Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

"This Layer" Sliders

First, let's take a look at the topmost sliders. If you move the left slider toward the middle, the dark areas of the image (that is, all the shades that are to the left of the slider) will start to disappear. This slider can be a great help when you're trying to remove the background from fireworks or lightning. The only problem is, once you get the background to disappear, the edges of the lightning will have hard, jagged edges (Figures 15.13 to 15.15).

Figure 15.13. Original unblended images. (© 2005 iStockphoto.com/titaniumdoughnut/ironrodart)

Figure 15.14. Removing the dark sky from the lightning image.

Figure 15.15. ...