Ever wanted to erase some tourists?

DeVore

I really wanted this shot. Its a pic of a friend of mine standing on a stage above an underground pond with the light shining down through a red tarpoline. But the idiot tourists were wandering around everywhere. (probably saying "would that guy with the camera ever get out of my shot").
Its a simple example of using the Clone, Healing and Erase tools in PS. Is it cheating? Probably but I could have gotten that pic if they have buggered off so I let myself off this one time



DeV.

Sebzy

Works very well and smashing capture.

Seb.

5uspect

Its a great shot, I don't know if I would have deleted all the tourists tho...

Benster

I have no problem with the clone tool, as long as it REMOVES stuff. Putting things in that weren't there is a no-no for me though.

I even had to get the photographer to use it on some of our wedding photos, there was a feckin' bouncy castle in the background...

For your shot, although I'm not sure what I'm looking at, even with your description, the second pic looks better from a clutter point-of-view.

Owen

An easy way to delete tourists, is to setup a tripod, and shoot the same scene a few times at the tourists move about. That way you can just make a collage of empty areas, and drop them onto the main image - provided you get the same settings, and definition on the camera of course.

rabbitinlights

Great Shot, I wish it was that easy to get rid of tourists from all shots.

Where was the underground pool?

A Crop of just the reflection would make a great abstract shot.

S.

Xios

That in lanzarote?

Darven

thats an amazing photo. looks "unreal" with or without the tourists. if you didnt say exactly what it was i would have had to ask. great stuff

DeVore

Its in Lanzarote in the "Cave of the Crabs" (cant recall the spanish name). Its very famous there anyway.

Its hard to describe where this is. We were in a short cave network and the water is an underground pool, just before the exit. I'm standing on the path which is about 3 foot wide with a 1 foot wall before a good 10 foot drop into shallow water. Not the best place for tripod work!
The light is from the exit and the red from the canopy that you can see in another shot.

The place is very "spiritual" and quiet, even with the tourists and they play abstract music in and its very peaceful.

I was on some mad colour buzz over there, just looking for striking contrast and that pic just jumped out. Considering I was holding up the people behind me getting it just right (including waving at my mate to stay where he was) wasnt easy.

Ned, thats a great idea. I think I'll try that next time I think I will need to erase or clone something.

I'm going to try that abstract crop Rabbit suggests, I think it might look good!

DeV.

Fajitas!

Much better without the tourists. I like it - And it's only cheating if you want it to be.

I'd call it 'getting what I want'

DonkeyStyle \o/

Lies made baby Jesus cry.
If I had a boucy castle in my wedding photos, I'd leave it there.
I'm totaly anal when it comes to the integrity of photos... unless it's for fun and I'm photoshopping my friends head onto hitlers body.

magicbastarder

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

If I had a boucy castle in my wedding photos, I'd leave it there.

it'd be a cool wedding if you had a bouncy castle at it.
unfortunately, they're not allowed hire them to wedding parties.

Roen

You could have just hunted them out of it with a length of wavin.

mikedragon32

DeV, the place is called Jameos del Agua, and it actually used to be a nightclub in the 80's!

The caves are spectacular and the albino crabs are particlar to that one place and don't exist anywhere else on earth.

Also, the pool at the end of the cave was once for the exclusive use of King Juan Carlos, but now nobody can swim in it. Don't know why...

I agree about it being a pain in the hole trying to get a shot without someone walking across the shot, but you can say that about any tourist attraction. Only way to avoid it is to get there early.

DeVore

Thats the place! I think they probably dont let people swim in it because that species is unique to that area and they dont want a ton of stinky unwashed tourists splashing though it!

As for Photoshopping a pic, I generally dont like altering pictures at a pixel level (colour, light etc is a must for me, my pictures seem to need it and someone mentioned a while ago that because of the technology used, digital pics always do). I'll always say "I photoshopped this in this way" if I do anything serious to it, but I'm coming around to Benster's way of thinking about it, that taking stuff out to simplify a picture or correct a photographers error seems reasonable for artistic reasons. Adding stuff in is a step too far imho.

DeV.

mikedragon32

I was referring to the pool right at the back (as in a swimming pool), rather than the underground lakes that the crabs inhabit!

DeVore

LOL!!! Yes, that makes more sense when I think about it!

DeV.

Zillah

Nooo!

I thought the original was brilliant! Remove the guy that is sticking out from the main subject, maybe brighten it a tiny bit and you got a great and mysterious picture. Seriously, I couldn't tell they were tourists. At first I thought it was a stage of some sort, with an audience in the shadows and that weird red glow. Great shot.

With the edit its so much more dull tbh.

DeVore

Ok, fair enough, I'll give that a shot!

I have to say, I really like the lack of clutter of the second one because it reflects my rememberance of a very calm and still place, but its a good point that it may also come off as dull to another viewer. Lets see if your suggestion works...

DeV