[GeneGro]

Would like to change a sky color from white to light blue without giving the tree branches in the foreground a blue tinge, any help would be appreciated.

[cwwozniak]

What software are you using to edit the photo?

[GeneGro]

I am using Photoshop CS2

[buck52]

Use one of the selection tools to select the area you wish to alter... zooming in makes it easier...the more you become used to the selection tools the easier it will become ... Then you can use a number of tools to make the changes... Tools >adjustments... experimenting is half the fun, whatever you do should only effect the area you selected .

[Noyb]

Have you played with the Replace Color tool ?
Can you attach a sample ?

Something like this ???

[slipe]

Select > Color Select usually works well. Mess with the fuzziness. You can also use the magic wand but you often have to switch to non-contiguous if you have light shining through trees etc.

Once you have the area selected there are several approaches. If there is no blue at all in the sky a large soft airbrush is usually the easiest. Put the flow around 5% or less so that you require multiple strokes. Make the horizon less blue and increase the blue with elevation. A pure blue looks fake.

I haven’t had problems with blue tinge with branches. If you are replacing a sky shining through trees you definitely don’t want to feather the selection. Often that kind of shot produces purple fringing that has nothing to do with your sky replacement but can be enhanced. CS2 has a tool to remove purple fringing and you might try that before or after replacing the sky color.

[martybowie]

The best way to do this is to create a mask of the area that you want to change. To do this, Enter Quick Mask (Q on the keyboard) then use the brush tool to paint your sky (everything will appear red, as you are 'painting' your selection.) To exit Quick mask, hit 'Q' again. You may have to > Select > Inverse depending on your Photoshop settings (during Quick Mask, you choose to either mask the foreground or background). You now have your selection. Use curves or levels to attain the blue you're looking for.

[buck52]

As Noyb asked ...

How about a sample of what you are trying to fix

[slipe]

If your sky is white neither levels nor curves is going to make it blue.

Quick mask is great for fine tuning a selection or even making a complete selection when you are dealing with low contrast. But for sky shining through tree branches it is the wrong tool unless you are willing to spend hours on a single image.

Blow up the area with the tree branches and check for color fringing before any other actions. If there is color fringing you have to deal with that separately. Fringing is common with tree branches with a white sky background.

[Noyb]

Originally Posted by buck52

As Noyb asked ...How about a sample of what you are trying to fix

I think the picture of my Cat got his Tongue.

Since GeneGro didn’t attach a sample .. I made my own.

If Replace Color doesn’t suit you … How about ..
Select > Color Range … As an Illustration, I selected the color range within a selection …
Copy this Selection to a new Layer ( CRTL + J) … then Brush in the color of your choice within the selected area.
Now, you can adjust the opacity of the new layer .. or adjust its color as you wish.
I usually prefer to work this way since it doesn’t mess up the original and I can always change my mind on the new Layer.