removing an object from an image

[metulburr]

My goal:
I am trying to remove the kid from the left. At least enough to crop to make a decent pic without him. 

I "usually" do this by selecting random smaller sections from the area and blending/healing them in to make it look more natural. However if there is a simpler way i would like to know. 

On this i copied a section from the right and moved it over. Its good enough up to the point that the selection is too dark. Is there a way to lighten the selection to the surrounding area all at once? 



The actual image
http://imgur.com/a/HoFFf

Cant upload here as the file is too large 4912x3264 at 2.3 MB

[rich2005]

I do not think there is much you can do other than you should be using layers.

I would separate the copy-and-paste into top part and bottom parts.
The bottom part, lighten with the color curve tool. That can be tweaked a bit more with a gradient layer on top sort of 'pinky-gray' to transparent, in multiply mode with reduced opacity.

Then - new from visible and dive in with the clone tool.

   

I did try liquid rescale plugin but no real benefit, leaves a lot of artefacts.

[Ofnuts]

While your selection is still on its own layer, you can use Levels (or Curves if you want more accuracy) to adjust its lightness. It is best to keep all these bits as separate layers...

It is also a good idea to feather the selection before the copy-paste, so that your paste-in has edges that blend smoothly to their surroundings.

In simpler cases I would have used the Resynthesizer plugin to fill out the guy but here it doesn't work well (the background is not random enough, the grid gets garbled).

[metulburr]

Quote:The bottom part, lighten with the color curve tool. That can be tweaked a bit more with a gradient layer on top sort of 'pinky-gray' to transparent, in multiply mode with reduced opacity.

Then - new from visible and dive in with the clone tool.

Im not even sure if i understand that process, let alone replicate it. Is there a breakdown of steps? Or a tutorial of this?

EDIT:
I think i might of done it. I didnt understand the curve tool. And that seems to be what i was missing. 
Thanks

I merged my layers down as i go because of the the heal tool seems to look better, and it does not appear to work if you have separate layers.

---

i ended up sacrificing the width of the picture for less editing. Thanks again. 

[Blighty]

It is always good to keep your layers intact. Instead of merging down you can right click on the top layer and select "New From Visible". And remember to save as a xcf file to keep your layers intact.

[rich2005]

@Metulburr 

FWIW Just the bottom section.

Rather than merging layers, better a new-from visible. That way you save your work as increments

https://youtu.be/jmuiAC7ypss about 3 minutes

[metulburr]

(10-19-2016, 04:44 PM)rich2005 Wrote: @Metulburr 

FWIW Just the bottom section.

Rather than merging layers, better a new-from visible. That way you save your work as increments

https://youtu.be/jmuiAC7ypss  about 3 minutes

WOW

That is the best response i have gotten a forum. Thank you.

[Ofnuts]

(10-19-2016, 07:09 PM)metulburr Wrote:

(10-19-2016, 04:44 PM)rich2005 Wrote: @Metulburr 

FWIW Just the bottom section.

Rather than merging layers, better a new-from visible. That way you save your work as increments

https://youtu.be/jmuiAC7ypss  about 3 minutes

WOW

That is the best response i have gotten a forum. Thank you.

This forum is a mere frame around Rich's videos

(which could be embedded here directly, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!)