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How do you guys change the sky in a complex photo
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Dec 5, 2017 22:46:34   #
georgiapeach2 Loc: Georgia the Peach State
 
What software is this he is using, pretty need. I watched that video.

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Dec 6, 2017 05:40:26   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
tomad wrote:
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (cloudy) sky behind a complex structure of tree limbs with colorful leaves. I've looked at a dozen tutorials on changing sky color (to blue) but every one uses a mask from another photo employing erasing or painting to get around foreground objects. This, if not impossible, would take a year (for me) with this photo because of the complex tree structure with lots of sky showing through between leaves and limbs.

I would think there should be a way to isolate part of the photo to be changed and then just adjust/change one of the colors in that part; in this case the white sky to blue but I have not been able to find a tutorial that shows how to do that. I'm using Luminar, but even a photoshop tutorial may help as I may be able to translate the method to Luminar.

Thanks in advance for any helpful answers.
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (... (show quote)


Here are some links -

https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-replace-a-sky-in-photoshop/
https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/replace-sky/
https://photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/sky-replacement-and-adding-clouds-to-a-photo-in-photoshop-tutorial/
https://petapixel.com/2017/07/18/replace-sky-photo-photoshop-2-minute-tutorial/

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Dec 6, 2017 06:02:09   #
woolpac Loc: Sydney Australia
 
Because your sky is blown out, in p.s goto select, color range click on your sky area and create a mask brush any masking that may have the same color range in the build, invert the mask. Create a new layer for your sky and drag it below the building . If you want good back grounds i.e sky go to a site called PEXELS its a free image library.

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Dec 6, 2017 06:46:15   #
Stan W. Loc: Tampa, Fl
 
tomad wrote:
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (cloudy) sky behind a complex structure of tree limbs with colorful leaves. I've looked at a dozen tutorials on changing sky color (to blue) but every one uses a mask from another photo employing erasing or painting to get around foreground objects. This, if not impossible, would take a year (for me) with this photo because of the complex tree structure with lots of sky showing through between leaves and limbs.

I would think there should be a way to isolate part of the photo to be changed and then just adjust/change one of the colors in that part; in this case the white sky to blue but I have not been able to find a tutorial that shows how to do that. I'm using Luminar, but even a photoshop tutorial may help as I may be able to translate the method to Luminar.

Thanks in advance for any helpful answers.
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (... (show quote)


Smart Photo Editor.

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Dec 6, 2017 06:58:31   #
Pedro2156 Loc: Manchester UK
 
Not sure about Luminar, I've not used it, but in Photoshop, try using "Select/Colour Range", shouldn't be to difficult because, Fortunately for you the sky is so white and uniform.

Try this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9fwiNyDHLI&t=259s

Good luck with the image.

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Dec 6, 2017 07:58:43   #
IzzyKap Loc: Rockville, MD
 
It can be done with ON1Raw 2018 in layers using masking. You would simply add a separate layer with desired sky (ON1 comes with a number of skies for that purpose), place that sky layer below the image, and the use the Masking brushes on the image layer to uncover the sky. Masking tools in On1 are really good and effective even in complicated images with leaves or hair.
I believe that On1 has a free trial version.
tomad wrote:
Ok, but I want to learn by doing it myself so I'm looking for suggestions of the best way(s) to do it. I don't just want someone to do it for me...

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Dec 6, 2017 08:17:23   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
tomad wrote:
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (cloudy) sky behind a complex structure of tree limbs with colorful leaves. I've looked at a dozen tutorials on changing sky color (to blue) but every one uses a mask from another photo employing erasing or painting to get around foreground objects. This, if not impossible, would take a year (for me) with this photo because of the complex tree structure with lots of sky showing through between leaves and limbs.

I would think there should be a way to isolate part of the photo to be changed and then just adjust/change one of the colors in that part; in this case the white sky to blue but I have not been able to find a tutorial that shows how to do that. I'm using Luminar, but even a photoshop tutorial may help as I may be able to translate the method to Luminar.

Thanks in advance for any helpful answers.
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (... (show quote)


It's much easier in Landscape Pro than PS. Well worth buying, IMHO.

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Dec 6, 2017 08:23:51   #
Ronald540 Loc: Sandy Utah
 
tomad wrote:
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (cloudy) sky behind a complex structure of tree limbs with colorful leaves. I've looked at a dozen tutorials on changing sky color (to blue) but every one uses a mask from another photo employing erasing or painting to get around foreground objects. This, if not impossible, would take a year (for me) with this photo because of the complex tree structure with lots of sky showing through between leaves and limbs.

I would think there should be a way to isolate part of the photo to be changed and then just adjust/change one of the colors in that part; in this case the white sky to blue but I have not been able to find a tutorial that shows how to do that. I'm using Luminar, but even a photoshop tutorial may help as I may be able to translate the method to Luminar.

