Sky replacement, sun burst and much more with no AI
Making a great picture is a hard process, a lot of times due to “some” limitation, we can’t get that look our eyes see or supposed to be seen by others. I like to shoot into the sun, but i rarely use HDR. I’m always exposing for the ground and as you can expect the sky is almost always blown out, and if it’s not, many times there is nothing in that sky - it’s boring flat. So what can we do to improve our photos?
WARNING!
This tutorial contains excessive oldskool techniques which can harm Your worldview!
Originally written by Mike Pellinni on 14 apr 2015 for MyPhotoCentral.com
But in short... what we'll be doing here in 34 simple steps
Almost every step i do i convert to Smart Objects to have the ability to add filters, change parameters and resize objects without losing details. (non destructive editing fanatic). It is a good practice to name your layers, but i don’t 8P sorry for that, i think visually it’s well readable. I don’t give any image size because it is a Smart Object (Holy grail of PhotoShop) and can be resized any time, but it’s easier to use if it’s square, and is equal to the longer side of your final image. For me myself i found a perfect document size of 3663x3663 pixels, You can use bigger, but remember it’ll make your CPU sweat.
I divide whole process into three parts:
Prepare Sun burst and toning, once and forever.
Change sky and apply step 1.
Or as an alternative skip all until the P.P.P.S.
PART 1 creation of SmartSun
For sunburst, in steps 1...4, i’m using a well known technique like http://www.entheosweb.com/photoshop/shiny_starburst_effect.asp
You can use what ever you like, using a real image will also do the job.
1. Make Black to White Linear Gradient adjustment layer and convert it to Smart Object.
2. Add wave filter, add polar coordinates and convert all to Smart Object.
It would be nice to control the color of sun and the size of separate sun rays.
5. Create a Radial Gradient (Red, Yellow, White) adjustment layer and convert to Smart Object. Put it over Sunburst layer and set blending mode to Color, also i set layer opacity to 75%. Then Create Clipping Mask and group it with the layer below.
For more realistic effect it’s nice to add flare.
8. Optional. Also i add red ellipse, converted to Smart Object with Gaussian Blur filter and blending mode set to Soft Light and 20% layer opacity, as initial flare.
Group all layers and set blending mode to Hard Light.
Next few steps are for image toning
11. We’ll need Radial Gradient (Yellow, Transparent) adjustment layer to emulate sun glow.
Optional Sunburst decorating - i like different glows and flares. Put them at the bottom in Group with Sun Rays
16. Add Radial Gradient (White, Pink, Transparent) adjustment layer as Smart Object then Blending mode Screen, Opacity 30%.
While sometimes You’ll need Rainbow so will make it in advance. (Turn on The Rainbow - how? - poke the eyeball on layer :-)
Finally we can save it to a file.
P.S. this technique can be recorded as an Action, but for me it’s easier to load a 215Mb file
PART 2 Replacing sky and adding SmartSun
To create a mask for sky i use oldscool technique (http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blrbps_2fwks.htm) combined with Refine Edge tool
1. Open an image and duplicate the Background layer.
2. For perfect selection we need maximum contrast between sky and ground. i simply Desaturate layer and add contrast with Levels so that it become pure Black&White. Then with Lasso tool or with brush i clean black areas in sky and white on the ground.
3. Then we select white sky area, it can be done with Magic Wand or Quick Selection tool, but with Color Range tool You get more precise. Even so sometimes i need to correct selection with Quick Selection tool. In most situations you’re done, but what if you have thin objects like branches of tree?
4. Here the Refine Edge comes to play, its powerful yet easy to use tool. Turn on Smart Radius and brush out all edges. Save it as Alpha channel, we’ll need it few times.
5. Create a group, apply our sky Alpha channel as a mask and create white Solid Color adjustment layer inside, it’ll serve as a base for placing sky.
6. Optional. After creating sky Alpha channel i usually re crop images so the horizon will be in ⅓ or ½ of image. After crop is applied you’ll have to slightly modify your mask so that it was white to the top of the image.
7. Put our Group with Sky mask into new Group and make mask with Gradient fill from the lowest point of your horizon line to it’s highest point. This way we ‘softly’ blend ex sky with new one, it also give us the ability to correct blending manually. (Tip - You always have the ability to modify Layer Mask Density in Properties panel or with brush)
So we’re done with Sky preparations, now we simply need to put sky over that Solid Color adjustment layer base inside Group with Sky mask. Once You place a Sky image You can notice a hollow around branches (usually on dark skies), don’t worry it can be fixed by modifying Group mask with Refine Edge - Shift Edge +30.
Now the time has come to apply our SmartSun :-)
8. Open SmartSun file, drag&drop it’s layers on the top of Your Landscape.
9. Modify layer with Lens Flare filter so that the angle of flare will match angle of light in your image. dont try to match position of flare, only angle, it’s Smart Object You’ll move it later as a layer to position you need, but keep in mind if you’re moving a layer it’ll show it’s transparency edge - solution: put layer into group and apply linear gradient on layer mask. (P.S. i hate those green…, don’t even know how to call them, dots,... i just mask them out)
10. Turn on the Sun Group, Move it to flare position, resize and rotate separate groups with Sun Rays to match Flare and overall Light of image (real Sun rays in sky if you will).
11. Now we apply SunGlow Layer (s.1/11) adding Sky Alpha channel as a mask and unlinking it. With Free Transform tool place it inline with Sun, but little bit lower, stretch the layer to width of a document and height to match the height of Sunburst. Change the Layer Mask density and Layer opacity to 30-40% and 30-50% respectively.
12. Next One is Gradient Layer for Toning (s.1/12). With Free Transform tool center it according to Sun then Scale and Rotate it to match Lens Flare direction and fill all document. Set blending mode to Overlay and 30% Opacity.
14. The final step is to balance the Exposure between Sky and ground. So duplicate Background layer and apply Camera Raw filter, make White Balance warmer Underexpose, but bring up Highlights, Whites and some saturation for details. Drop layer opacity to 40%-60%
And voila. You’re done.
15. Almost forgot - the rainbow. Turn on layer, with Free Transform place it wherever you want and Scale so that ½ of it was standing on the ground. apply linear gradient on layer mask, from ground to ½ of rainbow height.
Have Fun!
P.P.S.
Using this technique You can make a night time composite with moon and end up with series like this:
There is no limit what You can do...
Of course if You're in a hurry and need an immediate pixel-perfect solution for presentation, WEB site banner, astrology calendar or fantasy book cover on last night's deadline - skip all 34 steps... i've got you covered!!! You can license one of my already existing images cheap on most royalty free stock agency platforms like:
P.P.P.S.
Also feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed on my site qPel.net to stay in touch with my newest photos and composites.
Thanks for You attention!
