Removing previous water reflection in sky replacement

Cory Brower

• February 03, 2023 19:20

I have a photo of a mountain lake with a lackluster sunset.  I want to replace the sky but I can still see the old sunset reflection in the water.  How do I remove the original reflection from the water?

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  Rick Sammartino Community moderator

  • February 03, 2023 20:32

  It would have been handy to post a screenshot of the photo to know what you have to work with.

  You may not be able to remove the old reflection. The two typical options are to tone it down or blend the new and old together. You could also find another photo with suitable water to replace or blend into the lake.

   

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  Cory Brower

  • February 04, 2023 05:25

  Here is original the photo.  I would like to replace the sky but I can't get the original reflection out of the water.

  

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  Rick Sammartino Community moderator

  • February 04, 2023 18:11

  Ok, had to borrow your photo to try it. You're not going to be able to remove all of it without replacing the water as well.

  This was my best result at removing the reflection ...

   

  

   

  And then, adding a sky with reflection would look something like that...

  

   

  So, to remove the old reflection, I started with the healing brush to make the front edge all the same...

  

   

  Then I used a B/W filter and painted over the reflection, first to remove the saturation, then to adjust the brightness to try and match the water on the left. Not possible to get it exact. This could be improved with two Local adjustments set up for dodge and burn to help remove the brightest and darkest areas.

  

   

  With a little more effort, you could make it blend in better than this and make it unnoticeable behind the new reflection.

  Good luck.

   

  x

   

   

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  Cory Brower

  • February 05, 2023 00:49

  Thank you Rick for your help.

   

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