Removing power lines from sky

AK
Posted By
A_Kirk
Sep 28, 2008
Views
443
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I’ve got a set of power lines to remove from a photo.

Blue sky, with a bit of cloud.

The wires are running through the sky at approximately a 45 degree angle, based on the composition of the shot.

I’m familiar with some of the recommended methods: (1) cloning it out, (2) making a layer by lasso-ing a section of the sky, either above it or below it, then new layer via copy, then moving the layer over the wire.

But, there is enough of a difference between the sky above the wire, and below it, to make the new "sky" just as evident as the wire itself.

Can you suggest some other methods to accomplish this task?

Thanks.

Al
Related Tags
line remove

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

C
Curvemeister
Sep 28, 2008
Use a soft brush to clone from one side at 100 opacity, then from the other side at 50 percent. If this still shows, do several passes at lower transparencies. I sometimes add noise back after a cloning operation.

To clone a straight line, click on one end of the wire, then hold down control and click on the other end.
PF
Peter_Figen
Sep 28, 2008
Al,

I had to do this recently in order to use a great sunset with power lines in another image. This kind of work can take a while to do perfectly. Zooming in to 300, 400 or even higher percentages and then cloning with a brush just thicker than the power line will be very helpful. Some places the Healing Brush will do a great job and others it will suck. After you get most of the lines out, you need to back off and see what needs to be smoothed out, both in color and tone – y’know – a small brush for the detail work and then a large soft brush as ten or twenty percent opacity for the smoothing. Keep backing out to see if anything looks funny and refining. Good luck.

P.S. Though a good bit about Minnesota this afternoon and specifically about Split Rock and the Gunflint Trail.
AW
Allen_Wicks
Sep 28, 2008
Use the Clone Stamp tool and the Healing Brush tool, varying the parameter settings.
JJ
John Joslin
Sep 28, 2008
A neat trick which can help sometimes is to draw a path along the power line and then stroke the path with the Clone Stamp.
JM
J_Maloney
Sep 28, 2008

[That’s a good tip JJ. Thanks!]

Dust and scratches filter to a duplicate layer, layer mask, and lighten blending mode.

If you’re going to clone the lines (which you can even do after the d&s filter), you might try dropping an adjustment layer on top to boost the contrast to the area you’ll clone, thus magnifying any imperfections in faking the gradient. If you get an acceptable result with the high contrast, then it should look smashing when you kill off the adjustment layer.

In CS3 (2?) there’s even an "ignore adjustment layer" button in the clone tool options bar if you want to work your clones in an empty new layer with the "sample all layers" option checked (good for keeping file size down and flexibility up).

J
AK
A_Kirk
Oct 2, 2008
Sorry for the late reply. I’ve been out for a while….

Thanks to all for the good suggestions. I’ll try them all. I’m sure I’ll achieve excellent results.

Peter, you know the area well. Here’s a recent shot of Split Rock Lighthouse.

Al

< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1E67snpJuPl2B2OyiU OkjV9MuJbJUz1>

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections