TECHNOLOGY AND LIVELIHOOD EDUCATION

(Information Communication Technology)

Learning Activity Sheet No.1

Name: __________________________ Score: ____________

Step 1: Select And Copy The Original Photo

The first thing we need to do is move both of our photos into the same document so we can blend
them together. With both your original photo and your replacement sky photo open in
Photoshop, make sure the original photo's document is active, then press Ctrl+A (Win) /
Command+A (Mac) on your keyboard to select the image. You'll see a selection outline appear
around its edges. Once the photo is selected, press Ctrl+C (Win) / Command+C (Mac) on your
keyboard to copy the image to the clipboard:
Press Ctrl+A (Win) / Command+A (Mac), then Ctrl+C (Win) / Command+C (Mac) to select and
copy the image.

Step 2: Paste The Original Photo Into The Sky Photo's Document

Switch over to the replacement sky photo's document, then press Ctrl+V (Win) / Command+V
(Mac) on your keyboard to paste the original photo into the document. If we look in the Layers
panel, we see that Photoshop placed the original photo on its own layer (Layer 1) directly above
the sky photo on the Background layer, which is why the original photo is now blocking the sky
photo from view in the document window:
The original image is placed on a new layer above the sky image.

Step 3: Duplicate Layer 1

Photoshop's Advanced Blending sliders, which we'll be using shortly, can select and hide areas
of an image based on their color, which means they should have no problem selecting and hiding
the blue sky without affecting the green trees. But when we tell the blending sliders to hide areas
of blue, they won't simply look at the sky. They'll look across the entire photo and hide all areas
that contain blue. Remember that other colors may also contain blue, especially gray or white
which contain every color, which means there's a good chance other areas of the photo will be
affected by the sliders unless we first take steps to prevent that from happening, which is what
we're about to do.

The first thing we'll do is make a copy of our main photo. Make sure Layer 1 is active in the
Layers panel (it should be highlighted in blue), then press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac)
on your keyboard to quickly duplicate the layer. Nothing will seem to have happened in the
document window, but we can see in the Layers panel that we have now a copy of Layer 1 above
the original:
The Layers panel showing a copy of the main photo above the original.

Step 4: Turn The Top Layer Off

We don't need the top layer (Layer 1 copy) for now, so click on its visibility icon (the eyeball)
on the far left of the layer to temporarily turn it off and hide it from view in the document:

Clicking the layer visibility icon to turn the top layer off.

Step 5: Select Layer 1

Click on Layer 1 in the Layers panel to once again make it the active layer:
Clicking on Layer 1 to select it.

Step 6: Select The Area Below The Sky

Next, we'll draw a selection outline around the area of the photo below the sky. In other words,
the area we want to protect from the Advanced Blending sliders. You can use Photoshop's
standard Lasso Tool for this if you like. I prefer using the Polygonal Lasso Tool which I'll
select by clicking on the Lasso Tool icon in the Tools panel and holding my mouse button down
until the fly-out menu appears. Then I'll choose the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the menu:

Selecting the Polygonal Lasso Tool.

With the Polygonal Lasso Tool in hand, I'll click around the area I want to protect to select it. For
the most part, I can be fairly loose with my selection through the trees as long as I stay below
any areas where the blue sky is showing through. The only part where I need to be more precise
with my selection is along the top of the house, especially the area around the top of the chimney
where it's completely exposed to the sky above it. The chimney and sky are very similar in tone
and color which will cause problems with the Advanced Blending sliders, so I'll need to be
careful and keep my selection tight around the top of the chimney:
Making sure to select only the chimney, not the sky above it.

Other than that, the selection is pretty simple. Everything I want to protect from the Advanced
Blending sliders is now selected:
The lower part of the image below the sky is selected.

Step 7: Add A Layer Mask

Now that we've selected the area we're protecting, let's convert the selection into a layer mask.
Click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Clicking on the Layer Mask icon.

Photoshop adds a new layer mask to Layer 1, and if we look at the mask's preview thumbnail in
the Layers panel, we see that the area we selected is filled with white, which means it should still
be visible in the document, while the area that was not selected is filled with black and should
now be hidden from view:

The selection has been turned into a layer mask.

And if we look at the image in the document window, sure enough, that's exactly what we see.
The area I selected is still visible, while the area above it is now hidden, revealing the sky photo
on the Background layer below it. We've replaced the sky in the original photo, but it's not
looking terribly professional just yet:
The image after adding the layer mask.

Step 8: Select And Turn On The Top Layer

Click on the top layer (Layer 1 copy) to make it the active layer, then click on its visibility icon
to turn the layer back on in the document:

Clicking on the top layer's visibility icon after re-selecting the layer.

The entire original photo will re-appear in the document window:

The original photo is back, for now.

Double-click directly on the top layer's preview thumbnail in the Layers panel:

Double-clicking on the layer's thumbnail.

This opens Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Blending Options in the middle
column. What we're looking for are the two slider bars at the bottom of the dialog box, in the
Advanced Blending section. Directly above the slider bars is the Blend If option which, by
default, is set to Gray. Click on the word Gray and choose Blue from the list that appears:

Change the Blend If option from Gray to Blue.

Step 10: Drag The Top Right Slider Towards The Left

As soon as you change the option to Blue, the two slider bars will change from black-to-white
gradients to black-to-blue gradients. You can ignore the slider bar at the bottom. The one we
want is the top one (the one that says This Layer above it). Click on the small slider below the
far right of the top bar and begin dragging it towards the left:
Dragging the right slider towards the left.

As you drag the slider, you'll begin to see the original sky in the photo disappearing, revealing
the replacement sky underneath. Notice that the area we selected back in Step 6 is not being
affected by the slider. Only the sky itself is disappearing. Continue dragging the slider towards
the left until most of the original sky is gone:

Dragging the slider causes the original sky to disappear.

Step 11: Adjust The Transition Between The Photos To Remove Fringing
The only problem now is that we're seeing a lot of harsh edges and fringing around the trees and
leaves, which is color that's left over from the original sky. To fix that, we need to soften the
transition between the two photos, and to do that, we need to split the slider in half.

Release the slider for a moment, then press and hold your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key on your
keyboard. With the key held down, click back on the slider and continue dragging it towards the
left. This will split the slider into two halves that we can now drag independently of each other
(you can release your Alt / Option key at this point). We can adjust the softness of the transition
between the original photo and the replacement sky photo by increasing or decreasing the
distance between the two halves of the slider.

Keep an eye on your image in the document window as you drag each half of the slider left or
right until all of the fringing around the trees and leaves (and anywhere else you happen to notice
fringing) disappears:

Adjust the space between each half of the slider until the fringing around the trees is gone.

When you're done, click OK in the top right corner of the Layer Style dialog box to close out of
it. Here's my final result after removing the fringing:
The final result.