Trees and Sky

[vjim]

In visiting some really talented Galleries on this site, I noticed a problem I, myself,have found to be too much work :(
You want to darken the Sky - but you have a beautiful tree, full of limbs sticking right into that beautiful Sky; Darken the Sky-you darken half the tree ! Is there a magic tool to select the whole Tree and its limbs; half a tree stands out like a sore thumb:eek: I know PLAN AHEAD, but, being somewhat human, it's usually an afterthought. Thanks.

Love, Vjim

[Diana]

Hi VJim,

There isn't a magic tool that will easily select around leaves and branches, but this method almost seems like magic. It won't work in all cases, but you might try it and see if it works on your photos:

Make a new blank layer above your image and make that layer active.

Use the Rectangular Marquee to draw out a selection to cover the area where there is sky showing.

Select Foreground and Background colors two shades of blue, or blue and white.

Drag out a gradient on your selection on the blank layer, OR use Filter > Render > Clouds, on the selection.

Change the blend mode of that layer to Darken.

The Render Clouds or Gradient will only affect areas lighter than the colors you use, so it shouldn’t affect the trees and leaves (unless they are lighter than the sky colors you use).

On the new sky layer, take an eraser and carefully erase any light areas of the photo affected that shouldn’t be blue.

Here's an example I did using Filter > Render > Clouds. The original had a washed out, almost white, sky.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1y43795HwEHqj2fQZolwZQLBXx6UKQ_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1y43795HwEHqj2fQZolwZQLBXx6UKQ)

Diana

[David Asch]

As Diana says there's no magic tool that will select the tree; her technique works really well, though.

You could try a couple of ways to remove the sky around the tree. Firstly, there's the Background Eraser tool: it takes a bit of getting used to but can produce excellent results - make sure you work on a copy of the background, though. You can also try using Replace Color if the sky is a uniform colour.

There's never a definite way to do this kind of work but it's well worth trying a multi-technique approach :)

[dj_paige]

Regarding the cloud filter ... is it possible to change the appearance of the clouds? The results I get don't really look like clouds (which tend to have definite shape and edges) but rather random splotches of white and blue.

[ken1]

I have had success by adding clouds to a "new" sky with a cloud brush. There is quite a selection available for download from the Adobe Studio Exchange:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?sticky=true&search_rating=&search_license=&search_category=-1&search_pubdate=&sort=0&num=25&search_exchange=16&startnum=1&searchfield=clouds&from=2&event=search&search_platform=0

Various people have favorite ones. Scroll down to "Return to Eden" among others. The brushes are applied using foreground color=white for clouds. Suggest putting them on a blank layer at the top of the stack, then positioning with the move tool.

I have found the Filter>Render>Clouds quite nice for creating a background on a blank new layer. Foreground and background colors are selected for different shades of blue, and Gaussian blur is applied. This approximates the effect created by photographic studios of past years, as when they put out graduation pictures.

[dj_paige]

I'm starting to scare myself.

I selected a portion of the sky with real clouds from one photo, copied it, then opened a 2nd photograph (with an almost white sky), pasted it into a blank layer above the 2nd photograph, and then followed Diana's procedure (after the part where she recommended using the Cloud Filter) and voila I have realistic looking clouds now. Further, the real clouds can be stretched if needed to fill the appropriate area in the 2nd photograph — did you know that stretched clouds looks pretty darn real?

[ken1]

Glad that it worked out for you. In Elements, there frequently are two or more ways to accomplish a task.

[vjim]

Thank you Diana; I'll try it!

Love, Vjim

[Newtome]

Thank you so much Diana, this technique worked so well for wedding photos that I am doing with an almost white sky in some photos. I have worked so hard with selections etc and when I tried your technique it was magic.
One thing to think of when stretching beyond the canvas size (as when the clouds were stretched )is to select all (ctrl a) and then go to image crop. If the image is stretched beyond the canvas size it will increase your file size significantly if the excess isn't removed.
Elaine

[Diana]

Glad that it worked for you.

Diana