A Photoshop Question...

[jprzybyla]

In the photograph below, of one of our cats Giorgio, I find the saw cut line in the lanai floor distracting. What is the best way to edit the photo to remove the distraction?

[mishlove]

I would use a clone tool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clone_tool

[FrankMi]

Either the clone tool (as Michael suggests) or the healing brush, Joseph. Just make a copy first in case you accidentally remove some of the cat's hairs, you can mask them back in.

[Loose Canon]

Hi Joseph!

The crack above Giorgio's head should probably be pretty easy by cloning.

That below Giorgio's cheek looks a little trickier. So what I would do is, as Frank suggests, create a duplicate layer and have a go with the crack above Giorgio. After I was happy with that, I'd duplicate that layer and start on the bottom part of the crack on the newly duplicated layer. I'd probably go with the clone tool set soft at a low opacity and work it in nice and easy zoomed in tight. If I wasn't happy with it, I could just trash that duplicated layer which wouldn't affect the top crack that I have already done, and try again.

[jprzybyla]

How's this?

[Dizzy]

How's this?

Much better! Beautiful kitty, too!..

[Jon Ryan]

Which version of Photoshop do you use? If you have CS5 or Elements 9, try Content Aware Fill. You may need to give it a couple of goes to get a good result, so as others have said, do work on a dupe. I'd be inclined to leave the lower line as it is - dodging around those whiskers could keep you up all night!

[FrankMi]

How's this?

Great! There is no hint that any retouching has been done. And no cat hairs were sacrificed in the making of this image (as far as I can tell)!

[jprzybyla]

Thanks to all of you for your advice.

In answer to Jon, I now have Photoshop Elements 8. Soon I will upgrade to Photoshop Elements 10.