Thanks in advance for any helpful answers.
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (... (show quote)


More study links
https://www.redbubble.com/people/annashaw/journal/4028554-changing-skies-in-complex-landscapes-a-photoshop-tutorial
https://digital-photography-school.com/photoshop-tips-blend-if-feature/
https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/sky-replacement-of-complex-subjects--photo-14849
https://photoserge.com/dailytips/post/how-to-replace-the-sky-in-photoshop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPxaSqvIJnY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqKIC_T4_Vw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slr_aY5_CIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWzIfdh6muA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAAcbjUuWIE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIa_XenL4QU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqKDqhXtOS0



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w651qEnZ380
Good luck
Cheers ron

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Dec 6, 2017 08:46:12   #
yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey
 
Ditto on Landscape Pro. From my experience, it is the easiest way to replace skies. There are special tools that let you quickly separate the sky from tree branches and other small objects.

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Dec 6, 2017 09:16:54   #
TheDman Loc: USA
 
tomad wrote:
How did you get the blue between the leaves in 5 minutes? Looks great but painting between all those leaves or painting the leaves themselves to make them not the same as added sky took me 2 hours and yours is better.


Actually the blue sky took about a minute, I just spent another couple of minutes playing with contrast/color. Since your sky is completely white, it was simply a matter of creating a soft white-to-light blue gradient and setting the blend mode to darken.

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Dec 6, 2017 09:18:45   #
mflowe Loc: Port Deposit, MD
 
tomad wrote:
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (cloudy) sky behind a complex structure of tree limbs with colorful leaves. I've looked at a dozen tutorials on changing sky color (to blue) but every one uses a mask from another photo employing erasing or painting to get around foreground objects. This, if not impossible, would take a year (for me) with this photo because of the complex tree structure with lots of sky showing through between leaves and limbs.

I would think there should be a way to isolate part of the photo to be changed and then just adjust/change one of the colors in that part; in this case the white sky to blue but I have not been able to find a tutorial that shows how to do that. I'm using Luminar, but even a photoshop tutorial may help as I may be able to translate the method to Luminar.

Thanks in advance for any helpful answers.
Hey pp experts, I have a photo that has a white (... (show quote)


Look into luminosity masks. Sky selection is a lot easier.

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Dec 6, 2017 09:25:03   #
dave.m
 
If I knew how to insert images in the text as I went along this would be easier! However:

Create a duplicate layer,
Use Select > color range. Use the LH dropper for initial selection then the middle + dropper (or -)to add (remove) other area clicking in the sky area until you think you've got the sky area of interest (not precise but this selection took less than a minute and 3 or 4 dropper clicks) I tend to use 'quick mask' display to see where things are ahppening. See first screen grab below


Once you think you have a reasonable selection, Click OK to get 'marching ants'

You may then need to experiment with Select > modify. I typically increases the selection by 2 or 3 pixels, then feather by 1 or 2 pixels. This will usually ensure no ghost edge is visible on the selection and blend anything you do afterwards (like color fill!) - and not a big deal on foliage but could be on a persons hair.

Make sure layers window is selected then click on the mask icon at the bottom (3rd along in this screen grab) See screen grab 2 below


Hold Alt and click over the layer mask icon to show the mask full screen

Select the paintbrush tool. Use X key to toggle between black and white brush (white reveals and black conceals.) Paint over the bits of the mask you don't want to include in the mask selection

See screen grab 3

Obviously the bigger the brush the quicker but more coarse the result. With this image I used a 40 pixel brush and took a minute but it would take a bit longer if I was working with a high res image I wanted to enlarge :) see screen grab 4

Once you have painted out all non-sky, Press esc to exit full screen edit of mask

Once you finish the mask decide if you want to replace the sky or just give it a bit of colour. As this was not a 'Big sky' I just used a single color to fill for this demo. If you want to replace with an actual sky the principle is the same, except use a layer mask with the new sky as already suggested instead of a sold color fill layer.
To use a solid color, Layer > create new fill layer > solid color see screen grab 5

Once you have a colour you like click OK.

Then click and hold the layer mask icon from the previous layer, drag and drop it over the new solid color layer and click Yes see screen grab 6

Tidy up layers and done. This demo took less than 5 minutes but obviously a lot more care would be required with masking for a presentation enlargement but still less than 1/2 hr I think, maybe an hour tops?

There are several other ways to do this but this works for me and is quick. Hope this helps - PS is so comprehensive it took me ages to piece all these bits together!!













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Dec 6, 2017 09:27:13   #
dave.m
 
And I would add I've also picked up some great suggestions I hadn't considered from the several contributors above :)

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Dec 6, 2017 09:28:48   #
dave.m
 
part 3 - nice image by the way - why do Americans put sheds over their bridges? :)

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Dec 6, 2017 09:31:19   #
sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD
 
The original idea was to protect them from the elements. They are now often works of art.


dave.m wrote:
part 3 - nice image by the way - why do Americans put sheds over their bridges? :)

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