Is it possible to remove a "blotch" in the foreground?

[Tahunga]

I have a question for Mac Affinity Wizards: Here is my picture which ended up with a "blotch" (probably a branch of a tree) in the foreground.

Since the blotch does not block out all details 100% I figured that with a good effort it should be possible to remove it. I gave it a try by selecting it, then invert the selection, and finally add an adjustment Layer (Brightness/Contrast Adjustment). As a newbie in the use of Affinity Photo I was proud with this effort. But it really is just the start.

I did try to remove the edges left by my selection using the inpainting brush tool. But that did not work at all. So the question is simple: What might be the ways to remove such a "distraction" from an image?

Thanks for any help.

[smadell]

Before suggesting anything, let me make an over-arching generalization. This photo will never look normal. You can improve it somewhat, but I don't think you'll ever completely remove the blotch.

That having been said, I'd suggest a couple of things. (1) For the dark area over the building, use a technique shown in a PixImperfect video (which I've linked below). It's a Photoshop video, but everything he's doing can be done in Affinity Photo. (2) For the sky, you might have better results selecting the area between the building and the leftmost tree branches and "replacing" the sky with a gradient – sample the colors at the top and the bottom for the two endpoints. (3) You can probably recover some of the detail in the lower branches of the trees on the left, but I really believe that the upper branches (the area in the top, left corner of your photo) are beyond repair. There's simply not enough preserved detail and/or contrast to make any sort of reasonable selection. This is the time for some judicious cropping to get rid of that area.

Even with all that, I fear that the result you'll get will be better but will never really convince anyone that the blotch was never there.

Here's the YouTube tutorial from PixImperfect:

 

[Tahunga]

Hi smadell,

many thanks for your great and detailed suggestions. I had a quick look at the video and will try the process described in it. It sounds quite good.

As you say, I never expect the picture to look perfect in the end. But as an Affinity Newbie I am still more interested in learning techniques than in making my pictures perfect.

....and then I have a completely unrelated question: Is the dog in your profile picture a Newfoundlander? I used to have one of those magnificent dogs a few years ago.

[smadell]

My profile picture is my 6 year old brown Newfoundland, Hudson. She’s sweet as could be, and smart as a whip. Too smart, sometimes.

[v_kyr]

They are perfect (rescue) swimmers and have webbeds at their feets. - Usually there is no stopping when they see water, as I once had to find out when walking with friends' dog Jenny, who when seeing the water of a big lake was jumping in and pulling a boat back and forth just for fun. Well, no need to say I had to wait endless time until Jenny came finally back out of water. - Of course we both decided afterwards to not tell to her owners about that water trip, so we won't get trouble, thus that was kept as a personal secret between friends. 😄