Request: group pic - please help with removing raindrop!

[Tom Mann]

Very nice job, Viewtiful. Thanks for working on it.

Finally, I had a bit of time tonight, so I thought I would clean up some of the remaining veiling flare induced by the center droplet. So, here is an effort that started with the OP's original, went first to me, then to Viewtiful, and now back to me, LOL. Nothing like a fun little collaboration, eh?

Hopefully, the OP and her friends will derive some enjoyment out of one of our results.

Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

And, for easy comparison with the more recent results, here's the original again ...

 

[chrisdesign]

I followed this interesting thread closely, though I didn't engage in it.
The quality of the last results are overwhelming. Congrats to everyone who participated to enhance this image.

 

[wendyy212]

Wow, I am speechless. The quality of these photos are amazing. I am so happy with them. You guys are all so amazing! Thank you to everyone who helped!!!!

 

[Viewtiful]

Thank you chrisdesign, that's very kind of you.

I'm not 100% happy with the pic I uploaded and could improve on certain elements as previously mentioned, but so long as you are happy with it, Wendy, that's the important thing!

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Wendy - Unfortunately, I just couldn't put as much time into your photo as I would have liked because of other, more pressing business. The problem is that doing this sort of work requires a lot of very detailed, time-consuming manual work. Reconstructing an important part of an image is not that different from doing a photo-realistic painting, which incidentally, must also blend in perfecty with the surrounding actual photograph. I can still see lots and lots of problems that remain to be fixed in this image, but at least it's now at a point of diminishing returns. Another few hours of effort would likely produce much less dramatic improvements.

To me, the take-home message from this exercise is something that is in the heart of every advanced photographer -- something they have learned over their career -- when you are shooting a scene or an event that can't be done over, make absolutely sure that every piece of photographic equipment you have is working perfectly (ie, no water drops on the lens), and have backups for all your equipmenet. The simple oversight of not wiping your lens (taking, at most, a few seconds) required many hours of post-production work by some very talented people to fix. This is not at all to castigate you, but just keep it in mind when you are planning your next adventure!

Best regards and I hope you have many more happy trips to come!

Tom M

 

[Viewtiful]

Haha, thank you Gedstar. Wendy looks very much like a solicitor I used to work with.

 

[Viewtiful]

I don't mind if you or anyone else does anything with the modified pic. If it's easier, I could provide my Photoshop file with all the separate elements I used to create the final pic - although grouped nicely, it's a bit of a mess as there are a lot of separate elements I did not use in the end, which are simply hidden. It was quite hard remembering which layers to show and which to hide in the end. Must be better organised.

I save my files to Dropbox which enable me to work from them at work and at home and which automatically save each individual version. I've got about 20 different versions of the .PNG (and about 80 versions of the .PSD!) which can be played out from start to finish like a time lapsed video.

Because you wouldn't let this post die, gedstar and being the obsessive compulsive that I am, I've removed the blue hue around neck and beard and updated the pic on the previous page.