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Request: group pic - please help with removing raindrop!


wendyy212

Member
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Hi everyone,

When I went on tour early this year, this was literally the only picture which had all of us inside. I really want to print it out and put it on my shelf, but as you can see, there's a big raindrop in the middle which blurs out the people. I was honestly considering trying to take it out with photoshop myself, but the last time I used it was more than seven years ago, and I know this is way beyond my skills.

Is there anyone who's happy to help me please?

I know people are busy and have their own lives to attend to, so I'll be very grateful to anyone who can donate some time for me.

Thank you in advance!

(P.S. I've also read the message on free requests. Promise I won't cause any issues here!)

IMG_0381 (3).jpg
 

MrToM

Guru
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@gedstar

Did you open the real image? Its 3500 x 2625px

If you click the posted image a larger one will open.

Then click it again!
It should open in the browser window which you can then download.

Or is that what you call small? :rofl:

Regards.
MrTom.
 
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Tom Mann

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Welcome to PSG, Wendy! What a beautiful scene and a great looking bunch of people. Rain not withstanding, it looks like a happy time was had by all.

As you probably already realize, "removing" the raindrop means quite a bit of work reconstructing missing areas, either by copying from good areas, or by painting them in from scratch. Here at PSG, we prefer to teach PS techniques, but hopefully, someone will take on the task for you. That being said, do be patient because our members are literally scattered over the world, in wildly different time zones, and with different personal schedules.

If no one responds to this request in a reasonable amount of time, be aware that changing your request from a freebie, to a fee-for-service job will almost certainly get more responses, and much more promptly, for a very modest sum, well below normal, commercial retouching rates. Should you be interested in going this way, there is a sticky on the fee-for-service forum that gives some guidelines on fees.

The best of luck,

Tom M

PS - For what it's worth, I rather like the photo as is, with the raindrop left in place. IMHO, the drop on the lens plus the umbrellas, raincoats, etc. all reinforce the rainy feeling of the scene compared to a more "perfect" version of it. Personally, about the only things I would change in the photo is try to bring out some more structure in the very bright clouds, even the illumination ... things like that.
 

Tom Mann

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FWIW, this should give you an idea the sort of changes (mentioned in my previous post) that I would make to the photo before I delved into removing that raindrop.

Note: The in-forum preview is a low resolution animated before&after GIF, but my tweaked version at full rez version can be downloaded by double clicking on the attachment box.

Tom M

IMG_0381_(3)-tjm01-acr-ps02a_698px_wide_sRGB-8bpc-for_gif.gif
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0381_(3)-tjm01-acr-ps01a-01_3500px_wide.jpg
    IMG_0381_(3)-tjm01-acr-ps01a-01_3500px_wide.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 11

wendyy212

Member
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Wow! This is amazing! I didn't expect to get so many replies in such a short space of time.

Thank you everyone for their efforts so far!

The edits do look great, especially your one Tom.

I feel ungrateful for saying this given the time that has already been spent on this picture, but despite everyone's advice, I still really want the raindrop to be removed, or at least become a less prominent part of the picture. It takes my focus away from my friends' faces, which I guess is the whole reason I love this picture.

I'm sorry for all the extra trouble, but would be really really grateful for anyone who can help me out. Given its a substantial amount of work, I understand it might take a long while for someone to respond, and I don't mind the waiting. Please don't give up on me!
 

Tom Mann

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Glad u liked my tweaks, Wendy. BTW, anyone who wants to start their raindrop removal effort with my tweaked version should feel free to do so.

Cheers,

Tom M
 

Tom Mann

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Hey, Gedstar - I like what you have done towards removing the drop! And, I agree with you that the guy in front doesn't look like he would mind it in the least if his fleece was a bit grubby, but I bet the OP would prefer if he was a bit more presentable, LOL.

However, unfortunately, it seems that you have increased the contrast (probably, both local and global) and decreased the saturation of the greens, making it look almost lilke you intentionally introduced a "bleach bypass" effect on the picture. This concerns me -- IMHO, it turns a very soft scene into a very hard one, and I doubt this is the direction the OP would like to go, or how the other folks in the photo remember that day.

