October 2025.
New Orleans, Louisiana.

This past spring, I started processing the images for two posts covering our October 2025 trip to New Orleans. On our way to visit the Katrina Memorial, I saw this mausoleum, called the Elk Tumulus, reserved for members of the Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks. I admit I didn’t notice the power lines as I brought my Nikon Z7 II up to my eye, intent on capturing the elk statue at the top of the mound. When I saw the image on the left in Adobe Lightroom Classic, I thought, “No big deal”—both Photoshop and Luminar Neo have power line removal tools. I started with Luminar Neo; it seems about as good as Photoshop for this task, and it’s simpler to manage.

Oops! Neo got a bit carried away, mistaking the top of the right antler for part of the power line structure. I abandoned the edit, went back to Lightroom, and sent the photo back to Neo again for a second try. Same result. AI Fail #1. OK, I’ve still got Adobe Photoshop. Back in Lightroom, I sent the image off to Photoshop, confident I’d have better luck.

Not so much. Photoshop’s Distraction Removal/Wires and Cables made both antler tips float above the elk’s head. Again, I canceled the edit and, back in Lightroom, gave Photoshop one more try. Same result. No success. AI Fail #2.

Back in Lightroom, I took a closer look at what I was up against. One thing that worked in my favor is that the power line crossed the sculpture just below the shorter antler tips. I realized I would have to reconstruct those antlers using Photoshop’s Clone Stamp tool. But before that, I needed to remove the entire power cable from the power pole on the right to the left edge of the photo. I decided to work in three parts, starting from the right and working toward the elk. I stopped just before the right antler, then began again just after the left antler, and removed the left side, again, one section at a time. Finally, I would tackle the antlers.

Starting on the right section, I tried using Photoshop’s AI removal tool to remove the entire right power line section, but the clouds in the background were a problem. Because the sky was so varied in shades of blue, gray, and white, the AI tool left obvious artifacts and blending errors.

I opened up a chat with Gemini, told the bot about Photoshop’s failure to remove the power line, and asked for suggestions. Gemini recommended using Photoshop’s Patch Tool to remove the sections across the sky, then tackle the antlers. I wasn’t sure how to use the Patch Tool, so I asked how it works and got step-by-step instructions. Starting just left of the street lamp, I worked in small sections, using the Polygon Tool to draw a rectangle around a section of the power line. Then I dragged the highlighted patch into an area with a similar pattern of blues and grays. In a moment, Photoshop blended the patch into the background, and a section of the power line disappeared. I divided the job into five sections on the right, then moved to the left edge and removed that side of the power line in small sections.

Finally, I tackled the section of the power line crossing directly in front of the elk’s antlers. Following the step-by-step instructions at 300% zoom in Photoshop, I selected the Clone Stamp tool and adjusted the brush width to match the fine tips of the prongs. I held down the Alt key and clicked once near the midpoint of the wider antler below the wire to lock in my sample point. From there, it was smooth: using upward strokes, the tool tracked the antler’s natural alignment, lifting tones and shading right through the obstruction. By simply downsizing the brush for the narrowest tips, a few consecutive strokes cleanly restored the light and shadow, making the power line vanish entirely.

Here’s the final version with the stub of the lower power line removed from the lamp post attachment point on the right. I left the upper power line even though it could have been removed by AI in either Neo or Photoshop. The pole was taller than the lamp, so it makes sense that at least one line would cross the image.

Before publishing this post, I tried both Neo and Photoshop to see what would happen today. Photoshop generated the same floating antler set, but Luminar Neo’s most recent update must have improved masking for the Remove Power Lines tool, as the line was cleanly removed from the antlers. In recent weeks, I’ve noticed several improvements in object masks in both Lightroom and Neo. I am sure better distraction-removal tools are coming. I’ve posted 2K HD images to my Flickr gallery here for detailed inspection.

Note: I wrote this post before Skylum renamed Luminar Neo to Luminar, and the version of Neo that removed the power line correctly was the last version Skylum released before their August 5 name-change release. Having used the latest version on more recent photos, I can attest to Luminar’s much-improved power line removal algorithm.

Lynn and I are traveling for the next couple of weeks. Feel free to comment, but I may not be able to respond as quickly as usual.

John Steiner.