Mask around trees

[NWPhotoGuy]

I hope you'll give a newbie a little assistance.
I'm faced with a number of pictures where I want to mask the sky but the line of demarcation is filled with fir trees. The magic wand masks most of the sky but there is always the bits within and among the trees that is not masked. Is there a way to effectively include this within the mask as well?

[roger_ele]

Welcome to retouchPro!

Try Select>Similar or

Control-Alt_~ to select highlights, then remove land areas from selection. You can save the selection then go to the channels window/pallette, you will see your selection as a black and white image. Touch it up there then load your refined selection and do your mask magic.

Roger

[NWPhotoGuy]

Welcome to retouchPro!

Try Select>Similar or

Control-Alt_~ to select highlights, then remove land areas from selection. You can save the selection then go to the channels window/pallette, you will see your selection as a black and white image. Touch it up there then load your refined selection and do your mask magic.

Roger

Thanks Roger, I'll give it a try just as soon as I figure out everything you said.

[roger_ele]

You are welcome Don - and as to me being the able to write as if i understand what i am thinking of and so being able to communicate what i think you are thinking of for looking at a way to complete the process ... (tongue firmly in cheek or hanging)

point is that the reason I am a photographer is that i am a visual person and I have always struggled with written communication - don't feel shy about asking for clarification on anything, I won't take it wrong.

If you could, what are trying to do with this mask?

Roger

[NWPhotoGuy]

You are welcome Don - and as to me being the able to write as if i understand what i am thinking of and so being able to communicate what i think you are thinking of for looking at a way to complete the process ... (tongue firmly in cheek or hanging)

point is that the reason I am a photographer is that i am a visual person and I have always struggled with written communication - don't feel shy about asking for clarification on anything, I won't take it wrong.

If you could, what are trying to do with this mask?

Roger

Roger, I think you misunderstand; it's not your inability to communicate it's my inability to comprehend. That having been said, I just tried the technique you suggested, or actually a variant of it, and it seems to work. I still want to try your full technique and will, probably tomorrow.

As to what I'm trying to do...
Often I find that I have a mountainscape that is devoid of clouds. The only way it is salvagable is to add a tint to it or see if a different sky might work. Invariably there are great numbers of trees against the skyline that must be dealt with.

The next issue I'm faced with, and one I have not yet solved (hint), is, given a new sky, is there an effective technique to reflect it in a body of water? I find this particularly difficult when there are other objects (plants, trees, etc) the obscure part of the water surface.

Anyway, hope I communicated well.

[Doug Nelson]

It sounds like your sky might be a good candidate for Select>Color Range. Alternatively, you can copy the treeline to another layer, pump up the contrast with curves, then copy and paste it in as a layer mask back on the trees layer.

[roger_ele]

Doug's suggestions sound even easier

Here are a couple past threads that include creating reflections ...

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6798

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6833

Roger

[NWPhotoGuy]

Doug's suggestions sound even easier

Here are a couple past threads that include creating reflections ...

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6798

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6833

Roger

Thanks so much for the responses Roger and Doug. I'll try these out tonight.

[NWPhotoGuy]

Thanks so much for the responses Roger and Doug. I'll try these out tonight.

Here's the result of what I was trying to do. If you don't think it works, please let me know. I value your suggestions.

http://www.lightfantasticphotography.com/disp_pic.htm?pic=030814_0024&title=Reflections%20on%20Summer&loc=Mt.%20Rainier%20NP,%20Washington&orient=landscape

[rondon]

pretty photo

I often have the same problem with the tree line... before flattening the layers you might try a small soft eraser set at 50% or so to soften the edges of trees that are troublesome...

more often I try to find a replacement sky with nice clouds that can be positioned so that the tone matches the original at the tree line... this way I don't need to erase as much detail. adjustments can me made until you see the "line of demarcation" fade away... if then the sky is too bland you can use the stamp tool set on multiply to bring in more detail... either before or after flattening the image.
like other things... this sometimes works.

I'd guess the flowers were more troublesome then the tree line... looks good tho.

[NWPhotoGuy]

I often have the same problem with the tree line... before flattening the layers you might try a small soft eraser set at 50% or so to soften the edges of trees that are troublesome...

more often I try to find a replacement sky with nice clouds that can be positioned so that the tone matches the original at the tree line... this way I don't need to erase as much detail. adjustments can me made until you see the "line of demarcation" fade away... if then the sky is too bland you can use the stamp tool set on multiply to bring in more detail... either before or after flattening the image.
like other things... this sometimes works.

I'd guess the flowers were more troublesome then the tree line... looks good tho.

Yes, the reflection with the flowers overlaying it was very time consuming. Thanks for taking a look and the input.

[Flora]

Hi Don!

Is this what you'd like to achieve by 'masking the sky'?

[NWPhotoGuy]

Hi Don!

Is this what you'd like to achieve by 'masking the sky'?

Yes, for your example, that is exactly what I had in mind. The myriad nooks and crannies of the sky among the foliage is very time consuming. I've also seen, however, that especially on horizon shots like the shot I was working on (I'll be happy to post a link to the original this evening), that there is not a well-defined color boundary against/within the trees that can easily be selected with the magic wand or select highlights. I'm invariably left, after cutting, with a light outline of residual sky against the trees. In this image, after cutting the majority of the sky, I had to go back and use the clone or erasure tools at great magnification to resolve this issue. I could probably use feathering but I'm not convinced that would get everything either. Maybe I'm wrong. Your example was a foreground object with well-defined boundaries.

What was your secret?

[NWPhotoGuy]

Yes, for your example, that is exactly what I had in mind. The myriad nooks and crannies of the sky among the foliage is very time consuming. I've also seen, however, that especially on horizon shots like the shot I was working on (I'll be happy to post a link to the original this evening), that there is not a well-defined color boundary against/within the trees that can easily be selected with the magic wand or select highlights. I'm invariably left, after cutting, with a light outline of residual sky against the trees. In this image, after cutting the majority of the sky, I had to go back and use the clone or erasure tools at great magnification to resolve this issue. I could probably use feathering but I'm not convinced that would get everything either. Maybe I'm wrong. Your example was a foreground object with well-defined boundaries.

What was your secret?

Here's the original. http://www.lightfantasticphotography...v_disp_pic.htm

[rondon]

I'd like to know Flora's secret too !

I wasn't able to get a good tree line either .... but here's what I ended up with