For the third installment of Sandbox365 the challenge will be to Photoshop a new sky into an existing photo. This can be done a lot of different ways but we will cover off on two. You can either paint in a sky with brushes or merge two photos together (which is not too different from the previous multiplicity challenge )
1) First you will need to select the area you wish to edit (the sky). The photo you choose to edit will determine how hard this challenge is for you. A complex skyline, say a tree line, is difficult to select, where an easy one, like an empty ocean, is much cleaner and faster to select. There are a few methods to do this and knowing which selection tool or method you need to get the job done is key. For the example below, my preference is a quick mask, which basically allows you to paint or draw out the selection freehand.
2) Once you have your sky selected, you can begin to modify it. First, a really good thing to know is how to make a brush, and specifically for this challenge, a cloud brush. I have a brush library that I have built for myself over the years, which now has many types of brushes. You can also find many brush packs online for free.
3) Another method for adding in a new sky can be done with merging a second picture. This can work great but you do have to keep the lighting direction in mind, if it is drastically different in the second photo, you risk the ending result looking too fake.
4) There are some methods for getting your new sky to look more realistic. Your stamp tool is a dream and using multiple layer blending modes can also be quite effective.
And that should do it! If you have questions or get stuck along the way - just ask me @tianarutledge, happy to help. When you upload, be sure to use the tag sandbox365-newsky and why not post your images here to inspire and discuss your experience with others too?
Wow! Really love these tutorials! I haven't reloaded PSE on my computer yet, but I think this and the new Camera Settings Challenges have been so amazingly informative for everyone here.
Looks like fun! I am getting ready to head out to some big sky country in Phoenix, AZ, for a few days, so this is very timely. Thanks for the instructions, too! :)
I find often there is enough details in the sky that you can perform selective contrast / clarity adjustments to help bring it out. Last I looked this up, most digital sensors are designed to take more samples in the highlights than the shadows. Thus there is more information in the highlights which we can make more visible by increasing the contrast and clarity in those areas.
@davidtom I think the purpose of this isn't to learn how to bring out the existing sky but to bring in a different sky. Sometimes I find the existing sky is rather drab even if I bring it out. It could be a day without clouds.
David I have brought out the sky from Lightroom but not Photoshop so I will also play with the settings you mentioned as well. Trying to learn all I can about Photoshop so thank you
Quick silly question - I did a very quick try - (I have to get back to work) but I tried the magnetic lasso too. I wasn't able to "turn off" the tool. After I outlined the portion of the picture I wanted to outline it would continue to outline anywhere I moved my mouse on the picture. What do I do to let the program know I am done selecting what I want to select?
Hi Kathy, what version / tool are you using? In Cs5 the Quick Selection tool is a combination of a brush and a selection tool, so just clicking outside the selection won't deselect (whether you hold down Alt or not). If you want to deselect try pressing Cmd+D (Mac) or Ctrl+D (PC)
@myhrhelper You can either click on the starting point to close the "loop" or you can double click anywhere and it will automatically close the selection with a straight line from your starting point to your ending point.
If anyone else is struggling with the lasso tools - this article has a lot of really great tips including how to change your lasso to a crosshair so that you can make a more accurate selection or modify your selection once its made.
Are we still posting these as we do them? And what is the tag again for this challenge?
I used a lasso technique to select and cut out the foreground leaving the new sky layer below. Touch ups were done after that, and following up on last time's lesson, I've also added textures to change the mood of the scene.
Please keep tagging me. I'm currently on a work deadline but am following along and will get to try as soon as I get my collective *gentle cough* life in order.
In my first attempt, I might have done well to have the directions printed out. The original photo was shot from the ground into the tree, and the sky was almost white. I added some texture in Photo Effects, and used that image to remove the background (when perhaps I should have returned to the original!)
You can see that the blossoms to the back were blurred and the light caused some imprecise borders that I had to contend with.
I made this new-sky image from that and listed the steps I took to get this. I should say that, for me, the magic wand worked far "better" and much faster than the magnetic lasso. So, am I on the right track?
Yes, I should have been working. I tried using black and white version (with Just black and white, no grey) as a mask. for the sky. It almost worked but ended up using the original image with "multiply" to get some of the detail of the tree branches back.
This is trickier than it seems because I tried doing the same thing again ... and could NOT get the tree branches looking natural against the sky. Not sure what was different about this go-round
Also @francoise and @bill_fe - love that you showed the before and after and that you were able to show the dramatic change.
