AI Generative Erase: An easy option for casual editing?

I’m not fond of spending a lot of time tweaking my photos. And that is particularly true when unwanted elements in the picture need to be removed.  Cloning is often very exacting and therefore time consuming, if you are a novice like myself.

Luminar Neo is my current editor, as its sliders offer simple ways to enhance the image without resorting to layers etc. (Note that other software packages are available and no doubt just as clever.)  Skylum have just introduced an AI Generative Erase tool, which I believe is based on Stable Diffusion.  Within limitations, it does a fantastic job of erasing part of an image and inserting a suitable, contextually accurate, replacement.  All the hard work is done by an online server, so the results may take some time to appear back on your desktop.

The limitations are the pixel dimensions of the object to be erased, and the complexity of the object to be removed e.g. jessies on a falcon in flight that cross over the bird, the background and possibly a perch in the same image. So far, I have found the best approach is a step-by-step erasure, one small piece at a time, followed by a minor bit of cloning to tidy up the image.

Below are a couple of examples of removing jessies from Eagle owls, photographed at a falconry centre workshop recently.  I’m pleased with the results. They are not pixel perfect, but as they will only ever be desktop backgrounds, they don’t have to stand detailed scrutiny by experts.

Original picture

Edited version


 Original picture

 Edited version

 


 

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