Tree Twig

[Lofty1967]

Hi Guys,
Can anyone help me get this tree separated from the background it is on, I have initially taken away from the sky but now need to remove it from the background, (Bark and Twig). I have been doing this via a channel selections tutorial on the internet as I am trying to improve drastically this side of my photoshop work to improve my selections to the pixel level. Any advice and further tutorial direction would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Lofty

[Tony W]

First look at this image suggests combining three seperate masks. I have not tried but think that seperation of colour and tone may be a little difficult to do in a one stop solution.

First the tree against the white sky should be relatively simple - increase contrast an if required paint over light areas.

Second seperate the twig from the background, maybe curves or apply image.

Third mask by hand drawing around the trunk area.

Finally combine all three for your completed mask.

[Lofty1967]

Thanks Tony, do you mind going into a bit more depth how I do this as I am fairly new.
Thanks
Lofty

[Tony W]

Not had the time to do a full job so very quick to show what I had in mind.

• Goto Channels and select the best contrast channel concentrating on the sky tree interface.
• Copy the channel by clicking and dragging down to the create new channel icon.
• On your new duplicate channel increase the B&W contrast either using levels or try Apply image command.
• Paint over with black any areas not required - allow a little overlap where the trunk meets the sky and also where the twig meets the sky
• Repeat this process for the twig selection. For the trunk it may be just easier to paint your selection manually.
• You should end up with three seperate channel mask as shown in my image.
• To combine them Select the Sky image and then while holding down Ctrl click on the Trunk channel thumbnail. You should see this appear as marching ants. Make sure that the selection is only for the trunk then goto edit>Fill and fill with white.
• Now do the same for the twig selection.

You should now have the basis for a combined mask. Note that this will require refining on the combined mask and you may need to modify contrast etc to get an effective seperation around the fine detail of the branches against the sky.

Hopeful that someone will suggest a quicker more elegant solution

[Lofty1967]

Thanks Tony, much appreciated.