River of the North

If you provide an example, you will probably get numerous examples of finished pictures from forum members as well as recommendations for software. If you check the (store original) box when you post, it will be easier for the member to download your photo to work on it.

I will start out by stating the obvious - PhotoShop will do all that you are asking.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Almost any PP software will allow you to clone out subjects like this, even some of the free programs will.

Dadyassa Loc: Spain

Inpaint, cheap and cheerful. Download and try before you buy as far as I know.
I have used it to remove a road sign etc, really easy, just paint it over and hit inpaint.

theunis Loc: Bloemfotein. South Africa

Gimp.org is also free.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

johnske Loc: Townsville

paint.NET is also free and will do this

Fred_Bear Loc: Southend, Essex, UK

I use helicon Filter which I find really good, although some people seem to not like it much, horses for courses!

Nic42 Loc: Cardiff, Wales

I'll go with Lighthouse's suggestion as well. I find WireWorm very good

RDH

Without seeing the picture it is hard to make a recommendation: however, cropping or cloning is probably the way to go. Certainly PS or any of the Adobe tools will do the job. Of the freeware tools GIMP is the only one I have used. The Gimp clone tool works very much like PS and is very effective. Read the help section.

Weatherbird Loc: East Lothian, Scotland

I use Elements 10 and first of all turn to the Healing Brush and Context Aware. Paint on wires and other things and the PSE magic does the rest

MtnMan Loc: ID

Photoshop Elements 11 will do this in a variety of ways. It is on sale in Costco this week for $49.

These ladies had some stuff around them I removed with Elements 10. They were in a neighbor's yard.

Nanc Loc: Rocky Face

Thanks MtnMan. I'm on my way to Costco to pick up Elements 11. That sounds like a good deal. Hope the directions are easy to follow.

staciee7 Loc: Stanton, TN

Yeah, I use Gimp, my computer runs Linux, and it is pretty good, you just have to get used to navigating around.

treehugger Loc: Eastern Idaho Highlands

I feel a need to explain my personal bias before responding to this question. I am not a strong supporter of the cut, paste, and cloning tools found in Photoshop, or other like programs. When a photograph it taken, it's not just a record of the "main subject," it's a record of the surroundings. When we remove or add stuff, we are not capturing the moment, we are creating a world that does not exist.
In this case, instead of searching for ways to "improve" the image by removing references to civilization, why not incorporate them into the photograph as a record of the inter-face between us and the wild creatures we stopped to admire in the first place.
A few years ago we stopped somewhere in Northern CA, or maybe Oregon, and photographed Elk grazing on grass in front of a red building. It might have been a church or something. The juxtaposition of the elk, green grass, blue sky, red building, and tourists is one of my favorite photos.
And before you ask, yes I use Aperture for my post production work. Mainly to correct my mistakes in exposure, and maybe add a little contrast.