This needs work ...

[tonysmith]

I like this picture, but need to get rid of the interloping branches coming in from the right.

[attachment=14286:Death___Birth.jpg]

I have tried to do it in LR with the clone tool, and that's ok for the easy pieces but not the harder parts where the branches overlap. I also looked at the brush tool but could not see how to make that work. I do not have Photoshop, but do have Paint Shop Pro X2.

Can anyone help with advice on how to do a nice job of this?

Many thanks

[tonysmith]

The two extra attachments were unintended, but I can't seem to edit them out. One shows my attempt at fixing my problem, but at 100% there are many traces of the leaves I am trying to get rid of, so it is unsatisfactory.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[RSL]

The two extra attachments were unintended, but I can't seem to edit them out. One shows my attempt at fixing my problem, but at 100% there are many traces of the leaves I am trying to get rid of, so it is unsatisfactory.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Tony, You're almost there with that last one. Nothing says you can't go above 100% when you're cloning, and sometimes you have to. But it's never going to be perfect to those with critical eyes. Can you go back and re-shoot from a slightly different angle? You wouldn't be trying to completely eliminate the branches from the right side -- just to keep them far enough away that they don't intersect with the tree. If you can do that the cloning job is a piece of cake.

[Sheldon N]

I wouldn't use the clone tool for this job... layers is much easier. I used PS for this fix, took about 90 seconds. I believe that Paint Shop Pro 2x has layers so you should be able to do this as well.

The approach I took was based on the fact that you had a beautiful blue sky with a smooth gradient. I just duplicated the underlying layer, created a selection that surrounded the affected area, and then covered it with a blue gradient that matched the dark blue to light blue transition of the sky on the top layer. I then added a layer mask, inverted it, then painted (on the mask with white) to add the sky back in and cover where the tree was in the way. I zoomed into 400% to do the tight edge edits, but most of it was pretty straightforward.

Took longer to type this than to do the fix.

[attachment=14288:tree.jpg]

[RSL]

I wouldn't use the clone tool for this job... layers is much easier. I used PS for this fix, took about 90 seconds. I believe that Paint Shop Pro 2x has layers so you should be able to do this as well.

The approach I took was based on the fact that you had a beautiful blue sky with a smooth gradient. I just duplicated the underlying layer, created a selection that surrounded the affected area, and then covered it with a blue gradient that matched the dark blue to light blue transition of the sky on the top layer. I then added a layer mask, inverted it, then painted (on the mask with white) to add the sky back in and cover where the tree was in the way. I zoomed into 400% to do the tight edge edits, but most of it was pretty straightforward.

Took longer to type this than to do the fix.

Good job. Absolutely, layers can solve a multitude of problems, but a lot of people either don't have access to them or haven't used them enough to understand what you explained.

[dalethorn]

I have a 10 year old version of Paint Shop Pro, and it does all the layer stuff. This process won't be hard to learn. Changing colors, now that's hard.

[Justan]

I wouldn't use the clone tool for this job... layers is much easier. I used PS for this fix, took about 90 seconds. I believe that Paint Shop Pro 2x has layers so you should be able to do this as well.

The approach I took was based on the fact that you had a beautiful blue sky with a smooth gradient. I just duplicated the underlying layer, created a selection that surrounded the affected area, and then covered it with a blue gradient that matched the dark blue to light blue transition of the sky on the top layer. I then added a layer mask, inverted it, then painted (on the mask with white) to add the sky back in and cover where the tree was in the way. I zoomed into 400% to do the tight edge edits, but most of it was pretty straightforward.

Took longer to type this than to do the fix.

[attachment=14288:tree.jpg]

I really enjoy comments such as this as they show how feeble my PS skills are. Where do you learn this stuff?

[tonysmith]

I wouldn't use the clone tool for this job... layers is much easier. I used PS for this fix, took about 90 seconds. I believe that Paint Shop Pro 2x has layers so you should be able to do this as well.

The approach I took was based on the fact that you had a beautiful blue sky with a smooth gradient. I just duplicated the underlying layer, created a selection that surrounded the affected area, and then covered it with a blue gradient that matched the dark blue to light blue transition of the sky on the top layer. I then added a layer mask, inverted it, then painted (on the mask with white) to add the sky back in and cover where the tree was in the way. I zoomed into 400% to do the tight edge edits, but most of it was pretty straightforward.

Took longer to type this than to do the fix.

[attachment=14288:tree.jpg]

Thanks Sheldon, I see that worked beautifully but Russ is correct that I don't know enough to be able to understand your explanation of how you did it. Neverthless it will be an interesting challenge, knowing it is possible, to figure it out in Paintshop Pro.  Many thanks again.

[tonysmith]

Now I do know how to do it. Levels and a mask in Paint Shop Pro, approximately as Sheldon described. Took me a great deal more than 90 seconds, but I learned a lot and will be quicker next time.

Thanks again

[attachment=14477:Cemetery_Tree_LL.jpg]

[Sheldon N]

Nice! Looks great.

[RSL]

Tony, Bravo!