OnOne’s Perfect Mask Works Great!

This image is of the Flagler Presbyterian Church built in 1889 in St. Augustine, Florida, by Henry Flagler as a memorial for his daughter. Hover over image to see the original image that has been adjusted in Lightroom.

To process this image:

1. The power lines first had to be removed. This was done very quickly using the technique shown in my Tidbits Blog “Get Rid of Those Power Lines Fast – with Paths and Spot Healing Tool!”

2, Some of the tree leaves needed to be removed too so the Clone Tool was used for this.

3. Nik Viveza 2 was used to sharpen up the building and get the detail to pop – this plug-in is probably the best one for localizing on an image how you want certain areas to look. The Sharpen Tool in Photoshop could be use instead to bring out the detail.

4. Place a new sky under the top layer. (Highlight the layer under the top layer, go to File -> Place, and Enter. Then right click on thumbnail of sky and choose Rasterize to get rid of the smart object.)

5. In my Fun Photoshop “Using Cloud Images to Fix Up a Sky” blog last I talked about replacing skies and gave several examples how an interesting sky can really add interest to in image. This time I used OnOne Perfect Mask (see website link on sidebar) to see if I like the new sky look. This is first time I tried using the tool and it was quick and accurate. It took about three minutes to add the new sky into the image – it creates a layer mask so it can be adjusted later if not everything is picked up. It has several different types of brushes to select the various areas that need to be covered when you have tricky selections like trees. You just click once in the open area and it picks up all the clear areas, then choose a Refine Brush and paint over the trees and it picks up all the little color openings in the trees. Very quick! Even certain colors can be isolated for selection.

Try downloading OnOne’s Perfect Mask if you do a lot of selecting and see if you are as impressed as me. I plan on trying out some other kinds of selecting in the near future and post again. I also plan on releasing some of the skies I find useful for adding into images very soon. Until then, have fun experimenting!…..Digital Lady Syd