Thank you sir, this was actually one of the easiest selections for masking that I have done. As you can see in the original I posted the sky was basically one grey color and there is a distinct difference between the color of the sky and the subject, the trees. In PS I used the Select Color Range, clicked on the + eyedropper tool then drug my mouse across the open sky area while holding down the left mouse button. This picked up almost all of the grey color. I created a mask from my selection and because I had selected the sky the mask allowed the grey sky to show and the background shown through were the trees were. I double clicked on the mask to bring up the Properties menu for the mask and clicked on invert. This reversed my selection allowing the trees to show and the grey sky replaced by the background. I could have selected the tree instead of the sky but with all the color variation in the trees it is more difficult to select all of the tree with this method.

I had to do a little clean up around the tree and I also wanted to remove a lot of the small branches on the smaller tree. I clicked on the actual mask in the mask layer to select it then picked a hard round brush and the black color. I left all my other layers visible. This allows me to see the new background and use it as a guide. In the masked layer I painted over any of the grey sky that might have been left as well as painting over the limbs I wanted to remove. I varied the size of my brush and zoomed into some of the smaller areas where it was close to the tree so I would have more control. One of the reasons for using a hard brush is so that you can get clean lines and edges. Using a soft brush gives the edges where you paint an almost airbrushed look which can be useful but not in this situation.

In another project I used this method to select the tree instead of the sky. Because I did not pick up all the colors in the tree it came out looking like a pen and ink drawing of the tree with the background showing through parts of the tree and limbs. I have attached that image so you see the effect. What I thought was a bad choice on my part for masking the tree actually turned out to be one of my favorite images because of the effect it created. I am constantly amazed at all the different ways you can use a single tool in PS.

Thank you sir, this was actually one of the easiest selections for masking that I have done. As you can see in the original I posted the sky was basically one grey color and there is a distinct difference between the color of the sky and the subject, the trees. In PS I used the Select Color Range, clicked on the + eyedropper tool then drug my mouse across the open sky area while holding down the left mouse button. This picked up almost all of the grey color. I created a mask from my selection and because I had selected the sky the mask allowed the grey sky to show and the background shown through were the trees were. I double clicked on the mask to bring up the Properties menu for the mask and clicked on invert. This reversed my selection allowing the trees to show and the grey sky replaced by the background. I could have selected the tree instead of the sky but with all the color variation in the trees it is more difficult to select all of the tree with this method.

I had to do a little clean up around the tree and I also wanted to remove a lot of the small branches on the smaller tree. I clicked on the actual mask in the mask layer to select it then picked a hard round brush and the black color. I left all my other layers visible. This allows me to see the new background and use it as a guide. In the masked layer I painted over any of the grey sky that might have been left as well as painting over the limbs I wanted to remove. I varied the size of my brush and zoomed into some of the smaller areas where it was close to the tree so I would have more control. One of the reasons for using a hard brush is so that you can get clean lines and edges. Using a soft brush gives the edges where you paint an almost airbrushed look which can be useful but not in this situation.

In another project I used this method to select the tree instead of the sky. Because I did not pick up all the colors in the tree it came out looking like a pen and ink drawing of the tree with the background showing through parts of the tree and limbs. I have attached that image so you see the effect. What I thought was a bad choice on my part for masking the tree actually turned out to be one of my favorite images because of the effect it created. I am constantly amazed at all the different ways you can use a single tool in PS.

I really like the character in old dead trees. I stumbled onto this one while walking the Trinity River Audubon nature trail. I swapped out the back ground for one in Arizona. I thought the tree went well with the rock formations in the background. I am not sure about the smaller bush on the left. I removed most of the smaller limbs and it looks like it is ready to catch the larger tree when it falls but is it too distracting?

I have included the original. I tweeked both photos in PS ACR then I added the background layer and masked out everything except the tree and bush . I originally had the rock formations on the left but decided to flip the background to move them to the right. I thought it would help connect the rocks with the shape of the tree. Finally I ran it through Topaz Studio for a little touch up. Your comments are always appreciated.