What do you do when there is a tree/electric pole/etc that you can't exclude?

[Brev00]

I don't understand the phrase: can't exclude from the frame. Unless your subjects are nailed down, every person should be moveable. If you know you don't want the object in the final result, go somewhere else. If your subjects are, indeed, stuck, shoot from another angle. Get really close and wide open and blur the offending object into submission. Given that you have time to consider alternatives, I would find one. Cloning is a great tool but I would consider it the tool of last resort. If you include the pole in order to clone it out later, you are betting on later. I would rather get it as close as possible now. Then, when I leave the shoot, I am pretty confident that most of my work is done.

[William W]

What do you do when there is a tree/electric pole/etc that you can't exclude from the frame in outdoor people photography . . .

Take it to the Photo(medicine)Shop and lie, cheat and deceive . . . and get rid of the rubbish which was there.
But make sure that you have a good file (negative), with which to work in the first inst:



WW

[xpatUSA]

Here in the Texas countryside, we still haven't quite gotten used to the novelty of 'lectricity

So we tend to leave the stuff in . . .



And here's my property's Westinghouse perched up there in the sky, courtesy of San Bernard Electrical Co-operative . . .



It's so . . . . . country.

[Venser]

No one's mentioned it yet, but for those who don't have Photoshop, the GIMP is free and you can use the Resynthesize and Heal brushes to mimic the Content Aware Fill from Photoshop.

[jcuknz]

It looks like post-editing is probably the way to go.

. I'm not sure cloning is something I'd like to incorporate into my PP workflow on a routine basis.

The more you do the less a problem it is ...I started taking out pixel by pixel in MS Paint. Files were smaller then

But you need to get a capable editor such as Paint Shop Pro. Even an older version will do much of what you want to do and not cost the earth.

[rpcrowe]

Never leave home without your tree removal filter

[pnodrog]

Never leave home without your tree removal filter

Handy to keep another tree removal filter in your golf bag as well.

[Didace]

I have LR4, which doesn't have cloning tool. LR5 has it, so all I have to do is upgrade my LR.

LR5's cloning tool is much improved but LR4 does have a cloning tool.

[kdoc856]

I hope that this works better....





These images were taken at a small flash workshop we were attending, just over three years ago.

Nope, frankly I'd rather see more shots of that photographer

[rpcrowe]

I would quite agree with what the others have written so far; try to avoid the problem by either positioning your subjects in a way to avoid the issue or try to adjust your shooting position to ensure that it doesn't happen. As others have already suggested, post-processing tools can help here.

Here is a shot where I was too busy concentrating on taking the picture to notice the issues in the background (light sticking out of the head and another one on the right of the subject). Two or three minutes in Photoshop CC and the offending material was removed:


Before:






After:

Off subject but, not really...

I might suggest that the Joe Demb Flash Diffuser Pro is a more efficient way to use fill flash outdoors than is a Stofen type diffuser.



www.dembflashproducts.com