Questions about erasing

[pdxrjt]

I am trying to combine two BW pics. One is the normally exposed pic.... very bland sky...in the other, I overexposed the copy, increased saturation and contrast etc., to make the sky stand out. The pics are copies of one another. I want to put the "outstanding" sky on the normally exposed pic. The sky layer is first with the main layer second. I hand erase everything but the sky in the sky layer, the main layer is intact. The problem..... there is an almost imperceptible line around the main layer where the new sky comes in. (It is a picture of Stonehenge, so it makes theme seem somewhat faked in relation to the sky.)

1) Instead of hand erasing, is there a way to "mass erase" if you have selected areas with the selection tool?

2) Is there any way to "feather in" the new sky instead of having it be an abrupt edge?

3) Any additional thoughts about how I might accomplish this effect (I don't think there is a way without creating a second layer as the sky needs a lot of "over the top" work to make it look like a storm.)

Thanks in advance... I hope this question makes sense.

[geru]

I am trying to combine two BW pics. One is the normally exposed pic.... very bland sky...in the other, I overexposed the copy, increased saturation and contrast etc., to make the sky stand out. The pics are copies of one another. I want to put the "outstanding" sky on the normally exposed pic. The sky layer is first with the main layer second. I hand erase everything but the sky in the sky layer, the main layer is intact. The problem..... there is an almost imperceptible line around the main layer where the new sky comes in. (It is a picture of Stonehenge, so it makes theme seem somewhat faked in relation to the sky.)

1) Instead of hand erasing, is there a way to "mass erase" if you have selected areas with the selection tool?

2) Is there any way to "feather in" the new sky instead of having it be an abrupt edge?

3) Any additional thoughts about how I might accomplish this effect (I don't think there is a way without creating a second layer as the sky needs a lot of "over the top" work to make it look like a storm.)

Thanks in advance... I hope this question makes sense.

I hope I understand your question. It would seem that the Background Eraser would be the better bet.

Use the default setting with the possible exception of sharpness setting (default is 70 but the lower the number the more the feather. It's generally not a good practice to go below 30).

Set sampling to continuous and limits to contigous (discontigous if you need to reach into tree branches or hair).

Open you original photo

Open your sky and copy and paste it as a layer above your original

Promote your original to a layer and move it above your sky.

Use the BG eraser on the original photo's sky.

[allicorn]

Geru's already mentioned the Background Eraser so some other ideas...

If you're on PSP-X2 you might try the "HDR Photo Merge" tool with your two images, it sounds like you have exactly the right sort of images for it to potentially work out quite well with. Its on the File menu. Load up both your images, use the "Align Images" button if necessary, then "Suggest Settings" and go. The idea is that it'll take two (or more) differently exposed images of the same scene and return an image which captures the optimum amount of detail and clarity from both. So, that might help.

Regards selecting and erasing without leaving visible seams...

Using combinations of the Magic Wand tool, manual Lasso Selection and some of the Selection->Modify menu items such as "Remove Specks and Holes", it shouldn't be too hard to end up with a situation where you have just the sky/background selected and the foreground not selected. If you do Edit->Clear at that point, the selected area will be flooded with the current background color.

Flooding with a color isn't necessarily all that useful though if you're hoping to merge the image over the top of another one so first do Layers->Promote Background Layer. Now when you select an area and Edit->Clear it it'll become transparent - much more useful! - allowing you to copy the whole image and stick it on a new layer in your other image, line 'em up and there you go.

For using the Magic Wand to select sky from ground I find the "Perceptual" mode can be pretty good. If the sky and ground are noticably different in overall luminance you might have some luck with the "Brightness" mode too.

For the Lasso, Freehand mode will help in manually adding/removing bits of the selection that mistakenly cross the horizon - like where something in the foreground is nearly the same color as the background and the Magic Wand just can't tell the difference. Also Edge Detector mode works well where sky/ground are reasonably well differentiated. Just run the lasso very roughly along the horizon line and the selection should snap right onto the edge.

If, especially after a rampage with the Magic Wand, you end up with lots of tiny gaps in your selection, the menu option Selections->Modify->Remove Specks and Holes can save a lot of manual lassoing.

If the edges of the selection are too hard and you're getting that "obvious seam" kinda effect, then "Feather" is actually exactly what you're after. With something selected, look on the menu Selection->Modify. You can just plain "Feather" or selectively "Inside/Outside Feather". This adds a kind of "soft edge" to your selection where the selected pixels will be copied (or deleted with Edit->Clear) by only a reduced opacity.

Also on the Selection->Modify menu is "Shape-Based Anti-Alias" which will achieves similar results though only 1-pixel (or less) wide but with added accuracy derived from looking at the angle of the selection edge at the point where feathering is applied. Handy if your "obvious seam" is very very thin.

Alli

[pdxrjt]

Really helpful responses.... thanks. Will work on these and see how they turn out. Unfortunately right now I am using PSP XI, I usually upgrade every other one..... hmmmmm, we'll see, maybe I'll have to upgrade early! Hopefully, if I can get this looking like I want, it will make a nice 8x10 or larger BW for the wall.

Thanks again!

ps Well, I'm pretty anxious for this pic to turn out well. I will give it as Christmas presents to several people if it does..... so what the heck, I just upgraded to XII to see if that can help. Sat will be my next day to have some free time.... will try the suggestions then. Thanks again!!

[pdxrjt]

Okay, as stated I upgraded to X2 and as usual am having a bit of problems with the new layout but not bad. I got decent results from the background eraser....when I used it on the color version.... the BW version just seemed to be like the regular eraser.....even with tolerance set low. In color, it worked a lot better, then I converted to BW. Merging photos was interesting but the stones in Stonehenge are just toooo dark in the "angry sky" version and just came out looking pretty black. I do have that gaps line look, even after background erase.... so will try the Remove Specks and Holes, feather etc. ASAP.

If nothing else, I'm learning a lot about the program. Thanks for the help.