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emilycornfield
emilycornfield
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Need help removing tricky watermark (the photo is legal)

Jun 20, 2011 8:58 PM

My husband bought this machinery at a government auction, we want to remove the watermark in order to resell it. I've tried the spot healing brush, content aware fill, and cloning, but it's a bit tricky and doesn't look good. Any suggestions to make this easier? (We can't get the original unmarked photo). Vertical Storage.jpg

1999 Views   9 Replies   Latest reply: p_d_f, Jun 22, 2011 1:18 AM
 
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    1. Marian Driscoll,
    Jun 21, 2011 3:20 AM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    How do you interpret this as legal?

     

    Why don't you take your own photo?

     
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  • emilycornfield
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    2. emilycornfield,
    Jun 21, 2011 6:26 AM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    This is of the actual machine we purchased, not a stock photo. It was taken for the purpose of selling this particular machine.

     
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  • emilycornfield
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    3. emilycornfield,
    Jun 21, 2011 6:28 AM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    Also, we can't take another photo as it was disassembled after photo was taken. It's sold disassembled.

     
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  • Rafael Aviles
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    4. Rafael Aviles,
    Jun 21, 2011 7:32 AM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    You own the machine, but do you own the photo? They are two different things. Was the photo explicitly included in the purchase of the machine?

     
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  • emilycornfield
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    5. emilycornfield,
    Jun 21, 2011 8:14 AM   in reply to Rafael Aviles
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    Yes we own the photo

     
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    6. Marian Driscoll,
    Jun 21, 2011 8:59 AM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    You own a photo with a watermark.

     

    You can use Photoshop's tools to try to remove the watermark but it might be easier to re-assemble the machine. Photoshop was not designed to remove watermarks.

     

    ...And a forum filled with digital artists that are protective of their own work are not likely going to publicly explain a technique that would commonly be used by art theives (even if you claim legitimacy).

     
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  • craig cheatham
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    7. craig cheatham,
    Jun 21, 2011 5:34 PM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    If you own the photo and the equipment, use the photo as-is.

    If you need to, explain that this is the photo used to sell the equipment when you purchased it.

    Someone interested in the machine can see what it is, and if you own the photo, then the people who put the watermark on it should have no problem.

    Voila!

     

    Craig

     
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  • emilycornfield
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    8. emilycornfield,
    Jun 21, 2011 8:19 PM   in reply to Marian Driscoll
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    Thanks for your responses. I understand why you wouldn't want to explain how to remove a watermark, I hadn't thought of the obvious. I was not trying to do anything illegal, we do have rights to this photo. My husband has asked the sellers to search for the non-watermarked copy and send it on. A lot easier to do it the right way first....

     
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  • p_d_f
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    9. p_d_f,
    Jun 22, 2011 1:18 AM   in reply to emilycornfield
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    Emily,

     

    Removing the watermark from this is not really very hard. For an image like this, and trust me, there are NO real secrets in Photoshop, so don't worry about someone else illegally removing a watermark somewhere else, what you are going to want to do is to draw selections, either using the Path Tool or more quickly, using the Lasso Tool with the Option key held down to draw straight lines. There is going to be a selection for every skewed rectangle where the watermark crosses. Those selections are going to keep you from cloning  where you don't want (don't use the healing brush here at all) and keep your cloning contained to the specific area. Once you get going, the entire project should take maybe thirty minutes and will look like the mark was never there. This is a simple straightforward retouch and since it's a photo you clearly have permission to use, hack away at it and have some fun while you're at it.

     
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