As you can see this one is a work in progress. After the initial colourcorrecting (that can be tweaked in a later stage) I got this far carefully using the patchtool on the baby and the floatingtoy.
I'm wondering if I should try to reconstruct the thing that looks like part of a crocodile. Or black out everything around the baby who is clearly the main subject.
So far I could not identify anything in the areas that are already black by spothealing & patching.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c304/tribemom/swimming_wip.jpg)
Atlantis you have done a great job already, it is a lot of work to get rid of all that sand!
I wonder if it is possible to roughly repair the reptile and leave it unclear with a lens blur for instance.
You can then darken it a little as well. If that doesn't look right blacking it out is also a good option.
Hannie
Well, to be honest, all I can see is something that looks like plastic croc"skin" but I don't have a clue on how it's shape should be. The black holes could be eyes or something completely different. And I wonder if spending time on that area would be worth the time & effort. Would that object be important enough?
But fading it by darkening is also an option indeed.
The texture in the 'croc' looks like fabric, and the brown parts on it look like mud, probably damage, so perhaps the image of a reptile is an illusion. My approach would be to repair the look of fabric, leave the black holes without trying to enhance the shape, then blur/darken it a bit (as Hannie suggested) so it doesn't draw attention.
Tori
Your progress is looking good. :)
The black areas in the 'croc' & the 'fabric' pattern look like damage to me, as well.
The color reminds me of the mold we often see. Perhaps, it should be desaturated so it doesn't stand out, & then do as suggested by the others - burred & darkened.
Good luck
BJ TX
Atlantis, looking as closely as one can at the "crock," what I see is a thick woven fabric in a brownish-gold color. Its actual shape is obliterated by both the black and the white damage, both of which conspire to give it the look of a crocodile. There appears to be a fold at the bottom of the "fabric", but that doesn't identify it. I would keep the fabric look and lose the black and the white damage, and then, as everyone else has suggested, fade it into the background.
This is one of those objects that will make you crazy trying to determine what it is when it's not that important to the photo. Cleaning it up and making it as unobtrusive as possible seems the most logical way to go.
Cheers,
GK