Photoshop layers help

K

*kev*

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187
Name
Kevin
Edit My Images
Yes
I've got 2 copies of the same picture that have been processed differently in adobe camera raw, one so the clouds aren't burnt out (pic 1) and one so that the rest of the image is exposed as i want it (pic 2).

Now the bit that i'm finding frustatingly difficult (but i'm sure is very simple). I want to overlay pic 2 over pic 1 and using the eraser, erase the light clouds to reveal the darker clouds in the image, but i can't do it.

Could some one please point me in the right direction of how to do this, or even better give me very simple instructions on how to do it?

I'm using photoshop CS3

Thanks

Kev
 
The best bet is not to use the erase at all, rather use layers. It seems a little clunky, but once you get used to it , the flexibility is well worth it.

Firstly, you need to get the two pictures you've taken into the same document in PS. If you open both pics, you can go to one of them and select all and then copy. You can then go to the other picture and paste. You should now have two layers in the pic, one with the clouds burnt and the other with the clouds not burnt.

You need to make sure that your layers palette is visible. Click on the layer at the top of the palette, then click on the button at the top of the palette that is a circle within a rectangle (this will add a layer mask). Now, you paint black (using the paint brush) on the layer mask to hide the elements of the layer and you paint white on it to show.

You can vary the brush size using the left and right square brackets and vary the softness of the edge of the brush using shift + left and right square brackets.

Don't forget that you can also blur the mask, so if you're having trouble with hard edges, you can select the edge using the lasso tool and apply a Gaussian blur.

It sounds complicated, but is super-flexible, trust me.
 
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