Object Removal with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023 – The De-urbanization of a Pond

Back in the day, Inpaint used to be the standard for removing objects from digital photographs. Then I discovered Photo Stamp Remover which I found to be much better and easier to use. That all changed when I upgraded my Photoshop Elements 12 from 2013 to Photoshop Elements 2023. The interface has improved and the capabilities increased, not the least being it’s object removal capabilities, which are better than any other program I have tried. Photoshop Elements 2023 states “Adobe Sensei AI technology* and automated options do the heavy lifting so you can focus on the fun stuff”.

This project demonstrates the object removal capability of Photoshop Elements 2023.

The location of the photo used in this project was at the pond along Iber Road in Ottawa, Ontario, a block from the Trans-Canada trail.

Google Earth Aerial View of Site

The photo used in this project was one I took on November 14, 2012 with my Garmin GPSmap 62sc GPS camera which I had come across going through my GPS photos for my wallpaper project. I use my own photos for my Desktop PC wallpaper and change them weekly.

Original Photo

 

The original photo was cropped to 16X9 using JPEGCrops and then enhanced using Simply Good Pictures automatic optimization process.

Cropped and Enhanced Version

The result was a very decent photo but the first thing I noticed was the tree in front of the pond was distracting, even if it was a natural feature. So I thought why not try removing it since I had already been surprised by the object removal capabilities of Photoshop Elements 2023. I did not expect great results, the tree with it’s many branches being unlike a straight hydro line or telephone poll. I used the auto select function and surprised that the results were not bad, though they needed some tweaking with the brush function. I then took my shadow from the photo and a couple of culverts and voila the finished product.

Object Removal Version 1

Then I looked at all the buildings along the pond and thought let’s see if we can get rid of those and make this look like it’s not in the middle of a city. The first attempt to remove them all with the auto select function was quite unsatisfactory. So then I tried doing smaller sections using the auto select and brush functions and success.

Object Removal Version 2

 

That was it I thought but then I realized the railing along the pond still gave it’s urban location away. However, I thought with all the lines from the individual railings this was going to be impossible to remove and still have the photo look natural. First attempt using auto select on the whole railing confirmed that. But using the brush function and going a little bit by bit resulted in a decent image. The only giveaway was the apparent pattern among some of the apparently cloned geese. Some pondering and further editing attempts resulted in my removing some of the geese to break up the pattern and create a natural looking photo.

Final Object Removal Version 3

 

The moral of the story being when it comes to photo editing don’t be afraid to try things you do not think will work, you might surprise yourself.