I was walking the grounds at Wimpole Estate this past weekend and took this photo of the gardens that are behind the house:
ISO 25 4.15mm f/2.2 1/1700
While I think it is pretty, the word that comes to mind for this scene is ostentatious. I can’t help feeling that part of the reason for the estate was to show off wealth. The edges in this garden though, were perfect. You might notice that there was no one walking in the gardens. That is actually a result of editing. Here is the original:
ISO 25 4.15mm f/2.2 1/1700
There are two children running around there. I removed them using a combination of the spot healing brush, the healing brush and the clone stamp. Why did I bother you might ask? The answer would be because I could. I don’t usually remove people from my photos and I thought this would be an excellent chance to practice. I also made some slight adjustments to the overall photo, the original just felt a little too bright and had a little too much contrast. Those edits I made in Lightroom. I increased the tone is the shadows, desaturated the yellows, and bumped up the hue of the greens. One edit that I tried and then discarded was putting a graduated filter on the photo. I ended up not liking what that filter did to the tone of this particular photo.
How do you feel about removing items or people from photos? Let me know what you think of my attempt. I have to admit it makes me a bit uneasy. Feel free to leave your thoughts on this type of editing below. If you have a favorite technique for removal and have blogged about it, or have written about why you do or do not do this type of editing, feel free to leave a link to your post.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
That is very good. You can’t even see a trace of the children in the final edit. I think it’s okay if you want to remove people in photo but as you said, I do feel a bit funny about it. In a way by removing people we are editing a bit of history in a moment of time. I am very bad at removing people. I do use the spot healing brush but I think I need more practise with it.
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Yes, I agree with your thought that you are editing a moment in time, perhaps that is why I’m a bit uneasy about removing people. I find these particular brushes can be tricky, I know that I often think when I am using them that if I just used them more, I’d be more proficient at it. I also think that they have been improved in the last couple of versions of Photoshop.
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My technique with the brushes have always been terrible. I go get some lag on my laptop when I use it. Maybe it’s the way I’m using it, or maybe it’s the technology. Then again, practise makes perfect for photography 😀
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I know what you are talking about with a lag, I think the newer versions are less likely to do that, but it is also a question of how has your computer can run versus the power that any particular function takes, and some of the photoshop features do require quite a bit.
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Interesting question. In this case I think you did the right thing. From the beginning I had the idea of not doing any enhancements at all in my photos, they should be natural, but…as it nowadays is possible, I do. I seldom remove things though. most seldom people, but sometimes stones, a twig or an irritating tele pole. In your photo – which is really edgy indeed, the person disturbed the edginess enough to be removed!
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Yes, sometimes it is just those stray things that I find I want to take out. Taking out people always gives me a bit more to think about though.
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You did a great job on editing the photo. I really like the first one. I don’t always know when to use the the graduated filter.
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Hi Amy, I used the graduated filter on another photo today and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. Sometimes it is just a question of experimenting until you find the answer you are looking for.
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Thank you, Amy. Hope to see the photo you just did soon. 🙂
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Yes, I’m thinking of blogging about it soon, I’ll be sure to let you know if I do.
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I love Wimpole Estate 🙂 and your choice for the challenge is magnificent.
It looks quiet and good without any people and I think I’ll try out your tools next.
Best regards from the very hot coast of Norfolk,
Dina & co
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Hi:) Wimpole is a lovely spot, we enjoy walking there, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up in my blog again someday. Those particular brushes can be helpful sometimes, other times I just find them frustrating. It is one of those things that I come back to though, just because I think part of the frustration is just the process of learning to use them more effectively. It has been rather hot around here lately hasn’t it?
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Wow the edges make the garden look so harsh. Once I took a photo inside an old building and there was a reflection from a distance light. I removed the reflected light. I thought it was hard to get a good result. I used light room. I probably need more practice.
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I think reflected light is hard to edit out as well. A garden this formal, while pretty in its own way, is not my favorite style.
