Pat writes
“I am a 59-year-old mathematics lecturer and have only recently taken up photography seriously. I like different subjects, images that have geometric patterns or warm light effects, and items that may be environmentally not quite desirable but make symmetric abstract shapes.”

Martin Says
You look at a shot like this and wonder how anyone could know which cable leads where. It is bad enough trying to sort out the cable connections behind my TV and hi-fi system. I like these kinds of photos because of the patterns created with the multiple criss-cross lines, and it is also a reminder of how aerial cables were very much a feature of our towns and cities before underground cabling became commonplace. 

When I opened this photo I noticed it had been saved as a JPEG using a heavy, level 3 compression. This JPEG setting is most unsuitable for a picture as detailed as this, and if you look at this close-up view (below) you should be able to see the JPEG artefacts showing along the wire edges.

Close up showing jpeg artefacts around sharp edges

 
To counter this, I duplicated the Background layer and applied a Smart Blur filter (with settings Radius 3, Threshold 15) and then added a layer mask so I could hide the filtered layer over the main pole area. This quick repair managed to convincingly hide all of the troublesome artefacts.