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Vehicles just plain don't belong in real estate photos.  There are several ways to remove a vehicle.  Please keep in mind that Photoshop should be the Method Of Last Resort.

Method Number One:  "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you, but do you suppose you could move your car for a few minutes, please?  I need to take some marketing photos of this home.  Thank you, I really appreciate it."

Method Number Two:  "Would you hurry up and move that G** D*** F****** Piece Of S***, Now!!!"

Method Number Three:  Shoot from an angle where the vehicle is not visible.  Walk up and down the sidewalk, try several different views.  Stand near the driver's side door and shoot over the car.

Method Number Four:  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  Climb on top of the hood of the car and shoot down on the property from that vantage point.  You might find this is a very appealing angle.

Method Of Last Resort:  Photoshop.

I borrowed this particular image from Athol Kay's Bad MLS Photo of the Day

 

I'm using Photoshop Elements 5 for this demo.   First step:  Look at the image and decide if you can crop a portion of the offending vehicle out.  The more you can crop out, the less you have to clone.  I think I can get away with cropping out the bottom portion of the street.  A little at each side will have to go, too, to try to maintain a normal balance.

Click on the crop tool.

 

This looks about right to me.  Hit Enter, to finish the crop.

 

I want to Zoom In a little bit to do the cloning.  Hit View -> Zoom In.

 

Click on the Clone Stamp Tool.

 

To start with, I selected a large, fuzzy brush.....

 

With a fairly large pixel diameter.

 

Hold down the ALT key and click somewhere in the driveway.  Release the ALT key, click somewhere on the car, and drag.  Keep repeating.  ALT-click in the driveway, click on the car, and drag.

 

Move to the left side.  Hold down the ALT key and click somewhere in the gravel.  Release the ALT key, click somewhere on the car, and drag.  Keep repeating.  ALT-click in the gravel, click on the car, and drag.  Experiment with dragging in different directions.  Keep repeating until the car is fully covered. 

 

I cheated.  I brought the driveway and the gravel all the way down to the foreground to avoid having to deal with the sidewalk and curb.

 

Change to a smaller brush, and a smaller pixel diameter to work on the garage door and the entryway.

 

Remember that the Undo History palette is your friend.  If you accidentally cloned over the wrong area, and need to back up a few steps, hit View -> Undo History.  Each click is recorded in the History list, the most recent at the bottom of the list.  Scroll to the bottom, then click the last few items to Undo them.

 

OK.  Good enough.  Now I want to fix the other issue, the home is tilting a bit towards the right.  Hit Select -> All.

 

Hit Image -> Transform -> Free Transform  (In full version Photoshop this is under Edit -> Free Transform)

 

Move the cursor to an area just outside of the lower right corner of the image.  The cursor will change into a tiny curved arrow with points at each end.  Drag slowly upward until the horizontal lines appears straight.  When you are satisfied, hit Enter to finish.

 

Now, you'll want to re-crop just slightly to remove the white space created by the Free Transform.

 

Zoom back out to normal size by hitting View -> Zoom Out.

 

You might want to Sharpen just slight.  Hit Enhance -> Adjust Sharpness  (In full version Photoshop this is under Filter -> Sharpen)

 

Adjust the sharpness controls to your liking.

 

Would this final image work for a high grade color flyer or print ad?  No, the imperfections from the cloning process would be noticeable.  Would it work for MLS or website photos?  Yes.

With a little practice, you'll find you can clone objects out of an image fairly quickly.  Next up, I'll demo removing an object with the lasso tool.

