Masking Technique

I like to thank everyone for their response, greatly appreciated but unfortunately, because of newer versions of PS I was unable to follow along with the recommended tutorials. I use an old version (CS3)

What I like to do is, use a brush and paint over the brighter sky (top layer) to reveal the darker sky (bottom layer)without affecting the trees and leaves of the top layer (brighter layer) I am familiar with using layer mask to conceal/reveal different parts of each layer but unsure how to use the channels to create the selection around the trees.

Hope this is enough information

Thank you for your time
Frank

Frank_Hollahan wrote in post #18575093
I was unable to follow along with the recommended tutorials. I use an old version (CS3)

Did you miss the video by DagoImaging ?

I would think that would work in CS3.

https://youtu.be/0zJXI​k4yK4Y (external link)

The idea is to pick a grayscale image from one of the image channels that has the most contrast between the two areas you are trying to separate for purposes of compositing. In this case, the sky and the rest of the image. The RED channel from the lighter exposure appears to have the most contrast. Use that grayscale image, adjust it with levels or curves to get the sky to go white and the rest of the image to go toward black - you can also paint black in manually in the light areas of the foreground to get rid of those.

Place the dark image with the nice sky on top of the light image with the nice foreground - apply the grayscale mask you made to the dark image. Presto! You can do this using the Apply Image command, or however else you see fit.

kirk