How do I smooth out the wrinkles?

[speedneeder]

Hello all, I was playing around with an idea I have had for a photo for a while now. I got something I like fairly well, but there is an annoying wrinkle in the bottom right corner of the frame. Surely I could just shoot it again, but I was wondering if there was a good way to smooth this wrinkle out? I use the GIMP.

[jeeperman]

Still figuring the Gimp out myself and until someone gives a better answer, what I might try is to....
use the dodge tool at about 10% or a little less, soft edge brush to slightly lighten the darker area of the wrinkle, then use the smudge tool very lightly to blend things.

[Andrew76]

This photo doesn't have anything to do with your daughter going to her first dance, does it?

Sorry, can't give you any technical help - I like what you've done for lighting though, are you using a gel on the flash?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Brian,

I like the picture and I can barely see the wrinkle, probably wouldn't have mentioned it if you hadn't said.
Is cloning out the wrinkle feasible?
Other than that, Paul's idea of a bit of dodge and burn might be well worth a try.

What 'worries' me most is the green cast to the light coming from low camera left, direction of barrel pointing - it just doesn't 'fit' with the rest of the image. I cannot think of a natural reason for it, if that makes sense?

Cheers,

[speedneeder]

Hi Dave,
Thank you for your comments.
The natural reason for the color cast you mention was the yellow gel over my flash
I was looking for an interesting way to light all the textures first, then accentuate the 'blue' steel, and then I thought the yellow would accentuate the metal jacket of the hollow tips. Guess I missed the mark slightly!

[Donald]

Just tried a reply and lost it.

So ..... again .........

Those couple of folds are really, really hard to see and in no way reduce the quality of the image. I know you're probably seeing them as mountains, but they're not.

As a fellow GIMP user, I think a Clone would be pretty difficult. There are a lot of subtle tone shifts around the edges of those folds and getting everything co-ordinated would be a huge ask.

Dodge & Burn? Mmmmm. Maybe. Low opacity dodge on the dark 'downslope' sides of the folds and an equally low opacity burn along the lighter 'top edge'.

[The Blue Boy]

Hi Brian,

Personally I think it makes for a better image. More real if you will. It certainly doesn't detract from the picture if that's what you're worried about.

[Markvetnz]

Not sure if you can do this in Gimp. In PS I would duplicate layer. Make a selection of the opposite bottom corner. Nice wide feather to blend it later. Load selection onto own layer. Turn the selection over on a new layer. Get rid of all unwanted layers. Blend the inverted copy of the bottom left corner over the old bottom right. Change the opacity of the new layer to get it perfect.

OTOH, you could just have a cold beer and forget about it. Would be a lot easier.

[speedneeder]

OTOH, you could just have a cold beer and forget about it. Would be a lot easier.

Haha! Good advice
Mostly I just wanted to learn how to do a new trick in GIMP.
I already applied a gradient to mask the wrinkles a little. I pretty well like the photo as it is, but I do need to try it again some time - as I would prefer some of the rifling was visible at the end of the barrel.

[Colin Southern]

Not sure about GIMP, but in Ps I just ran a lasso around it - and hit del-> enter to use content aware fill. Took about 3 seconds

[Tygart]

Healing brush works too.. I don't see the lasso tool.

[speedneeder]

When I use the healing brush I lose texture.
Is there a 'content aware' mode with the GIMP?
I have never used PS so I don't know what that means.

[Colin Southern]

Healing brush works too.. I don't see the lasso tool.

In Photoshop, just hit the "L" key.

[Colin Southern]

I have never used PS so I don't know what that means.

It's a technology that replaces "what is there" with "what whould be there", by looking at other parts of the image and intelligently filling in bits. I doubt that GIMP has it yet.

[Myk]

If you're into plugins, AFAIK resynthesizer is as close as gimpers can get to "content aware" fill. http://registry.gimp.org/node/9148
That is a nice photo btw, I also would not have noticed the wrinkle if you hadn't mentioned it.

[Donald]

Is there a 'content aware' mode with the GIMP?

'fraid not. We've got to do it the old-fashioned way. Or, do as Mike says above. But console yourself in the knowledge that you're not getting caught up with all that new-fangled nonsense and that you're upholding the finest traditions of our forefathers. Personally, I can never understand why we needed to move on from calotypes.

[Peter Ryan]

I do not use GIMP but where you have such subtle tonal changes I find the healing brush works better than the clone stamp (asuming you have one in GIMP).