On the right track @Weezilou - likely the magnetic lasso was tough because your original image didn't have much contrast between the flowers and the sky, so it couldn't get a clear line.
@sioux - would you be willing to give a quick description of changes you made overall to your photo to make it feel so cohesive? Was it just a matter of adjusting the color of the water?
@tianarutledge@Weezilou No I don't mind at all, It was quite simple really, When I changed out the sky, the sea looked just wrong, so I picked a colour from the sky and using the colour changer tool in Paint Shop Pro changed the sea colour, I had to try a few different shades before I was happy with the result. The cliffs being more - umm - visible was really just a bonus. And thank you for your wonderful comments. @radiogirl Thank you!
@tianarutledge Hi -- I tried downloading a cloud brush, but did not understand how to use it as the edges are square and I get shape that looks like a slinky. Do you have any quick-start tips?
I found this quite difficult but after several attempts this is the result. I struggled with using the quick mask but found another way but I've lost some of the detail in the trees. I now need to get the hang of the quick mask method:-)
@sioux Thank you! While I don't use PSP, I can understand the concept and will take that into consideration! You really created a sensational photo...and taught us (once again) not to believe everything we see! ;-)
@Weezilou It's a hard battle Louise, because there are so many gaps between the flowers where the sky pokes through. But, it does look good where you have made the changes.
@francoise I have seen a technique for trees like you have there with multiple edges. You change to black and white and then bring the saturation WAY WAY down, and change the contrasts so that the trees are almost black, all silhouette. This allows the magic wand to select better. Then once the sky is added (in a layer mask of course) you just bring the original underlay back to the original settings.
@sioux In GIMP, you could select the sky color you wanted and then see what the RGB levels are for the color. Then, you could go into color tools and play with the over all HUE (over the mask of your foreground) to get the same effect.
@francoise You don't "paint" with the cloud brushes with strokes across the canvas. Use them more like blotting impressions. Think of it like a cotton ball with paint on it, and touch it onto the canvas to leave behind a cloud poof, then poof again next to it, and then a little further away. Often times the clouds come in kits of 10-100's for layering different shapes so that they blend into clouds. I used cloud brushes on this example here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/adambralston/15801380963/in/set-72157644760613466 and it was the first time I had used them. You can clearly see some repetition of pattern on either side of the castle, and then again below my hands. That's when you would try a different shape to cover it.
This technique can also be used to blend two photos of the same location in order to create a kind of HDR effect. In other words, instead of adding in a different sky when your shot blows out and overexposes the sky, take two shots and combine them. One shot is the exposure of the subject, the second is the correct exposure of the sky. With a tripod and minimal movement of subject you could have a much closer match. Also, for the composite, I also played with the hue and contrast of the sky just for fun (it's why it seems a little more magenta than that second photo the sky is taken from...)
This was a tough one for me. It took me a long time to tame the layers/masking (still a fuzzy concept.) Also the quality of the "cut" when I masked the tree line was not clean, so I touched with up with cloning afterwards. Still, I learned a lot! Thanks.
@aponi sorry you are having a rough time with this tutorial. Which software & verson are you using? I find the brushed more challenging ( here read "I get over-whelmed by the choices of settings") in some versions than others. You might might have some settings causing you issues - if so, we can see if we can get the settings back to a 'default' for you.
I just added the sky as a texture. I did learn how to make a brush (if you look closely, you can see orange hearts on the big stone block in the foreground; I made a heart brush and spaced the hearts out, so you can see the individual shapes). However, I can't get the cloud brush to work for me. The free cloud brushes are files I can't open unless I download an app. I've tried to make my own cloud brush, by choosing a jpg.file and selecting the cloud with the magnetic lasso, but when I use it as a brush it shows a very, very pale impression of the cloud, almost without any detail, while the idea is to get an exact copy of the cloud you selected, right? Must be doing something wrong...
My attempt. Had some issues but figured a way around them. Have no idea if they were correct or not but at least I got a finished picture! The original had a bright blue, very boring sky!
@houser934 I made a separate picture using some cloud brushes that I downloaded. I then added them as a new layer and then applied a layer mask to bring the mountains out. I'm sure that there are other ways to do this.
@bill_fe Hey Bill..I think those really worked well with cut and paste because you have a very nice foreground image with straight edges - intelligent scissors or magnetic probably worked FANTASTIC on that. I think it's really hard on edges that have trees, like landscape. Not sure there is a better technique to blend these when the horizon is not even.... ????
