Quote Originally Posted by conropl View Post
Per Joel's suggestion - I tried again (this time in CS6) to remove the OF branch in the Gold Finch, but it still looked horrible. I ended up averaging the background to remove the band left behind in the back ground, but then I lost the sharpness around the beak. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

CS5O3644 by westmichigan, on Flickr
I use the clone stamp tool with very small size at first to separate the out of focus branch from the one in focus. then make the brush larger and reduce the opacity to gradually paint away the remaining areas and try to blend them with the BG. Then I go over that with the paint brush at a reduced opacity to further blend it in

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