 

23 Comments on Photoshop: Removing A Vechicle With The Clone Stamp

OCT
30
2007
Thanks for the helpful hints.  I have yet to remove a car.  I have used the stamp method for removing unsitely electrical cords and toys.  I have also used it to remove dead patches of grass and signs in the yard.  It is something that I really enjoy doing.  Too bad a lot of our mistakes in life can't be fixed this easily.
9:00am • #1
Great post!  I am glad someone took the time to put together a helpful guide for editing listing photos.
9:01am • #2
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Hi Cheryl,
Thank you for lesson, I am bookmarking this for future reference.  It is very helpful.
9:02am • #3
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Cheryl - This is awesome - I have had this program for years and never been able to do anything like this with it!  Thanks for the very clear tutorial, although Method number two might seem like more fun?  Just kidding! Thanks!
9:08am • #4
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That looks really good!  But it seems tougher than just moving the car.  HaHa!  Just kiddin...
9:21am • #5
160,979 Points Outside Blog
It is good to read things like this. We all could learn something from this post.
9:23am • #6

Great post Cheryl! I appreciate the step by step instructions! Best of luck to you and your sales!

Dan  

10:13am • #7
873,087 Points 35 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
Wow, Cheryl, AMAZING!  Even when the car was gone you kept on seeing things and fixing them!  I am blown away by all your knowledge in these "techy" things I never learned :(
11:11am • #8
848,632 Points 153 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Hit Router Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Tee hee, I make my husband do it for me. But, this is a great tutorial, Cheryl shhhhhhhhhh I don't want him to know I could learn to do it.
12:11pm • #9
1 Featured Post
That is cool.  I always wondered how people did that.
12:16pm • #10
257,737 Points 4 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Cheryl - are you sure you don't need a contractors license to do that.

And how much are you going to charge the car owner to give him his car back. 

We are trying to bulk up content and membership of the E-PRO Realtor group and your photography/post processing tutorials cover technology areas that I believe would be useful (I like them) for that group as well as the two you posted to. Can I get you to join the E-PRO group and add your technology posts to that forum, please, please, please. 

12:27pm • #11
447,089 Points 28 Featured Posts Outside Blog Hit Router Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Ted -- OK.  But give me till tomorrow to do it.  <s>
2:44pm • #12

Cheryl,

if I may make one suggestion for the drive way....

Create another layer and fill it up with one color. (doesn't matter which color but I usually use white).  And the use the HEAL tool.  Select the new layer and the use your ALT-CLICK to set the reference area on the new layer.  And then go over the driveway, this should make the colors on the driveway a little more harmonized...

3:36pm • #13
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Thanks for the photoshop lesson, Cheryl. It is sometimes my car in the picture!! Oops.
4:38pm • #14
447,089 Points 28 Featured Posts Outside Blog Hit Router Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Mehmet --- That's a good tip!!
4:40pm • #15
136,585 Points 14 Featured Posts Outside Blog
Good job Cheryl, I love the clone tool. When standing on the hood of a car I recommend you take off your high heels. LOL
5:24pm • #16
233,380 Points Outside Blog
I have been doing that for years.  I use it for putting stuff into photos also.
6:49pm • #17
191,757 Points 2 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
Cheryl - Great post!  I always wondered how they are able to do that in Photoshop.  This is a great way to touch up listing photos and get rid of any defects in the pictures.  Great tip!
8:16pm • #18
890,123 Points 20 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Cheryl - we are so grateful for photo-shop; it can certainly help solve some of our problems.   The car is an object that is in the way alot when taking pictures.
10:43pm • #19
168,640 Points 10 Featured Posts Outside Blog
This is very cool Cheryl.  I've become very good friends with the clone tool in photoshop.  I will print this out for some of the later steps.  THANKS for the tutorial!
11:57pm • #20
OCT
31
2007
447,089 Points 28 Featured Posts Outside Blog Hit Router Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Everyone:  I thought Mehmet's tip was so good, I wanted to try it out for myself.  Check it out here:  Photoshop: Finishing Up With The Healing Brush
7:12am • #21
123,282 Points 1 Featured Post
Wow, these posts are awesome.  I haven't used Photoshop, but my husband soon will be taking a class.  Thanks for the blogs and the tips!
8:40am • #22
104,125 Points
Thanks for the tip Cheryl.  Keep up the great work!
9:51am • #23

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Cheryl Johnson

Highland Park, CA

More about me…

Cheryl Johnson, Bob Taylor Properties, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

Address: 5526 N. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90042

Office Phone: (323) 257-1080

Email Me


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