Photoshop selection strategies

[cjk]

<p>Hi there, <br>

I would like to separate various elements in the attached photo in order to do selective adjustments. The elements I want to treat separately are: <br>

- The Bridge<br>

- The cables (the "web")<br>

- The sky<br>

- The clouds<br>

I'm relatively comfortable using various Photoshop tools and built a relatively decent selection for the sky and the clouds but I can't seem to be able to determine the right selection strategy for the "web". <br>

Can someone suggest an approach that could work? <br>

Thanks<br>

Cesar</p>

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[AlanKlein]

Nice shot the way it is.

[peter_cohen]

<p>Topaz ReMask for its excellent ability to remove colors. Watch the how-to vid on their site for best practice. 30-day free trial. Plan for a long haul ;-)</p>

[lenny_eiger]

<p>I'd say you are going to have to do it in pieces. The top ones separate enough from the background - a channel selection should do it. However, when you get to the stone, I think you will have trouble doing anything but painting with quick mask...</p>

 

[cjk]

Alan: Thanks!

 

Peter: not sure what you mean by "remove colors". I will try to download the trial.

 

Lenny: Indeed a piecemeal approach is the only option. I had good results when on sky or cloud background (with the red

channel). Cables on stone is extremely challenging, specially the vertical cables. I tried Quick Mask then Refine Edge but

that lead nowhere. Now I've been trying to select each cable with the pen tool. Mind boggling long procedure. I will give it

a few more hours tomorrow and see where it leads me...

[peter_cohen]

<p>Topaz ReMask lets you select a single color and then brush over an area to remove only that color. They have a tut on their site somewhere (or on YouTube) wherein they remove a background from within a wedding veil, retaining the veil but removing the background.</p>

<p>In your image, the cables might be too close in color to get separation with that tool, but it seems like it would be worth a shot.</p>

<p>Take a look at these: http://www.topazlabs.com/tutorials/remask.html</p>