Remove pesky tourists!
July 21, 2006 1:01 PM   Subscribe

Tourist Remover. Sorry for the one-link post, but this is just too good an idea not to share. This clever (and free!) service removes extraneous stuff from pictures. Neat! Via.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan (29 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
No need to apologize for a one-link post if it's good.
posted by empath at 1:09 PM on July 21, 2006


I went on a family trip to Rome about seven years ago and half of the buildings there were being renovated and were obscured by scafolding. My dad and I decided that someone should design a "de-scafoldize" filter for Photoshop. That idea just popped back into my head while looking at this...
posted by brundlefly at 1:23 PM on July 21, 2006


Last time I was in Disney World, I made it a point to get in the background of other peoples pictures and look as weird as possible (yes, that's me, and yes, I'm an ass).
posted by Mach5 at 1:27 PM on July 21, 2006


I took a picture of my cousin once removed, but it didn't turn out.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:35 PM on July 21, 2006 [1 favorite]


Good one-link posts are the best thing that ever happens here. And this is one.
posted by glenwood at 1:41 PM on July 21, 2006


Great app!

Now I just need a stand-alone or Photoshop version for creating clean background plates for VFX work. (I wonder if the developers are even aware of this market base?)

2d3 was working on an impressive motion-capable version of a similar concept (called Pixeldust), but it seems that it never made it out of development.
posted by numlok at 1:43 PM on July 21, 2006


this is wonderful! thanks!
posted by amberglow at 1:46 PM on July 21, 2006


Mach5, you should make that into an animation (maybe with found text or something) : >
posted by amberglow at 1:47 PM on July 21, 2006


This is fantastic, thanks!

(Mach5, you're my new MeFi crush for that.)
posted by cmyk at 1:52 PM on July 21, 2006


I try to be emotionally removed from the people in mylife. Will this program help?
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:02 PM on July 21, 2006


Repeating what other have said.. one link posts are great if the content is good. On that note, this is awesome; it helps photoshop-challenged people like myself do some nice tricks.

Got anymore? =)
posted by triolus at 2:03 PM on July 21, 2006


I wonder how well it works if you keep a human subject in the picture. Would that person become blurred or otherwise distorted because of slight movements betwen the pics?

Because really, if I want a picture of a famous building that's likely to have lots of tourists around it, I'll buy a postcard. Generally I want a picture of someone in FRONT of that building.

Seems like, best case scenario, that'd require standing stock-still for five minutes while all the other tourists came and went. Great application of technology, but I can't see myself using it.
posted by gurple at 2:15 PM on July 21, 2006


Wowsers. That rules.

And, because it bears repeating once more: never apologise for a one-link post, they are the life-blood of MetaFilter
posted by jack_mo at 2:33 PM on July 21, 2006


Got anymore? =)

No. But thanks for the feedback, one and all. In the past, I've held back from single links, and tried to create well thought out, researched posts. Must remember the key though; quality, not quantity.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 2:49 PM on July 21, 2006






posted by bukharin at 2:54 PM on July 21, 2006


Meh, what a silly thing. I'm with gurple on this one. Plus, I have no patience for people who haven't the patience to wait for the scene to clear. That's part of the zen of photography.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 2:58 PM on July 21, 2006


Multi link posts piss me off.
posted by howa2396 at 3:22 PM on July 21, 2006


I tend to wait for scenes to clear as well, but my best photos are usually where there are "unwanted" people in shot.
posted by LordSludge at 4:21 PM on July 21, 2006


Very clever idea, but only effective if you A) shoot with a tripod and B) manage to get a scene in which every spot is clear in at least one shot. This latter might be harder than it sounds. For example, you'd wait a long time to get an empty shot of Piazza San Marco or the Great Wall at Badaling this way.
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:34 PM on July 21, 2006


ObscureReferenceMan, Nice, thank you.

It's Raining Florence Henderson , funny.
posted by nickyskye at 5:13 PM on July 21, 2006


An extension should be offered to add the toursists you want after you have gotten rid of the unwanted ones. You could choose from a collection: that American clad in Hawaiian shirt and camera on belly, a smurf, some celebrities... I know its fairly trivial to do, but so is removing the unwanted ones.
posted by NewBornHippy at 5:35 PM on July 21, 2006


The Interactive Digital Photomontage project from University of Washington's CS department has this feature, in addition to several more interesting capabilities for seamless combination. ( scroll down ). Also in video.

You can download a demo (Win32/Linux, with source ) to try it out, although the interface takes some getting used to.
posted by arialblack at 6:59 PM on July 21, 2006


This reminds me of this video completion algorithm from Michal Irani. Her work is fantastic.
posted by handee at 6:05 AM on July 22, 2006


The Commissar Vanishes!
posted by SteelyDuran at 6:42 AM on July 22, 2006


Microsoft Research's Group Shot.
posted by VulcanMike at 8:22 AM on July 22, 2006


Microsoft has a free(beer) downloadable tool for WinXP that does something similiar called Group Shot. It lets you specify which parts of several images to include in a single composite. Because it is selective you could leave Aunt Molly and Uncle Bob or weird facial guy and exclude everyone else.

ObscureReferenceMan writes "In the past, I've held back from single links, and tried to create well thought out, researched posts. Must remember the key though; quality, not quantity."

The best FPPs are single links to something cool or "best" on the web.

TheGoldenOne writes "Plus, I have no patience for people who haven't the patience to wait for the scene to clear."

Lots of tourist destinations never clear.
posted by Mitheral at 9:16 AM on July 22, 2006


Apparently I need to preview more.
posted by Mitheral at 9:17 AM on July 22, 2006


Living in a tourist-packed city, I've often wondered how many "our trip to London" photo albums I appear in. I kind of like that there are probably dozens of pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square with me in the background, because I happened to be walking past or waiting for a friend. Self obsessed? Me?
posted by featherboa at 3:22 AM on July 23, 2006


featherboa says: I've often wondered how many "our trip to London" photo albums I appear in.

Well...you appear in all of mine, luv. I refuse, absolutely refuse to take pictures there *unless* you're in the background.
posted by dejah420 at 6:10 PM on July 23, 2006


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