Can't decide if it is distracting or not

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

DavidT

DavidT

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
Member's gallery
I have a photo from a recent trip I have been working on and I can't decide if I should try and remove an out of focus piece of grass that is coming out just below the nose. Now that I have looked at it for a while my eye is drawn to it but not sure if it is really distracting or I am being too critical. I also don't love the big rock in the back, I dropped some exposure and removed some white levels to make it less distracting but don't know what else to do to it.

Your thoughts?

PS I did remove a small branch down by a foot that I thought was distracting but left everything else alone.

20230930-_A1A8079A-Edit-Edit-2.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
I think the rock is fine but I would work on removing the other distraction. It might be something content aware fill could handle. Or maybe Patch tool in content aware mode
 
Member's gallery
I would remove a bit of the grass just to provide a little bit of separate from his mouth...... However, I do find the triangular OOF area very distracting...
 
Member's gallery
DRwyoming said:
I didn't even notice the out of focus grass beneath the nose till you mentioned it. But my eyes were immediately drawn to the bright out of focus triangular object in the background. I thought for sure that's the distraction you were asking about.
Click to expand...
Ok I’ll see what I can do about the rock.
 
Member's gallery
DRwyoming said:
I didn't even notice the out of focus grass beneath the nose till you mentioned it. But my eyes were immediately drawn to the bright out of focus triangular object in the background. I thought for sure that's the distraction you were asking about.
Click to expand...
What would you do? Remove it? Change the shape or replace it with something else?
 
Member's gallery
Butlerkid said:
I would remove a bit of the grass just to provide a little bit of separate from his mouth...... However, I do find the triangular OOF area very distracting...
Click to expand...
Would you totally remove it? Change the shape? Or replace it with something else? I don’t know how to use photoshop very well but could try the generative fill and see if it can tackle it.
 
Member's gallery
DavidT said:
What would you do? Remove it? Change the shape or replace it with something else?
Click to expand...
I might try burning down the background, hard to say if that would do the trick or just be an obvious edit but sometimes the corrections have to happen in the field by changing shooting position and sometimes that's not possible. IOW, I personally find that out of focus rock very distracting but that doesn't mean I have a clean solution for fixing it.
 
Member's gallery
If you are not sure then the answer is Yes. Burning in the rock is one option. It does illustrate why not using a tripod and being free to move around to have a broader range of backgrounds is very important.
 
Member's gallery
Absolutely no reason to remove the grass IMO, didn't even notice it. The rock is a bit distracting but it also matches the wolf's coloration which I like. I'd try warming up the rock to see if you can get the color to match the grass. Incredible photo!
 
Member's gallery
Calson said:
If you are not sure then the answer is Yes. Burning in the rock is one option. It does illustrate why not using a tripod and being free to move around to have a broader range of backgrounds is very important.
Click to expand...
I didn’t use a tripod. This moment was seconds not minutes or hours. Get what you can get.
 
Member's gallery
DRwyoming said:
I didn't even notice the out of focus grass beneath the nose till you mentioned it. But my eyes were immediately drawn to the bright out of focus triangular object in the background. I thought for sure that's the distraction you were asking about.
Click to expand...
The rock looks more distracting than the grass. The grass would be really easy to remove.
 
Member's gallery
If this were my shot, I'd open the image in PS, use the crop tool to remove the white whatever on the right, using content-aware, then re-choose the crop tool and pull out the handles to add content where I removed it, still using content-aware. Then, if needed, I'd "clean up" anything that still needed work with whatever tools would work for that area. I do this all the time for working on hummingbirds with feeders in the image. It's an easy way to fix this kind of thing.
 
Member's gallery
Ok here is a new edit. What do you all think now? Is the one rock in the back still a distraction? I removed the big one, darkened the background a bit, decreased the saturation of the background a little, and increased exposure on the wolf a little.

Thoughts?

20230930-_A1A8079A-Edit-Edit-Edit.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Member's gallery
DavidT said:
You mean the other large rock in the back?
Click to expand...
yes. Also, the dog's front paws look a bit odd.......both in mid-air? Did the prior stick removal shorten one? You might try copying the back right paw and blending it onto the front right leg..................or adding some grass so it appears the paw in on the ground in the grass. LOL!
 
Member's gallery
Butlerkid said:
yes. Also, the dog's front paws look a bit odd.......both in mid-air? Did the prior stick removal shorten one? You might try copying the back right paw and blending it onto the front right leg..................or adding some grass so it appears the paw in on the ground in the grass. LOL!
Click to expand...
No the stick was in the far bottom left corner not touching any body parts.
 
Member's gallery
Perfect, except I agree about the front legs. Looks like you brighten some grass in between its feet, fixing that could fix the foot problem. The other BG rock doesn't distract me at all, the one you removed was far worse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top