@salza Sure. maybe other ways. That's pretty much how I did it too. I was going to ask you the same thing as @houser934 . By the way, really nice cloud brush painting - dramatic and looks good I think.
@houser934 Using GIMP for some edits and layers, and also Lightroom. GIMP is very powerful, but less intuitive. What I do with stacking is VERY VERY primitive. I actually just open GIMP, drop both photos into the image (the first being the background I want to work with, the second the overlay). Then I usually add a layer mask to the top, or if I don't care about changes in the future I will just add an alpha layer and erase for the bottom layer to come through.
But, I just drop the opacity of the top layer so I can see through it enough to line it up with the photo underneath. On this one, it wasn't a really nice line up at all. Tripod would definitely be a good idea for a serious project. So, I ended up just repainting in the trees on either side OVER the original trees because the horizon had changed.
Does that answer it?
@adambralston Thanks that helps. I guess I'm still fuzzy about getting that second photo into my Photoshop. If I just drop it, it opens as a second document, not as a layer...so after some fussing, I ended up copying the sky section from the one photo and pasting into a new layer above the road photo, and then rearranging. Keep thinking there must be an easier way.
@salza Hi Sally - I think I understand the way you did it & there is an easier way to use .abr - what software & version do you use?
I normally create a (transparent) blank raster layer at the top of the layer palette, select the colour I want, & then stamp (eg cloud shape) where I want the brush image to go. Change opacity and blend mode to suit. The eraser brush (can also be loaded as a cloud shape) can be used to clean up any extra 'painted' areas.
@ltodd Lyn I am using PhotoShop CC. I don't think I have ever created a raster layer. I also had no idea that I could use the cloud brush as an eraser. The cloud brushes that I have are the ones mentioned in the original write up. I will hopefully have some time to play with this again on the weekend.
@stiggle I used ABRView before I upgraded to the latest version of PSP which finally reads .abr natively. It worked fine & I could export as .png to use. I wonder why the hearts worked for you but not the clouds. Did you check the opacity/blendmode settings on the brush settings options?
What version/software are you using?
@ltodd Thanks for taking the time to answer, much appreciated. Your sky looks really good, Lyn! I have Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4.3 and a very, very rudimentary knowledge of both...
It didn't matter if I changed the opacity/blendmode of my selfmade cloud brush, the result was the same. I just gave it another try and got only black clouds; I couldn't click the icon of the two little squares which allows you to choose your color (as I did with the orange hearts). Don't know what I'm doing wrong or different from the other times I tried. I hope to have time this week to give this another try and pay more attention to what exactly I'm doing...
Ok, so perseverance and hours later I have completed the task, but not without issues. I can't say that either image is even close to looking ok, but at least I attempted it.
I used the multiplicity method. I did use the brush with various amounts of opacity to blend the sky in a little. And used the dodge tool to add a little light to the canoes. I'm rather pleased with the result.
I realized that many of my skies are small or have tree branches in them and that made it difficult to use most of my photos.
@randystreat that has made a huge difference! The colours of the canoes really pop - you did a great job! @aurorajane - have replied on your image page
@ltodd Sorry to bother you, but I'm stuck... I'm trying to place a sky texture in a photo, like we've learned in a previous Sandbox-lesson. I open my photo in PS and I put the texture in with File>Place. I want to erase part of the texture, so I create a mask on the texture layer; I click on the mask to select it and then I click the brushtool. The black square of the "set foreground color" icon is in front, but the brush doesn't erase anything. Do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong? I've done this before and it worked fine. Maybe I accidentally changed some settings?
@stiggle :) really glad you found the setting to tweak in the end. Brush settings can be overwhelming. If something is not going 'right', I have found that 90% of the time it will be brush settings / layer selection/ tool selection. It is just like cooking, even when you know *what* you have to do, you still have to *select* the right ingredients & utensils.
The photo on top is my original, This time I used one of my own sunset photos for a layer and used the "multiply" mode to merge. I'm not sure it worked as well as my other photo using the picmonkey editor's sky overlays.
@aponi Well first, I love desert sky. Nothing is better than a clean crisp blue sky on red rock or slick rock. So, original is perfect for me. But, as an exercise, the new sky is quite surreal, and not quite realistic, but the look you achieve is really cool! Well on the way to a neat composite.
@adambralston I agree about the sky. I picked this shot because it had a clear dividing line for the sky. I was just determined to get it to work. I have another complete train wreck of a squirrel in a tree with a bright blue background, kind of looks like it was photoshopped though.
