Nik Tools - Control Points

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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I still love PhotoShop and would never get rid of it. The content aware healing brush is worth the money. I was shooting a shot with my drone the other day and the ground was covered with trash. I was the shot I wanted but the trash was so distracting. With the content aware healing brush I picked up 20 pieces of trash in less than a minute. That saved the shot. A person got in your perfect shot. Just wipe him out.
 
Vixen

Vixen

Senior Member
So I watched the video and it's good to find that I have basically been doing it right but learned a few more bits that will make me do it better :D
 
S

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
I still love PhotoShop and would never get rid of it. The content aware healing brush is worth the money. I was shooting a shot with my drone the other day and the ground was covered with trash. I was the shot I wanted but the trash was so distracting. With the content aware healing brush I picked up 20 pieces of trash in less than a minute. That saved the shot. A person got in your perfect shot. Just wipe him out.
Click to expand...
You should be on the gov.'t payroll for picking up so much trash!
 
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Carroll

Senior Member
Remember when Google bought/tookover Nik, they gave away the Photoshop/lightroom edition Nik Suite for free? That was nice of them. Oz
 
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rangioran

Senior Member
Wonderful tip - I had a copy of Nik Tools but had never used Viveza 2, fabulous tool!

Now a question for all of you Photoshop guru's out there.
I have a shot of a beautiful old oak tree, leafless this time of year obviously - but have three power lines passing through the branches. I've really tried with the 'content aware healing brush' but keep ending up with really noticeable jumbles where the content aware bit gets confused with the mass of bare twigs and branches resulting in a really unusable result.

Ash - tree.jpg
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
rangioran said:
Wonderful tip - I had a copy of Nik Tools but had never used Viveza 2, fabulous tool!

Now a question for all of you Photoshop guru's out there.
I have a shot of a beautiful old oak tree, leafless this time of year obviously - but have three power lines passing through the branches. I've really tried with the 'content aware healing brush' but keep ending up with really noticeable jumbles where the content aware bit gets confused with the mass of bare twigs and branches resulting in a really unusable result.
Click to expand...
What I do in situations like this is... I first duplicate my background layer (Ctrl/Cmd + J) and using the Quick Select or Lasso I make the big, easy selections of what I want removed. We just want to get the big chunks right now so go to the "Edit" menu and use the "Fill" option with "Content Aware". This should knock out the bulk of the problem pretty much. To clean up I use the "Clone Stamp" tool with verrrry soft settings.

Now we're down to the details and for very small areas you could probably get away with just using the Clone Stamp so see how that works. To do this detail work, I zoom in as far as I need to (400% or whatever). It's important this detail work be done PRECISELY. Watch out for repeating patterns and big areas of "smear" if using the Clone Stamp; both will look odd in the final output.

If you find yourself doing edits like this a lot a pen and tablet will be invaluable. I can't even tell you how much easier it is doing really fine edits in PS using a Wacom tablet.
....
 
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wornish

Senior Member
Kind of repeating what Paul said in his reply.

You have picked one of the hardest things to do.
The temptation is to go in and pixel peep - don't do that keep going back and looking at the picture at the normal viewing level.
The second issue is that you know where to look as you know where the power lines are so don't get into the really fine areas. If you clear up the longest clear runs of the lines first the rest disappear into the branches and twigs.

There is no magic shortcut to this, patience is needed.

What do you think of this edit.

Done in PS using
Spot Healing Brush
Mode : Normal
Content Aware
Type : Proximity Match

with a very small brush
and using a Wacom tablet !

View attachment 138528
 
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rangioran

Senior Member
Thanks to both of you for getting back to me in such detail, it's really appreciated.

You both recommend the use of a Wacom tablet so a Intuos Pen Tablet with Pressure-Sensitive, Ergonomic Pen & Software Recognition is winging it's way to me as we speak!

I'm itching to try it out on this image because, as you say Wornish, it's probably the most difficult task and therefore one that I'd like to learn to do well.

I'll post my efforts sometime next week and garner your opinions :)
 
Vixen

Vixen

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
What I do in situations like this is... I first duplicate my background layer (Ctrl/Cmd + J) and using the Quick Select or Lasso I make the big, easy selections of what I want removed. We just want to get the big chunks right now so go to the "Edit" menu and use the "Fill" option with "Content Aware". This should knock out the bulk of the problem pretty much. To clean up I use the "Clone Stamp" tool with verrrry soft settings.

Now we're down to the details and for very small areas you could probably get away with just using the Clone Stamp so see how that works. To do this detail work, I zoom in as far as I need to (400% or whatever). It's important this detail work be done PRECISELY. Watch out for repeating patterns and big areas of "smear" if using the Clone Stamp; both will look odd in the final output.

If you find yourself doing edits like this a lot a pen and tablet will be invaluable. I can't even tell you how much easier it is doing really fine edits in PS using a Wacom tablet.
....
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Powerlines is one thing I struggle with. Going to try doing it this way on large areas :D So far I've just been using healing & clone tools with mixed success ;)
 
Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
I just did one more test.

I shot JPEG.

SOOC

Test-nik-2.jpg


and some adjustments used Viveza and sharpening as well es define

Test-nik-1.jpg


JPEG is not that easy to pp but it can be done
 
Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
Do you always shoot in JPEG?
Click to expand...

No, I shoot RAW but just this was for some test to see how NIk does. After that test I know PP Raw is much easier and faster than JPEG.

Never mind I shoot 1 photo or 600 I shoot RAW. I am not sure should I after PP in LR safe the photos it to JPEG ( I do it until now) or should I safe the PP photos as tif, dng?
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
siamthai1 said:
No, I shoot RAW but just this was for some test to see how NIk does. After that test I know PP Raw is much easier and faster than JPEG.

Never mind I shoot 1 photo or 600 I shoot RAW. I am not sure should I after PP in LR safe the photos it to JPEG ( I do it until now) or should I safe the PP photos as tif, dng?
Click to expand...


A lot depends on what you plan to do with the photos. I generally go to web with my photos. Either here or Facebook so JPEG is find for either one on these places. Print is a different story. Generally Tiff but a lot of that depends on where you are having those printed.
 
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wornish

Senior Member
rangioran said:
Wornish, sorry I meant also to add that, whilst I tried to view your image, all that I got was . . .

Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator
Click to expand...


Don't know what happened with that it worked for me yesterday. But today it doesn't work.

Sorry but I deleted the copy so I can't re submit.

All I can say is it was brilliant :D .....

Seriously though follow the steps that Paul suggests and you will get there. The Wacom does make it easier but be warned there is a learning curve to using one.
 
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dickelfan

Senior Member
Wow....loved the video. I got the Nik collection back during Thanksgiving sale on Kelby one where you got an entire year subscription and the Nik collection for $169. I've been using some of the tools, but didn't know about this one. Love it!
 
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