littlemike Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 <p>I'm doing some photography for local real estate agents, often using HDR or exposure blending. For the exterior shots, I can't always count on the kind of pretty blue skies that I'd like and I'm struggling with replacing the sky, as shot, with some other sky shots (blue skies, puffy clouds -- you know, postcard skies) that I've taken. </p> <p>Trees and foliage are giving me trouble. I can't seem to find a way to select sky (or non-sky) stuff cleanly enough to avoid outlines or odd artifacts around branches and leaves when I try to composit the fake sky into where the original sky was. </p> <p>Anyone here an old hand at this can offer a tip or two? I'm familiar with working with layers.</p> <p>RAW, Lightroom, Photomatix, CS3. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlemike Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 <p>Apologies for the double-post. I have no idea what happened. Time for another cup of coffee . . . </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricklavoie Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 <p>apply your layer as multiply, and use a mask with a gradient tool to add this newly create sky over the tree and branch, depending of the gradient use the effect could be natural.</p> <p>i do this a lot on my shot : )</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlemike Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 <p>Hi Patrick, <br> Are you using a gradient fill, like a cyan fill? I'm hoping to composit in natural skies with clouds and stuff.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grant_hagen Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 <p>I used to do this quite often.<br> Selection using the <em>Color Range</em> command worked quite well for me most of the time. I cleaned up areas that are not supposed to be selected using the <em>Lasso Tool</em> set to <em>Subtract From Selection.</em><br> Once the new sky layer had been positioned, I checked the "look". If I saw unnatural-looking areas of blending, I used the <em>Gaussian Blur</em> filter on the selection to better blend the transition.<br> It's been awhile, so I don't remember if I had to first convert the selection to a mask before the Gaussian Blur would work on it...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricklavoie Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 <p>Yes i definatly use some gradient color sometime to add or optimize the sky..like i was using a gradient filter with film.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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