I Did This with ONE Photoshop Tool!

Find out more about the Lightroom Summit 2024: bit.ly/lvs-24

[@mikebrownhill4662]

It's a useful tool for sure, and it definitely makes life a lot easier when we're cleaning up distractions as you've shown. However, it's worth mentioning one flaw and that's to do with the unnatural texture the remove tool can create in areas of an image where it's been used. Most viewers probably wouldn't notice it, especially if they're viewing on a screen, but the tool can leave behind a strange "woven wool" texture that's out of place in pretty much any image. It can be difficult to get the edited area to match the inherent noise texture in an image. This is more noticeable in flat image areas like skies or blurred backgrounds and it shows up more in print. I find a low opacity clone stamp can sometimes be used to build back a bit of the original texture and reduce the unwanted effect. The remove tool is definitely useful though - and it'll only get better with future updates. Thanks for the video.

[@MattKloskowski]

Hi… It looks good to me. You only see any texture if you zoom in and nobody will ever see the zoomed in.

[@mikebrownhill4662]

@@MattKloskowski True - most viewers won't see it, but I have had issues with it showing up on prints.

[@shaolin95]

@@mikebrownhill4662 yes it does show up

[@CostaMesaPhotography]

That remove tool is my favorite! I'm hopeful that Lightroom's remove tool will be improved further to reduce the need to go to PS just to use remove or clone-stamping tools...

[@MattKloskowski]

I hope so too! Though I think we've got a LONG time to go to the point where it would do what I did in this tutorial. I think it'll definitely get better, but I don't see the need for Photoshop to do something as complex as this, go away any time soon. Thanks!

[@tdalton854]

@@MattKloskowski I agree. But I learned earlier today that Lightroom on the WEB has the content aware fill as an Early Access with even more AI. Compared a few times with same photo in desktop and web. most times Web was noticbly better. Not perfect but better. Even took out two different people leaving only a bit of clean up. Still not as good as PS but progress.

[@stuartblink]

Great video. Keeping copy as a background layer and then using layer mask was very helpful tip.

[@hikerdude10]

Excellent tutorial. Thanks Matt.

[@BubblesPothowari]

Thank you for the lesson, efforts, your time.

[@cnicolo]

I hope the virtual summit will come soon. Is Always a pleasure following you on editing. Thank you

[@StephenEhrlichPhotos]

Great tutorial. I have already signed up for the VIP pass to the Virtual Summit. Thanks Matt!

[@MattKloskowski]

Fantastic! Thank you!

[@guykerr8111]

Very helpful - thank you.

[@martinlennon4673]

Excellent demonstration Matt. 👍

[@CharlieMartorelli]

Great tip, Thanks

[@valeriehoffman8180]

This was incredibly helpful. Thank you. I still get confused about adding, subtracting and intersecting masks

[@MattKloskowski]

They can be confusing if you're looking for a "rule" to follow. You can get the job done in 5 different ways with masks, so experiment and you'll develop a feel for what works for you and makes sense. If the end result is what you want, it doesn't matter how you got there.

[@MrRstultz]

As usual - clear, concise, and ultimately useful.

[@MattKloskowski]

Thanks!

[@DeborahZajac]

Thank you!! I was looking for something just like tutorial!!

[@MattKloskowski]

No problem!!

[@DennisMoncla]

The remove tool is simply amazing. It’s astounding how many of my friends aren’t using it. I’ve turned almost all of them on to it. But to answer your question at the beginning on why do it on pets we aren’t going to show is the give it more source material to work with while doing its removal.

[@MattKloskowski]

Or give it more area to confuse it with since it’s got a lot of distractions. There really is no right answer and every photo will be different but I’ve always found cropping out as much junk before to be the better way to go for me personally. Thx

[@DennisMoncla]

@@MattKloskowski yeah I get it works both ways. I found I don’t get as many of the strange lines in the blurry green area with more of it there. But yes it does add confusion on some images too. Just giving some food for thought. I do consciously flip to PS before cropping for that reason though. I AM FAR from any kind of PS expert. Most of what I know I learned from you!

[@hilarie4]

Perfect!

[@jeffdagostino3077]

As usual, great advice wonderful video. Very helpful. I do have one question, what input device do you do your edits with? I'm still using the trackpad and my fingers. I seem to get pretty decent result, but I was watching you outline those tree branches and it was so precise. Are you using a tablet?

[@MattKloskowski]

Hi Jeff. I use a trackpad as well. A decade of a ton of air travel, with my macbook pro cramped up on my lap, helped me get really good at using the trackpad :-)

[@jeffdagostino3077]

@@MattKloskowski Thank you.

[@marshakenhobert8320]

I signed up as a Premium Mbr for the Lightroom Summit and can't wait. I worked for days using the Remove Tool and the Generative Fill trying to get rid of a musician's mic from his face and shirt with no success. Any tips?

[@MattKloskowski]

The tool doesn’t know what his face looks like so it can’t fix it. It does best with blank areas that are similar. In this case there is plenty of area in this image that looks the same. But nothing in Photoshop would know what his face is supposed to look like and since his face isn’t somewhere else in the photo no tool would really know what to replace the area with if that makes sense.

[@andreasliedmann4482]

Hi Matt ... a really nice demo of yours about this problems . Wondering why you are not talking about the strange " pixel structure " that is very obvious in the removed areas ??!!! IMHO it does look really not that great .... one reason why I do not like to use the remove tool that much for larger areas . Any idea ? Cheers Andreas from Germany

[@MattKloskowski]

Thanks. Nobody would ever see a pixel or be zoomed in enough to ever tell. I don’t work at the pixel level or pay attention to it.

[@Marv-qp6fk]

Even though it would use two tools would generative fill have done a better job?

[@MattKloskowski]

Nope. I tried it. You never really know what it’ll fill with.

[@melodyphillips2388]

Does anyone else have trouble with the remove tool? My selections just turn black rather than having anything removed. I can't find anything I'm missing, and LR updates to new versions all the time on my computer. Im just bummed I can't use this awesome tool!

[@MattKloskowski]

Lots of good solutions from a Google search on "Remove Tool turns black": www.google.com/search?q=remove+tool+area+turns+black&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS980US980&oq=remove+tool+area+turns+black&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRifBdIBCDQxMjNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[@melodyphillips2388]

@@MattKloskowski thanks! I found a solution, that so far is working: Preferences < Image Processing < More Stable for Remove Tool Processing. It was the only real fix for the problem suggested in the many links provided, but hey! It is working now! Thanks again---