Content Aware Fill and Environmental Portraits – Cleaning Up Distractions

I’ve played around with Adobe Photoshop CS5′s Content-Aware Fill for a while now but dismissed its application because I believe in getting the right shot SOOC, cleaning up the background as I go.  However, I believe there’s an “honest” use of this digital post-processing magic, especially with portraits.  Sure, there was a shadow and person in the background that I’ve erased, so the original image that’s “real” is below.  But what I wanted was a genuine environmental portrait of this shepherd girl in Guassa Conservation Area, Ethiopia.  That I had a second or two before she moved on to catch up with her goats meant I was going to get a clean background or not, given the time I had.  You be the judge.  Does erasing the distracting elements in the background work for a better image or would you dismiss it because I’ve intentionally erased them from the original?

The Golden Hour With Gelada Baboons

The golden hour (last light of the day) is best for portraits. Works for wildlife too.  The top image of a large, male Gelada (“Bleeding Heart”) baboon was made late in the afternoon and behind a ridge where diffused light saturated color, drawing attention directly to the tell-tale red chest of these primates.

Here the same male becomes annoyed by our persistent presence.  Geladas are the only Old World species endemic to Ethiopia.  See Wikipedia for more information on these unique baboons.

An escarpment drops 1000m behind these four Geladas.