Replacing the sky in a photo with PhotoFlow

G+ user Andrea Katifes has posted a very nice example of what can be done with photoflow when combining multiple images.

The original picture had a rather dull and flat sky, so he took a stormy sky form another picture and blended it into the original one. The whole blending was done with PhotoFlow, using a combination of gradients and luminosity curves for the opacity mask of the sky layer.

Here is what he obtained:

Original:

Sky replaced:

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Very cool… how did he achieve the final image?

I will ask the person if he wants to post here the details of what he did (screenshots or screen cast).

Hello @plaven!

The image you see above is the result of blending two images in PhF.
What PhF allows, is the use of adjustment layers which primarily gives me the opportunity to go back to the layer stack anytime I want without having to delete any layers above. This means that the luminosity of the images can be adjusted this way.
Now the other thing in this software that in my opinion makes it different, is its gradient tool. It comes with a curve that allows the user to tweak the smoothness of the transition zone, plus add control points. By clicking on that line, I can create control points and drag them up and down, following this way the borderline of the image below. Now what followed this editing, is pretty much similar to the editing of all pictures. Saturation, luminosity, brightness etc using the tools of PhF.

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Hi Andreas,

Thanks to taking the time to explain the process.

I’m still to get around to using Photo Flow, but will now make time to give it a go.

Peter.

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Another example from @akatifes:

I think this one worked even better :ok_hand:

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Wow. Are there any videos showing how precise masking/replacement like this is achieved?

Not yet… maybe @akatifes is willing to show this technique in a short screencast?

@DavidOliver by the way, several video tutorials can be already found here.

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@DavidOliver I intend to record a screencast in the next few days. Briefly, you will need a sky image that will have the same perspective as the original image in order to produce a realistic result. Open the two images in PhF as layers and then try using the gradient tool in order to define the transition zone. Play with the curve of the same tool for further adjustment. :slight_smile:

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Thanks, guys. I’ve started watching the videos and it looks great.

In addition to curve-based and path-based masks, is it possible to additionally use parametric masks? E.g., use this path/curve, minus tones which are below a certain luminosity?

I should stop asking questions and get it installed. :slight_smile:

The short answer is: yes, you can!

The long one will come in few hours when I’ll be back to my laptop :wink:

I’d bet that after installing and some first tests, you will have even more questions… and that’s perfectly fine!

@DavidOliver: As promised, here is a short clip that shows how one can create a luminosity mask to target the mid-tones (in this case combined with a contrast-enhancing straight curve). I also show how the lumi mask can be combined with other masking tools (in this case, a smooth path combined in lighten blend mode).

Other related screencasts:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PhotoFlowEditor/posts/7epkQZi1xyr
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PhotoFlowEditor/posts/46viVG8YPoa
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PhotoFlowEditor/posts/5bLxuGrEjr3

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Many thanks, @Carmelo_DrRaw. They’ll be very helpful as I start trying to work with masks. It seems like PhotoFlow provides a lot of flexibility, and it’ll be interesting to use it to combine different images.

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very beautiful))) i wish i could do the same

Why you can’t :smiley:?
The software is free and the techniqu is rather simple… any specific image you would like to try this?

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This tutorials seem very helpful to me. Thanks. But I don’t understand why we need to create a previous buffer layer every time we begin the developing process.

Strictly speaking, this is only needed if your edit contains somewhere a “clone” layer, and if you want to save the edit as a preset for later use. In this case, the layer which gets cloned must also be part of the preset, otherwise the internal references will become inconsistent.

So if you want to clone the pixel data at the input of the preset (for example to create a luminosity mask), you need to put a buffer layer at the input so that it can be referenced internally by the preset.

Understood. Many thanks and congratulations for your HDRMerge appimage too.

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