COMMON PHOTO PROBLEMS SOLVED
1
Paste the images together
Open our two starting images – ty_elements22.jpg and
ty_elements02.jpg. Click the tab on the sunset image to bring
this image into focus, then go to Select>All. Then choose Edit>Copy.
Click the tab on the landscape photo and choose Edit>Paste. The
sunset will appear as a separate layer called Layer 0. Double click the
Background layer to unlock it. Click OK. Drag Layer 0 above Layer 1
in the Layers panel.3
Tidy up the selection
Along with the sky, the Magic Wand will have selected a
few similarly coloured specks of grey on the foreground rocks.
To remove them from the selection, choose the Selection Brush from
the Tool Options. Click the Subtract from selection icon. Set the
brush tip’s Size to 125 pixels. Set Hardness to 100%. Paint over any
traces of the ‘marching ants‘ marquee on the rocks to remove them
from the sky selection.2
Select the sky
Grab the Magic Wand tool from the Select section of the
Toolbox (or press A to cycle to it). In the Tool Options,
increase Tolerance to 46 to make it more sensitive to changes in
contrast and colour. Untick the Contiguous box so that the tool
will select unconnected parts of sky hiding in the branches. Click
to select the sky. Hold down Shift and click to add any missing
clouds to the selection.4
Zoom in close
Go to Select>Inverse to invert the selection so that the
landscape is selected instead of the sky. To fine-tune the
selection, choose Select>Refine Edge. To see how the selection is
shaping up, click the View preview and double click the On Layers
option. This enables you to see the tree on the top layer and the new
background sunset image on the layer below. Press Cmd/Ctrl++ to
zoom in for a closer look at the branches.