I have two images that I would like to place together, one is of a lake and the other of the sky. How can I place the to together without the sharp edge in the horizon and get the colour similar to the image in the following link:

http://www.franskuypers.com/08/selection.php?artist=3&id=1632&num=20

Thank you.

It would be helpful to see each of the images. Would it be possible to upload them? (see link below my sig).

Generally speaking one would use a copy of the lake layer to build "a mask" that would be used on the sky layer to blend it in. "How" one would make the mask would depend on the characteristics of the lake layer, hence the suggestion to upload it for a look-see.

Hi Danny,

Thanks for the reply. I've uploaded the images for you to see. I haven't done any colourizing yet as I want to get my comps and cleanups done first. Am I doing this right?

Many Thanks.

P.S You might have guessed I'm British we spell colour with a u. Please don't ask why.

Uploads are fine...

Take a look at this; is this what you're trying to do? Unfortunately low resolution images sometimes are difficult to use for this type of thing.

No problem with you using colour as long as you don't mind me referring to American football as football and U.K. football as soccer. :)

Hi Danny

That's exactly what I'm looking to do how do I do it?

Of the subject a little, I love American Football. But why is the great game called 'Football' when the game is more like Rugby?

thanks, Cleve

P.S You might of guess I'm a comlete novice at using Photoshop.

it's called football because when the game started way back when they would kick the ball over the goal line to score a touchdown...

Ahhhhhh! Thanks.

Hi Danny

That's exactly what I'm looking to do how do I do it?

Of the subject a little, I love American Football. But why is the great game called 'Football' when the game is more like Rugby?

thanks, Cleve

P.S You might of guess I'm a comlete novice at using Photoshop.OK... glad I hit the target. Not to worry about being a novice. At some point everyone has been where you are now.

The method is based on a process/concept called "masks" or "masking," which among other things allows one to gracefully "blend" one layer with another.

I've got to run... I'll add more later...

In the mean time to get you started on masking check out a few of the 5-star video tutorials on the topic of "layer masks" at youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=photoshop+layer+mask&search_type=

Ok... i'm back. Here's a summary of what I did...
* Press D key to set foreground/background colors to default B/W
* Copy/paste sky image into lake image
* Ctrl + T to engage Free Transform tool
* Stretch top, left and R edges of sky layer so they cover areas of white on the bottom lake layer and the stretch the bottom edge a little into the lake.
* With rectangular selection tool, selected the bottom of sky area.
* Ctrl + J to copy sky selection onto a separate layer
* Ctrl + T again, but this time right-click inside rectangle and choose Flip Vertical from dropdown menu
* Drag and use arrow keys to nudge inverted selection down until its top edge is flush with the bottom edge of the horizon. (Press Ctrl + H to hide bounding rectangle to make it easier to see.) Press Enter when positioned.
* Change blend mode of inverted layer to Luminosity
* Layer > New layer mask > show all - to add a layer mask to "piece of sky/inverted layer".
* Choose Gradient tool
* From menu choose Foreground to Background option
* Use gradient tool to fade in "piece of sky/inverted layer" with layers below. It will take a little practice to get the hang of the gradient tool, so be patient. Lower opacity of this layer if needed.
* Once the fade effect is applied, Select > All, Edit > Copy Merged, Edit > Paste – to merge everything together onto a single layer.
* Apply “noise reduction” to this layer to get rid of some of the .jpg artifacts in the sky.
* Layer > New layer mask > HIDE all - to add a “black” layer mask
* Select Brush tool: soft-edged brush Opacity = 50%, Flow = 40%, Airbrush = on
* Foreground color should be white. If not press X key to exchange the colors
* Paint with white on the layer mask to “smooth out” the .jpg artifacts (bumpiness) in the sky

I hope this isn’t too confusing. Ask questions, OK?

Thanks Danny you've been a real big help. Thanks for sharing. I'm of to watch the Superbowl highlights now. I Missed the live match. Doh!

Regards,


Cleve'

you missed one heck of a game i'm afraid...

Thanks buddy, I think it's time for me to move to the States.

Do not forget to get rid of the reflections in the water as they are distracting and make it obvious that it was photoshopped in (the Sky).
They look like some buildings that were near the edge.
Snook

To do something like this, I think a section of water without reflections would work better. Here is one where I used some water, without any reflections to speak of. I softened the horizon a bit, to give the perception of distance, and then reflected the clouds some back off of the water.

you know what we're all forgeting? come on! this is an old rule to follow. Atmospheric perspective. as the distance in a photo is increased, the object should appear lighter, so in these the sky nearest to the horizon line should be fairly lighter than the sky closer in perspective or at the top of the image.

Hi Cleve,

Some important points have been suggested, firstly Snook's observation that the water part of your composited image contains a reflection that would require an effort to significantly subdue or remove. Secondly, namphoto's atmospheric perspective issue would need to be dealt with.

With those matters in mind I constructed a composite and adjusted the tonal and color values to look something like what I believe you desire.

Next, just for comparison purposes, I added some land at the horizon, which I think looks even more realistic.

In the last example, I added a tree line and the expected reflection in the water.

The point is, that when doing a composite of this type, it's crucial that the individual elements can be realistically combined.