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David I have brought out the sky from Lightroom but not Photoshop so I will also play with the settings you mentioned as well. Trying to learn all I can about Photoshop so thank you
Also, just tagging those who have expressed interest or participated in the first few.
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If anyone else is struggling with the lasso tools - this article has a lot of really great tips including how to change your lasso to a crosshair so that you can make a more accurate selection or modify your selection once its made.
I used a lasso technique to select and cut out the foreground leaving the new sky layer below. Touch ups were done after that, and following up on last time's lesson, I've also added textures to change the mood of the scene.
@alisonp added!
You can see that the blossoms to the back were blurred and the light caused some imprecise borders that I had to contend with.
I made this new-sky image from that and listed the steps I took to get this. I should say that, for me, the magic wand worked far "better" and much faster than the magnetic lasso. So, am I on the right track?
This is trickier than it seems because I tried doing the same thing again ... and could NOT get the tree branches looking natural against the sky. Not sure what was different about this go-round
Also @francoise and @bill_fe - love that you showed the before and after and that you were able to show the dramatic change.
On the right track @Weezilou - likely the magnetic lasso was tough because your original image didn't have much contrast between the flowers and the sky, so it couldn't get a clear line.
All of my edits were done in The Gimp.
@aponi sorry you are having a rough time with this tutorial. Which software & verson are you using? I find the brushed more challenging ( here read "I get over-whelmed by the choices of settings") in some versions than others. You might might have some settings causing you issues - if so, we can see if we can get the settings back to a 'default' for you.
I just added the sky as a texture. I did learn how to make a brush (if you look closely, you can see orange hearts on the big stone block in the foreground; I made a heart brush and spaced the hearts out, so you can see the individual shapes). However, I can't get the cloud brush to work for me. The free cloud brushes are files I can't open unless I download an app. I've tried to make my own cloud brush, by choosing a jpg.file and selecting the cloud with the magnetic lasso, but when I use it as a brush it shows a very, very pale impression of the cloud, almost without any detail, while the idea is to get an exact copy of the cloud you selected, right? Must be doing something wrong...
@houser934 Using GIMP for some edits and layers, and also Lightroom. GIMP is very powerful, but less intuitive. What I do with stacking is VERY VERY primitive. I actually just open GIMP, drop both photos into the image (the first being the background I want to work with, the second the overlay). Then I usually add a layer mask to the top, or if I don't care about changes in the future I will just add an alpha layer and erase for the bottom layer to come through.
But, I just drop the opacity of the top layer so I can see through it enough to line it up with the photo underneath. On this one, it wasn't a really nice line up at all. Tripod would definitely be a good idea for a serious project. So, I ended up just repainting in the trees on either side OVER the original trees because the horizon had changed.
Does that answer it?
http://www.wikihow.com/Open-Multiple-Images-As-Layers-in-Photoshop-Using-Bridge
I normally create a (transparent) blank raster layer at the top of the layer palette, select the colour I want, & then stamp (eg cloud shape) where I want the brush image to go. Change opacity and blend mode to suit. The eraser brush (can also be loaded as a cloud shape) can be used to clean up any extra 'painted' areas.
@adambralston http://registry.gimp.org/node/28180 for Gimp brush stuff - not sure if this is what you have tried so far?
INSTALL .ABR FILE BRUSH INFO - https://creativemarket.com/blog/2013/09/06/how-to-install-use-photoshop-brushes
NEW LAYER INFO http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-create-a-new-layer-in-photoshop-cs6.html
@adambralston I thought you might be interested in bookmarking this tutorial site Adam - http://blog.photoshopcreative.co.uk/category/tutorials/
What version/software are you using?
It didn't matter if I changed the opacity/blendmode of my selfmade cloud brush, the result was the same. I just gave it another try and got only black clouds; I couldn't click the icon of the two little squares which allows you to choose your color (as I did with the orange hearts). Don't know what I'm doing wrong or different from the other times I tried. I hope to have time this week to give this another try and pay more attention to what exactly I'm doing...
I used the multiplicity method. I did use the brush with various amounts of opacity to blend the sky in a little. And used the dodge tool to add a little light to the canoes. I'm rather pleased with the result.
I realized that many of my skies are small or have tree branches in them and that made it difficult to use most of my photos.
@aurorajane - have replied on your image page
@ltodd I'm not sure I thanked you.
@smileykailee Thank you for saying so.
this is the original