FWIW, when I was tweaking this image, completely independently of the added clouds, I spent considerable time adjusting tonalities, saturation levels, color balances, evening out the lighting, etc. to try to bring emphasis to the subjects and preventing the viewer's eye from wandering out of the frame while preserving the original feeling of the scene. Adding the clouds required much less finesse than the adjustments described in the previous sentence.

Because of this, I don't want to just "add some clouds" at the end. Rather, if you like my version (clouds and everything else) and want to use it, I think it would be a much better workflow and make for a much better final product if you started the high rez version of your raindrop repair using my high rez tweaked version.

Just my $0.02,

Tom M
 

Tom Mann

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Hey, Gedstar - So, do I understand you that you didn't do anything specific to increase the contrast, decrease the saturation of the greens, etc?

Tom M
 

Paul

Former Member
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Why don't you just finish the whole project off Tom, half finished is not complete as per OP's request.
 

wendyy212

Member
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Hi Gedstar,

I really like what you've done with the raindrop! The guy at the front is our tour leader, and very cool, so I'm sure he doesn't mind having a grubby looking fleece! I'm just happy that the raindrop is less prominent now, and I can focus more on everyone's faces.

Thank you for everyone's efforts so far!
 

Tom Mann

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Why don't you just finish the whole project off Tom, half finished is not complete as per OP's request.
Hi Paul - Just too much to do. IMHO, unless someone puts a lot more time into it than I have, it's likely to come out like an obvious repair, and I don't like to put those up on the web. As a famous man (whose name begins with "P") has oft said, "What you see is what you get.", LOL!

T
 

Tom Mann

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Hi Tom Mann ...I think what happened with that image was I was playing around with Topaz Adjust, just seeing what effects I could get, obviously got the wrong one DOH. still have the psd without and it's time for me to learn color adjustment!!
Ahh. I thought it had to be something like that. :) .

Here's a link to the "bleach bypass" look:
http://news.dphotographer.co.uk/tutorials/creating-a-bleach-bypass-effect-in-photoshop/

In fact, I'm pretty sure that Topaz Adjust may even have a preset with that name (...I'm too lazy to look through all of them in different versions of Adjust...). I do know that they produced a tutorial on how to get that effect in Topaz Adjust.

I always try to carefully distinguish "corrections" that I apply to an image (ie, to fix problems) from "effects" that I intentional add to an image to change it's look to achieve an artistic goal (eg, introduce a gritty feel). Bleach bypass is clearly in the latter category.

Tom
 

IamSam

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Great job Gedstar! I was taking the same approach..........I just work to slowly and my day job has been a little too demanding this week.

This is as far as I got..............needed a lot more work.

Screen Shot 2015-03-07 at 8.37.00 AM.png
 

wendyy212

Member
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Thanks Sam, now it's time for me to learn color adjustments :)
The only mystery that remains is which one is Wendy :rofl:

Hahaha! Considering that you helped me out so much, I'll end any torment your curiosity is bringing you. :p

I'm the girl with the big smile in a hat next to our tour leader in the middle. Did you manage to guess me?
 

Paul

Former Member
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Had another go, as described by others in this thread the centre portion is just a little to blown out for excellent results sadly.

drop.jpg
 

wendyy212

Member
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Hey Paul,

I'm actually quite happy with that!

Knew it was a big job, so not surprised to have a residual tinge.

Hmmm... which one to print and put on my shelf? So many choices now!
 

Paul

Former Member
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Yeah sorry to not mention your work, i just played around some more did an isolation of the main person and then did a barrel conversion to make it flatter, i still prefer my original with extra rain drops lol.
 

Viewtiful

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Here's my effort. Credit to Tom Mann for the colour / contrast enhanced pic I worked on.

If there's any parts of the modification you'd like tweaked, let me know and I'll give it a shot. I can also try removing the second raindrop in the middle right of the pic. The third raindrop in the bottom right hand corner can be removed very easily. But there's something about keeping them as a reminder of the original picture and of the wet day itself.

I'm not 100% happy with the blue hue around the tour guide's beard and particularly his neck, but if you're happy with it for print purposes, I'll leave it as is.

EDIT: The zipper was several layers lower than it should been. John Doe's jacket was much darker than the original. Both fixed now. Removed the blue around the tour guide's neck and beard. It only took about 10mins and easy in comparison to everything else.

Raindrop.jpg
 
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