> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ JULY 2017[ 68 ]
- Channels
For challenging selections, you can often
take the approach of starting in the Chan-
nels panel with the goal of creating the
equivalent of a mask. The ideal mask for
replacing the sky in a photo like this would
be a black “silhouette” of the trees with
a white sky. Go to the Channels panel
(Window>Channels) and look at the Red,
Green, and Blue channels. Pick the one that
gives you the best start toward the black-
and-white silhouette (often the best channel
will be the opposite of what you need).
Click on that channel (here it’s Blue) and
drag it down to the Create New Channel
icon to duplicate it.
It’s vital to make sure that you’re now
working on the channel with “copy” at the
end of its name of whichever channel you
chose. To make the dark-gray areas darker,
and the light-gray areas lighter, try using Lev-
els. Just be careful not to over-adjust to the
point where fine detail is lost. You can also
paint in Overlay mode as described earlier.
Sometimes it can be helpful to invert
the channel by pressing Command-I (PC:
Ctrl-I) so you can spot issues you might
have missed, and of course, if that’s the
way you need the mask.
©Dave Cross