HELP!! Please help me with post-processing this image! (Please read my comments....)

This image is NOT from Africa, obviously. I am attempting to bump up my post processing skills. I have finally figured out how to get two photos into the same image as two separate layers ... and found the "auto-align" feature.

 

All of that worked fine. I took two images (see below), one exposed for the sky (approaching thunderhead) and one exposed for the foreground (great swamp trees, but blown out sky). I used each image as a separate layer, and used auto-align to match them up.

 

Next, I wanted to use the great-sky image as the bottom of the two layers, and with the other layer selected, use the eraser tool to "erase" the blown out sky so that the great sky showed.

 

I was able to erase most of the bad sky for the good sky. But my problem then comes along when I tried to work around the tops of the trees, especially the two trees in the foreground. I either had to leave the blown out sky, or I had to use the under-exposed outer branches from the too-dark trees. RRRRRRrrrrr.....

 

How do you people do this ... combining images for the best exposure spots of each. If there was a clean line between tree and sky, it would have been a piece of cake. But the trees and branches give me all sorts of problems.

 

HELP!! Please!!

First image, exposed for the sky. (LOVE that sky!!)

Second image, exposed for foreground ... great greens in the trees.

Here's where I run into difficulties! Help, please!!

Please read my comments and see the two images (different exposures)

that I used to get this final image. Any suggestions about post

processing this type of image would be of great benefit to me!!

ok I haven't used this process to combine two photo's I have taken like this as of yet but it should be a very similar process. and its VERY easy. you have the two layers the foreground should be the top layer (this is preference if you want it the other way then you just switch my instructions around). I forgot to check what program your using, I'm going to assume photoshop since thats most common. Its a very simply thing. Use the eraser tool on the top layer at a low opacity. the lower the opacity the better. Each time you click it will remove what ever % of the layer you have it set to so if the opacity is too low just click more. If you do this with a large brush head with a feathered edge. DONT WORRY ABOUT BEING EXACT. If your exact then a line will be created as a seem. The human eye will pic up on this If you look in my gallery on the bottom there are 4 pictures under the section "Sequences" These are all compiled pictures I did with up to 13 frames making up the largest of them, all that was done using the eraser and opacity tool to stitch them (the water in the dive sequences isn't perfect cause I got lazy) This is only one method. Im sure there are others. I hope I helped. Lemme know if you have any other Q's.

-Mike

Ok on second thought most of what I said back there can be scratched on this particular image....umm gimme a little bit I'm trying to do it with your image now to see what I can use to combine em.....Ill post again when I figure some out...Do you think I could get the originals It would be MUCH easier then with the small images i pulled off your page. If yes send em to my email.

-Mike

Lou Ann, this is a difficult situation obviously because of the trees. It can be done, but it will take a lot of time and work. Using layer masks, the key is to use a soft brush. The softer, the better because the changes will be gradual and not so obvious. Email the files and I'll see what I can put together.

Ok I worked on the ones from this page a bit I got it all lined up but its alot of work.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p316/Photoragon/Untitled-1.jpg

I donno what you did in between these shots but its really weird in one shot the trees seem to be taller then in the other because when I line up the background horizon the trees are taller. I thought maybe it was a zoom issue but the background lines up to well for that. So I had to cut the foreground apart and realign it. This one isn't DONE because I'm not gonna fine tune an image of low quality. Id be able to do much more with the originals.

Basically I did end up using what I told you in the first one. I used a very soft opacity eraser with a large feathered edge. Then got in closer between the leaves with a softer smaller edge. Again its not perfect but I only spent a little time on it. To do it right would be a bit more in depth but the same process. Just keep taking the edge smaller and smaller till you down as detailed as you want. If its done right it will FLAWLESSLY merge the images.

-Mike

PS - In essence its just gonna take a lot of time and work for you to see the results you want unfortunately there is no quick fix all button that I know of. (If you find one let me know)

sometimes I will clone in more leaves to cover the bright spots in the middle of the trees. You have to make it look real though, it's real easy to mess it up. I think it could be done with this image. I think in this photo it would have easier to use a Grad filter and just brighten up the trees where the filter covered in post.

In my experience this is a very difficult job...

 

But the first thing you have to do is take the two images using the same focussing, the same aperture, and on a tripod so that the camera doesn't move. So...

