Removing objects in Lightroom (poles, signs, etc)

[Ranger Rick]

New to Lightroom, familiar with Aperture and Capture NX2, where you can use healing brush to easily remove poles, signs, light poles, etc. Appears Lightroom does not do that-? Do I gather you need to go to Photoshop or Elements to do this? Seems like a bit of overkill, needing to go external and create a tiff or psd to do this, when it's so easily done in the competition. Please let me know if I have missed something here.

Thanks!

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Rick, it is possible but not practical in LR at this point. Edit in PS is the accepted way to do what you ask.
I haven't used Aperture or NX so can't comment on those but do they do what you want with non-destructive editing or do they too create another file and use pixel alteration?

 

[Brad Snyder]

As Geoff says, there is a clone/heal tool available, and also as Geoff says, it's not terribly effective. I've cloned out wires, poles, signs, overhead mikes, even a complete concession stand once, but it's not easy or pretty. Pretty good for facial blemishes and dust spots, tho'.

On the surface, it seems like a terrible oversight, but remember that Lr approaches these things from a different direction, and at present Lr's non-destructive parametric editing approach is more suited to the simple tool provided. Everyone's hopeful that improvements are in the application development pipeline.

 

[Scott O]

RR: You haven't missed anything. The clone/heal brush is just dandy for fixing small things like dust or something that can be covered with a circle. For anything more serious I find I need to pay a visit to Photoshop.

 

[johnbeardy]

Having used the other programs you mention, I don't think what you can achieve with Lightroom's cloning/healing is significantly different. In each case, the feature is primarily designed for dust spots and such blemishes. Just the other day I was removing a couple of streetlights - you just have to take your time, and clone/heal a few spots rather than trying to take out something in one go.

John

 

[Ranger Rick]

Thank you all for your advice/info! In Aperture and NX2, you can nondestructively and easily take out objects (clone or heal, your choice), just as easily as you would do in PS or PSE, without going to an external app and adding a tiff or psd. The nondestructive edit instructions take virtually no file space, and can easily be modified/deleted as if a kind of "smart object".

 

[johnbeardy]

Which is what you can do in LR too. There's really little difference.

 

[sizzlingbadger]

The clone/heal tools in Aperture and Lightroom are almost identical in what they can achieve. The only noticeable difference I have seen is cloning in Aperture at 1''% zoom causes performance issues when trying to move the image around (esp. if the image had already been cropped). This has been mentioned a fair bit in the Aperture forums so I expect Apple will improve it eventually.

I have found these tools to very useful with small objects/defects but anything large usually requires PS for a good result.

 

[Ranger Rick]

So, John, what am I missing? In LR, when Spot tool is selected, I can get a circle the size I want, but it's one circle which then creates a reference point from which it heals. If the pole is close to something else, you need a small circle, usually a small fraction of the total length of the object.
You're saying there is a way to then "draw" up/down or left/right etc. and clone out/heal out a street sign or telephone pole (sample the area to clone from, click on the top or bottom of the pole and draw up/down over the pole in one stroke)? The only way I can see to do it, and I'm new to LR, is to create multiple spots and stamp/clone out by repetition, not a terribly elegant solution. If LR can't currently do this, so be it, but I seem to hear it's easily done.
Thanks.

 

[johnbeardy]

Yes, a number of overlapping circles, depending on the awkwardness of what you're trying to remove. As you start a new circle, usually it will take a guess, but you can drag the source circle to an area from which you want to clone.

 

[Scott O]

"Awkward" is an excellent word John, particularily if you compare cloning in Lightroom and Photoshop. Overlapping circles is not the best solution. Maybe in the next version..

 

[johnbeardy]

It is important to understand that neither Lightroom nor Aperture's primary purpose is cloning - it's the management and processing of images in volume. So Lightroom's cloning tool is designed for dust spotting, which often affects multiple frames, and it's more efficient than Aperture's equivalent since it can correct multiple images in a single click without slowing the user down with a "lift and stamp" two step process. You can stretch its capabilities to remove some objects, but the goal is to process images in bulk so you then have more time to do pixel level manipulation in a program designed for that task. Lightroom's role isn't to replicate Photoshop.

John