Manor Hall Farm in snow

[Shaun Geraghty]

Taken close to my home in Staffordshire (Canon S2IS). I've had a bit of a play with this one. Originally the sky was a bland white with phone wires from the pole. I've cloned out the higher part of the pole and the wires, however for some reason the glimpse of tree above the roof wouldnt clone away white, only a dark grey, no matter what I did, which was annoying. However I then found another photo with a better sky, and selected the rectangular marquee tool in Elements 3, then used the magic wand tool on the original pic to select the area of sky to replace, then simply cut and paste into the selection.

I'm still not entirely happy with the result as you can see the join between the building and the new sky, and there is that splash of tree above the roof. Any tips on how I could have improved this using Elements 3 much appreciated.

[bahadir]

Despite the faults you mention, that's really a beautiful image. I especially admired your placement of the ruined wall on the foreground. Eye-pleasing colours cannot go unnoticed also.. How about a full session of this edifice?

[John Maddock]

I like it, the brickwork on the old walls looks wonderful. Re: the cloning problems, when this happens to me I usually find it's some problem like having the wrong layer selected, or a selection still active. And of course you have to make sure that the source point for the clone has been correctly set with an Alt-click.

HTH, John.

[The Barbarian]

I have to say, I got an immediate, emotional response to this one, that makes it a great picture for me.

The technical details aside, I like it very, very much.

[Aumma45]

Shaun, you have done it here again. I think you are a photographic walking encylopaedia. :G Regards. Jaki.

[azfotos]

Shaun, Why cut out the Roof Tree? My eyes immediately went to the roof and I think it adds great interest.

Earl

[kenmck15]

i really like this shot. i think the sky has merged in well, maybe bcse its not the full res version bcse i cant seem to see wat you dont lke about hte merge. i got rid of the tree for ya,, not sure if this is wat u wanted.

just used the clone tool and took random samples to try blend it in and not make it too obvious its cloned.

ken

[Tullio]

Boy, you guys are not just good photographers but good PSE users as well. I would not know where tobegin if I had to remove that tree. Excellent job capturing that building, Shaun. As always, the colors that come outof the S2 are rich and nicely saturated. Good job removing the tree, Ken. The sky looks perfect.

[kenmck15]

Tullio wrote:

Boy, you guys are not just good photographers but good PSE users as well. I would not know where tobegin if I had to remove that tree. Excellent job capturing that building, Shaun. As always, the colors that come outof the S2 are rich and nicely saturated. Good job removing the tree, Ken. The sky looks perfect.

tulio yes, this is a fantastic shot and na it aint tht hard to take out the tree. took me about a minute to do it.

Just look up cloning for ps and its very easy. in this instnace it was easy becasue the sky didnt have a complex pattern so it was easy to sample near by sky to fill over the trees. in instances where ther are patterns and tres etc it starts to become a lil more tricky

thanks for comments and yes this is a spectacular pic.big ups to shaun



ken

[rubadubdub]

yes I also like this pic and the edit of the tree iI think improves it.

great picture..well done