Quick summary--select sky with lasso tool, then go to select tab-color range.
Select "Sampled Colors" and Selection Preview "Quick Mask". This makes your photo a red color and then you hold the shift key down and select repeatedly until all of the blue sky is selected.
At some point, I quit having the photo turn the red shade when I do this process. When I try to go ahead and select until all shades of blue are selected, it never works completely. I end up with pixels that are not selected, and end up with a splotchy photo after doing a levels adjustment on the blue color range that I selected.
I guess I'm trying to find out why the picture doesn't turn the red shade as in the video, as that made it easy to choose all shades of blue. Make sense? It did the first 2-3 times I used the method spelled out in the tutorial.
That is just one way to select the blue, you can continue to do it that way, but manually paint in the selection with your paintbrush tool, in quick mask mode, just make sure you are in quick mask still, and that your brush is at 100% and the color is black, or white when you want to erase the selection. fill in the areas not getting selected by the sampled colors using this method. Make sense?? I hope i am explaining it right
Also, the red part IS the selection. its just another way to view the selection, in fact its like a separate channel. I tend to like quick mask better as a selection method because you can paint the outline of the item to be selected, by completely enclosing the object, then use your wand tool and select inside of the red part of the selection, then go to expand selection, and select 3 pixels, then alt backspace to fill selection. then I exit quick mask mode and save selection. the whole item should be a complete selection.
OK, I figured out another way to get my selection using the magic wand tool.
I'm still perplexed as to why the mask was red initially but isn't now. Makes me think I inadvertently changed something somewhere, but have no idea how/what/where!
the red part is just a selection, illustrated in red, i just edited my post above, I hope it makes more sense. in fact you can change the red color to another through preferences, red is just easier to see, in addition you can make the mask color more transparent as well.
not entirely sure this is what you did but ... theres a way its a combo of keys, i bumped them yesterday! hehe, that makes a mask appear in red so you can see exactly where your drawing or selecting... i also dont know what the short cut to do it is but it was helpful to see where i'd clearly been drawing.
@jjsooner you can also hit q go into quick mask, and grab your paintbrush, make sure the foreground color is black, and just start painting around something, and hit q again, you should see the dancing ants, it kinda gives you an idea of how it works, then go to your channels, and you can actually see that selection there. It may help you understand how it works better.
ok, i just watched the video, I would do all the work in adjustment layers, that way it will save the mask in the layer, then you can go into the mask and paint out the splotches or other areas that do not get selected (in other words dont just do the levels adjustment through the main menu, do it through your layers pallete as an adjust ment layer). I can understand your confusion now. he did not completely select that sky, the corner was not selected in quick mask and neither was the little white splotch in the center right area (those are the obvious areas) but there were some other pixels left out too, which you can actually see in the sampled color menu, what is black is the area not selected. You really cannot get a super clean selection just using sampled colors, it is a quick way to select a large area of color, but it really needs to be worked on further through channels and quick mask to make it a cleaner selection, that way all the pixels including the little splotches can get selected.
@staciehighland In the video, when he says the picture should all be reddish tinted-mine isn't (though it was the first time I used this method). My first times, it did appear to have all of the pixels selected, like in this picture.
Anyhow, I do have a work around now so it's a non-issue, other than I always want to know WHY. :)
@jjsooner anytime! I have been a graphic artist for 15 years, been working in photoshop since it was 3 version out. So if you ever have any questions, you can always ask me. There really is about 10 different ways you can achieve the same result in photoshop, its just how you prefer to work, but understanding quick mask is going to open a whole bunch of new doors for you in photoshop! Its pretty amazing! Good luck with your experimenting! Also, always use your layers, it will help you be more flexible in your editing, and save the layered version, so you can always go back and do further editing :)
@jjsooner ok lets see, if this is a quick mask selection (the red area of the chimney, click on channels pallete and turn off all the eyes but the quick mask layer, if you see any black mixed with white, that area is not selected, its only the pure white area that is selected.
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Also, the red part IS the selection. its just another way to view the selection, in fact its like a separate channel. I tend to like quick mask better as a selection method because you can paint the outline of the item to be selected, by completely enclosing the object, then use your wand tool and select inside of the red part of the selection, then go to expand selection, and select 3 pixels, then alt backspace to fill selection. then I exit quick mask mode and save selection. the whole item should be a complete selection.
I'm still perplexed as to why the mask was red initially but isn't now. Makes me think I inadvertently changed something somewhere, but have no idea how/what/where!
@staciehighland Thank you for your explanation. Sometimes figuring out PS is so darn frustrating! :)
Anyhow, I do have a work around now so it's a non-issue, other than I always want to know WHY. :)