Selecting the light areas

From: Arcfus Barcwincle

Occasionally, I’ll take a photo of a landscape area with some trees nearer to the foreground so that some sky is visible through the branches. Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to "enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.
Can someone remind me how this is done?

This might work … use the Magic Wand tool with the ‘contiguous’ box unchecked …. you may need to diddle with the ‘tolerance’ setting to get it just right.

You might also read up on the recent thread about making complex masks with other plug-ins since what you’re describing here is similar to the guy trying to knock out a mask for hair.

Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to
"enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.

This is just the situation that the Select->Color Range command is made for.

—
Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Maybe Image -> Adjustments -> Shadow/Highlights will help?

Arty

"Tacit" wrote in message

Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to
"enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.

This is just the situation that the Select->Color Range command is made for.

—
Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Bill Hilton wrote:

From: Arcfus Barcwincle

Occasionally, I’ll take a photo of a landscape area with some trees nearer to the foreground so that some sky is visible through the branches. Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to "enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.
Can someone remind me how this is done?

This might work … use the Magic Wand tool with the ‘contiguous’ box unchecked … you may need to diddle with the ‘tolerance’ setting to get it just right.
You might also read up on the recent thread about making complex masks with other plug-ins since what you’re describing here is similar to the guy trying to knock out a mask for hair.

As noted in the other thread, making such a selection is easier said than done. How easy is it to separate the sky from the leaves depends on quite a few factors, such as how fine leaves are, or how sharp are they focused, or whether they are all within the same dof, etc. If you want a nightmare sky, consider the following.

It is a rain forest image shot at sunset/sunrise, and everything has a desired color cast. The sky has clear areas, areas with fluffy clouds, areas around crisp mountain tops, areas with clouds/mist around mountain tops, areas with leaves in focus and leaves out of focus or in heavy mist.

I have yet to find a tutorial or a book that can demonstrate how to make a "good" selection out of such a sky so that a 35mm frame can print up to 13"x19" without showing any telltale signs.

Hmm… no, it wasn’t Magic Wand or Color Range.

I vaguely remember something along the lines of creating a new layer with the mode altered to Overlay, or Lighten or something.

Damn… I should have bookmarked it.

Pardon me

It appears my message was squished between Tact’s and Arcy’s there by confusing the correspondence a little

Apologies all

Arty

BTW grt moniker Arcfus (is the "c" pronounced softly as in ssss or hard as in kicking k?

A

"Arcfus Barcwincle" wrote in message

Hmm… no, it wasn’t Magic Wand or Color Range.

I vaguely remember something along the lines of creating a new layer with the mode altered to Overlay, or Lighten or something.
Damn… I should have bookmarked it.

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 20:17:36 GMT, "Arty" wrote:

BTW grt moniker Arcfus (is the "c" pronounced softly as in ssss or hard as in kicking k?

All of the ‘c’s are hard.

Arcfus Barcwincle wrote:

Occasionally, I’ll take a photo of a landscape area with some trees nearer to the foreground so that some sky is visible through the branches. Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to "enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.
Some time back, I found a website that gave a quick description on how to select the lighter areas in this sort of situation, but I can’t remember how it’s done, or where that website is.

Can someone remind me how this is done? Thanks in advance.

how about this: from the channels pallete ctrl + left click on the rgb channel. makes a selection based on luminance.

heh heh heh

nice one!

Arty

"Arcfus Barcwincle" wrote in message

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 20:17:36 GMT, "Arty" wrote:

BTW grt moniker Arcfus (is the "c" pronounced softly as in ssss or hard as
in kicking k?

All of the ‘c’s are hard.

Try this:
1. Make a rough selection which includes the sky but excludes other light-colored objects. The Marquee or Polygonal Lasso tools work best.
2. Create a new blank layer.
3. Change the foreground and background colors to plausible shades of blue.
4. With the Gradient tool, create a gradient within the selection.
5. Change the blend mode to Darken.
6. The sky will look artificial where out-of-focus foliage blurs into the original sky color. Reduce the opacity of your new sky layer until the effect disappears.

Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson Photography

In article , Arcfus
Barcwincle wrote:

Occasionally, I’ll take a photo of a landscape area with some trees nearer to the foreground so that some sky is visible through the branches. Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to "enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.
Some time back, I found a website that gave a quick description on how to select the lighter areas in this sort of situation, but I can’t remember how it’s done, or where that website is.

Can someone remind me how this is done? Thanks in advance.

Tom Nelson wrote:

Try this:
1. Make a rough selection which includes the sky but excludes other light-colored objects. The Marquee or Polygonal Lasso tools work best.
2. Create a new blank layer.
3. Change the foreground and background colors to plausible shades of blue.
4. With the Gradient tool, create a gradient within the selection.
5. Change the blend mode to Darken.
6. The sky will look artificial where out-of-focus foliage blurs into the original sky color. Reduce the opacity of your new sky layer until the effect disappears.

Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson Photography

In article , Arcfus
Barcwincle wrote:

Occasionally, I’ll take a photo of a landscape area with some trees nearer to the foreground so that some sky is visible through the branches. Often, the sky is a little washed out, and I want to "enhance" it a little for a more dramatic effect. The problem is that I only want to enhance the sky and not the tree branches.
Some time back, I found a website that gave a quick description on how to select the lighter areas in this sort of situation, but I can’t remember how it’s done, or where that website is.

Can someone remind me how this is done? Thanks in advance.

That seems awful complicated and not very good. Why not use <Ctrl><Alt>~ That selects the highlights on a gradation. If the gradation isn’t exactly what you want, go into Quick Mode and apply Curves or Levels to quickly make it what you want.

I used to use this all the time before CS had Highlights and Shadows.

Clyde