Exercise: correction.

For this exercise I need to have two images one with dust spots on and one with lens flare, easy to find images with dust spots on from my collection I thought as I had a problem with dust on my sensor for a couple of months before finally resolving it. However finding a photograph to actually include was harder than I thought finally though I chose one.

Above is the image I chose this is Baltimore harbour and I took it last year whilst out there for a family wedding, I have circled a dust spot.
Below is the 'corrected' version I have scrolled the image to 100% and removed the dust spot using the spot removal tool and making sure proximity match was ticked. Interestingly I also found a couple of other small dust spots that I hadn't seen on the original image so I removed those, then adjusted the levels and contrast sliders.

This image looks more like I remember the day to be with a blue sky and the buildings standing out against it. further adjustments I could make would include cropping the photograph to remove the top of the light at the bottom right hand side.

In answer to the question should dust spots be removed? I would say yes if they spoil the photograph , sometimes dust spots look like a greasy mark and I think most people would agree these should be removed. On the other side of the argument I would say that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between marks that could be birds in the sky at a distance and dust spots in which case I would leave them alone.

The second part of this exercise is to do with lens flare, these are far more difficult to resolve and having searched through my photographs I think I have found a suitable one to work on.

I have chosen to use this photograph I took of some poppies, you can see the lens flare marked in the area out lined in black.

I am hoping that I will be able to 'clone' the lens flare to remove it and allow it to blend in with the greenery in the background.

The photograph I chose had highlight clipping warning on when I opened it in camera raw therefore I firstly adjusted these before continuing.
I used the darker green area to clone from for most of the photograph but I also used the blue of the sky in a couple of places too. I found that by zooming to 50 % I could see the areas that needed to be cloned.

Do I think this exercise was justified? For the above photograph probably not as I think the lens flare adds a slight artistic flare and that by cloning the 'flare out' the photograph has lost something and looks almost flat this time. Having said that I am sure that this exercise could be justified on other occasions, I think it comes down to the individual and what effect they are looking for.