 

Set the shot up, focus part way into the picture with a small aperture, (e.g. f16), then set the focus to manual. Next, take a reading from the trees, (don't move the camera, obviously, use the 'area select' facility. Say we're at 125th at f16 ~ then take the first shot. Next up the speed by 2 or 3 steps and take another shot at the same aperture, without changing the focus, or camera position. Even take a third shot at another step or two faster. i.e. you end up with three identical shots apart from the speed bracketing, so alining the images is a cinch...

 

Open the images in Photoshop and apply any Neat Image noise reduction to each image before doing any other processing. (As an interim measure, you may wish to save each image as a TIFF in a separate folder, but keep the images open)

 

Next either close the images and then use a programme like Photomatix Pro to do an HDR blend. Or...

 

Take the shot with the best exposed sky and do any other work on it you may wish to do ~ e.g. levels, contrast, etc. Then take the best exposed foreground and drag it onto the sky layer, whilst holding the shift button down. This will automatically align the two images.

 

Next, use the magic wand tool to select the sky, (or most of it), and then feather the selection by between 150 and 250 pixels, before pressing delete to erase the feathered selection. Finally, flatten the image.

 

I haven't found a better way of doing a blended double exposure when you have the problem of tree branches and leaves to contend with. I hope this helps.

 

P.S. Sometimes, if the sky is relatively easy to pick up, I just expand the selection by 1 or 2 pixels, then feather it by 2 o3 pixels, before erasing the sky. It may then be necessary to flatten the image and do a bit of repair work with the clone tool to get rid of any obvious light or dark join lines.

 

Phew! I hope this helps.

Okay, it was kind of hard working with these small files, but here the best I could do with them. Also, you want to make sure you use a tripod with because they didn't align perfectly.

A method I use with a mix of success is to drag the good tree image on top of the good sky with the move tool. Change blend mode of top layer to difference. This will allow you to see how they line up. Continue to use the move tool until you have the best alignment possible. Most important to get the tree top to register with the bottom layer. Change blend mode back to normal. Now choose select-color range. Place the eyedropper over different portions of the sky on top layer to select the brightest part. Now slide the fuzziness slider until most of the sky is white. Select invert before hitting OK to make the sky black. Now you will see marching ants. Go to select and go down to feather. Choose something like 4 to 8 pixels. After hitting OK, click on layer mask at the bottom of the layers palette (the circle inside a square to the right of the f in a circle). Now you have a layer mask to work with. You can modify with a low opacity brush along the tree tops. Takes practice and the better the images line up the more success. As far as amounts to feather and fuzziness, there is no set rule. Depends on image resolution among other variables. Good luck!!!

Mark, you don't have to use the move tool. Just select both layers and choose Auto Alighn layers. Takes the guess work out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am SO sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to this specific critique request on PN. Just after I uploaded the shot/questions, a friend who is starting a business asked me to design her website, and since that is a career field that I would like to get involved in, I threw myself into the job 24/7 for the past week or so. The website looks great, but I am miserably behind on my own personal stuff like e-mail and Photo.net.

 

Thank you for all of these suggestions. I see that I was not too far off, but maybe a little bit over-zealous. :-) I will continue to work with this image, as the scene was one that I desperately wanted to capture on film ... I love the foreground and love the sky with the thunderheads. And I totally need to get myself a graduated natural density filter. It's on my list ... I just don't have a lot of cash in hand right now for toys. :-p

 

Thank you again!! (Thank you!!!)

Hello Lou Ann

 

I'm sorry for such a long delay in answering you, but I have recently moved flats and I'm still waiting for a broadband connection to be installed.

 

You have already received a lot of useful comments and hints on processing technique and I can agree with lots of them. Some scenes may be captured much easier, whereas other requre a lot of efforts in terms of proper exposure handling.

 

Bear in mind that if you're shooting a bracketed sequence of a scene, where you have some moving elements (i.e. clouds, tree branches, water etc.) - you need to be really careful about it. Most of the good HDR software (like Photomatix) will do align of all the layers automatically, but sometimes the program may be fooled and some additional CA (chromatic abberations) are easily to be pronounced.

 

What I can suggest you is either to play with layers and masks (like previously mentioned by others) or to do the HDR-toned image (using let say Photomatix software) + some additional masking in PS, using the original shots.

 

PS. To improve your final image try to take more than 2 shots of a particular scene. A combination of 3 (or more) shots (-2EV, 0EV, +2EV) will give you a smoother gradient transition and a less "cartoonish" image look.

 

Hope it was helpful Lou Ann

 

Take Care

 

Piotr