PP question- Adding Clouds

I thought about asking this question in the critique forum
but I am really interested in specific PP steps so I did not think that was the proper forum.

Totally fake PP’d Owl. Just selected this shot to practice removing and adding subject matter.

What is the best way to add a few white puffy clouds in the sky and behind the Owl?

Please feel free to critique or your own edit.
Using PS 7 if that matters.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...ngsmFramed.jpg

Original:
http://gallery.photographyreview.com...500/800_01.JPG

HA!

if you can remove all those branches without messing the owl... I would think you can add clouds ...

just a matter of finding some clouds you like and mix them with the current image

Quote:

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Originally Posted by armando_m

HA!

if you can remove all those branches without messing the owl... I would think you can add clouds ...

just a matter of finding some clouds you like and mix them with the current image

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Hi Armando,
Rubber stamping out sticks with blue sky is pretty easy.
Getting a white puffy cloud pasted in half behind the owl is another matter.

Did you do it all by just cloning or do you have what you want (owl & branch) selected? - TF

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OldClicker

Did you do it all by just cloning or do you have what you want (owl & branch) selected? - TF

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Just used the rubberstamp in various sizes and edges. I'm sure there is probably a better way, I just don't know it.
I suppose one could lasso and paint bucket the sky, then work on cleaning up the edges.

I've read someplace where you can take a sky (you like) make it a background layer then put the main subject layer on top and use some tool, (sponge maybe) to bring the main subject out.

But there is always the edge detail that's the killer. It gives away the photo was PP.

Bob, trust me on this: You'll be time ahead if you concentrate on dealing with the edges, and give up drawing clouds. The only process that I've come up with that actually produces a realistic effect is so time and labor intensive that it's impractical. Background replacement is the way to go, IMO.

- Joe U.

Hi Joe,
I tried for several hours and gave up.
Background replacement looks like the best way to go.
I need to build a photo library of skies.

Thank you for your help.

BG replacement should be rather simple with this image. Find an image with blue sky and some clouds you like. Drag the cloud photo on top of your owl photo, then change the blending mode of the cloud layer to overlay. (Depending on how similar the blues are in the sky, this may or may not work as well) Add a layer mask to the cloud layer, and then mask out owl, and branch. It only took me a couple of minutes. It's not perfect, but I'm at work and needed a little break from spreadsheets. :)

Nicely done Mike. Thanks for showing me what's possible.
I need some cloud shots. In Colorado it's either gray (fixing to rain or snow) or Blue.

I used Fluid Mask (downloaded the trial) to isolate the owl and branches, then pasted your photo onto some clouds photographed by my wife. Pretty pricey solution unless you are going to do a lot of it. Fun to mess with, though.

http://www.vertustech.com/index.html

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwhite214/4539632456/" title="clouds owl by PWhite214, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4539632456_337527f11d.jpg" width="500" height="384" alt="clouds owl" /></a>

I did mess up on the branch some, this was my first try.

Phil

in photoshop you can select the colour you want for the sky and for the background and then choose: filter, render, clouds. Each time the clouds are different and it doesn't seem to give you puffy solid ones but hazy ones. you can then add this in as another layer

pwhite, Thank you for the suggestion. I really don't want to spend any funds on this it's just for fun and practice with PS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skyman

in photoshop you can select the colour you want for the sky and for the background and then choose: filter, render, clouds. Each time the clouds are different and it doesn't seem to give you puffy solid ones but hazy ones. you can then add this in as another layer

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This sounds interesting. I will look for this feature in my PS7. Thank you