Remove tree from center of image?

[elizabethraab]

Hi there, I'm brand new to the forum and excited to get started!

A colleague I'm working with has a shoot tomorrow at a location with a tree right in the center than cannot be there in the final shot. He was saying he'd read about a tool (perhaps?) where if you shifted over and took multiple shots it would remove the tree automatically? My first thought was a photo merge but I've never used it to remove the center of the image before. He was saying he read about this last year and that it wasn't specific to CS5.

Any thoughts? Thanks for the help!!

Elizabeth

[Der_W]

If you have shot multiple images and a PS Extended version from CS2 upwards, you can load all those images into one file, select all the layers, convert them to a smart object and use the "Layer"-"Smart Object"-"Stacking Mode"-"Median" to sort them :-)

Of course the tree mustn't be there in most of the images.

[elizabethraab]

Thank you!!

For the sake of information, how would this differ from doing a photo merge? Does the PM work by lining them up and this way you are able to decide what goes on top? Would this be similar to manually layering them and thus removing the tree?

Thanks again!

[elizabethraab]

Could the Smart Object function work with as little as two images?

[Der_W]

The SM works by averaging the layers and blending them together (which layer goes on top works automatically).
With just two images you could just align them with Photomerge and use a layer mask to erase the part, where the tree should disappear (paint in with black. In this case the layer with the tree should be on top).

If you have any problems, maybe you could upload the images and we could try to get it right together :-)?

[elizabethraab]

Ok, we're going to give this a go tomorrow and see how it goes! Thank for the help!!

[Der_W]

You're welcome, good luck :-)!

[mistermonday]

ElizAbeth, there is a new tool in CS5 for the exact problem you have. It is called Content Aware Fill. It works miracles on many images but it depends a lot on what else is around the object to be removed. Regards, Murray

[elizabethraab]

I think the route we're finally going to use is 2 images, one shifted over. Auto-align the two layers and mask out the tree. Pretty basic, but should be fast and effective!