Need Help!!

[ACaptain7]

I have this image of a tree with a blown on sky...very blown out sky, so blown out that it is in fact white. I would like someone to insert a sky or at least give me instructions on how to do that in Photoshop. When i tried, there were always little areas of white around the edge of the tree. here is the pic. If you attempt to insert a sky, i don't care what color it is, where the clouds are, or if there are clouds at all. So long as it looks genuine. Thank you very much to whoever responds.

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[Big Mike]

Insert a sky as a separate layer in photoshop.

Use a layer mask to hide the blown out sky to let the new sky show through.

To create your layer mask, do what you can to select the tree or the sky (try the magic wand and\or 'select color range'. Try creating a levels adjustment layer first to enhance the contrast between the tree & the sky (trash this layer once when you are done). Once you have the selection pretty close, create the layer mask. You can then add to or subtract from the mask by making it the active layer and using the brush tool. Get in close and use a small brush, maybe even a low opacity and make several passes. Take your time...the better the accuracy of the mask, the better it will look.

You can make things easier by creating a solid color layer with a low opacity and placing it between your layers. This makes it easy to see the mask edges.