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You are creating a photograph. You are not documenting anything special or trying to deceive anyone. I don’t see your changes at being any different than removing power lines, for example. Lightroom, Photoshop, any editing program, makes it easier than creating photos in a darkroom. Nice photo. And yes, ostentatious seems appropriate although for the residents, it is probably also pleasant and relaxing to wander the grounds.
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I call it ostentatious but at the same time I will admit that this is a place that I really enjoy visiting. They have some great walking paths. The home itself shows off its history which is really quite interesting.
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It is an exceptional garden. It is hard not to impart the good or bad intentions, our judgements, about the owners onto the garden itself.
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Yes, that is all true. I had never really thought about judging gardens as a way of judging people, that’s a very interesting point. When I see something like this though, I will admit that I think that the gardener(s) is a very hard work, it is very beautifully maintained.
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To be honest, I didn’t notice the children in the original. They weren’t that obvious.
You did do a great job with the editing once I saw them. I really like them both.
The unqiue way they cut into the hedges makes a beautiful edge.
Isadora 😎
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It’s is interesting that you didn’t notice them in the photo. They are the first thing I notice, but I think that is because I saw them in person, squealing in delight to be running around. So, I can’t help but to think of them when I see the photo. Probably part of the reason I was back and forth about removing them from the photo.
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I think you’re right. If you saw them in person you’d remember why they were in the photo. Great photo either way. 😎
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Funny, how that can effect your editing process and what you think of the final photo.
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😎
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Your photos are stunning. The estate reminds me of Wayne Manor in Batman Begins. Im no photographer, but I feel like editing photos is part of a photographers creative expression or freedom. It would only bother me if the photographer was a photojournalist or something along those lines.
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Thank you very much. Photojournalists have their work cut out for them that is for sure. How do you tell a story without imposing yourself on the story line? a very tricky thing to manage I think. Luckily, with this sort of photo I have a lot more room for self expression.
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Youre welcome. Yeah, they do. I used to study journalism in college, and my professors would always harp on the importance of photojournalism.
Thanks for responding.
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Yes, a photograph can have a deep impact on people, as a photographer I think you have to consider that. Thanks for your visit to my blog.
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I’m happy that I don’t have to trim all those edges, Amy 😉 As a general rule, I think people add ‘life’ to an image, so I never mind if someone is in the landscape. I do get angry when an entire tour group gets in the way and acts as if no one else has a right to capture the scene/landmark/statue.
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Yeah, there is a job that wouldn’t appeal to me much. Whoever does the work, does a very good job though, it is beautiful. Yes, people management at public places can be frustrating for a photographer.
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With what lens did you shoot? seems to be a 14mm but I may be wrong… Thanks!
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This was taken with my iPhone 6 in pano mode. I have to say, I really like the pano feature of this phone.
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Amazing!
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Thanks 🙂
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Removing people is soo tricky, the result is amazing !
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I agree, I think it is difficult to remove and make it look like they never were there.
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Amy I love the technique. Sometimes it is impossible , save for the dead of night, to take an image without people in it. My husband once removed hundreds of people from a ruin in Mexico. A very astounding result.
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Wow, that is impressive. I agree, though, sometimes there is no way to shoot without people. So then you are left with the choice of how to edit.
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I enjoyed secondhandray’s comment.
For me, whether it be through photography or painting, I want to always come back to what my intention is, the essence that I am wanting to capture. Same as in writing.
I love these hedges and mandala like design they create. I am glad you went for the essence of that.
I wanted to capture some hedges for this prompt. They seem perfect as they even contain edge in their name. In my minds eye I kept seeing English hedges and none of the ones I saw around here matched that image. I delight in seeing yours.
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Thanks very much for your visit and thoughtful comment. I hadn’t consciously thought about hedge containing the word edge, but that is another level on which the challenge could work.
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Both looks great with or with out children running. Great job 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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I take a lot of photos of my dog. I use the spot eraser thingy to take her leash out of some photos. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I have never used Lightroom..nor ‘desaturized” a color. That sounds interesting.
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Yes, I find that removing things can be a bit hit or miss and it does seem to either work great or not at all. I like the saturation slider, in some cases it can be an easy and interesting edit.
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