The Problem
You have a very nice photo of a tree but the sky is dull. You decide to delete the dull sky and replace it with a beautiful blue sky with billowing clouds. The dull sky is easy enough to select.
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The Magic wand may do it in one shot. Be sure to turn off the Contiguous check box, or you won't get the parts of the sky that are within the tree branches. (Note: You can also try using Selection > Color Range to make your selection.)
You use various techniques to fine tune your selection. Now that you've got the sky selected, you invert the selection
so you can do a Ctl+J to copy the tree and all its glory onto another layer by itself (without the sky).
Next, you place the beautiful sky on a layer under the tree. It looks great... but then, you look closer and see lots of gray fringe around the edges of the leaves where they meet the sky.
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You try a number of techniques, but no matter what you do, the fringe sticks around.... You say it's driving you crazy? Is that what's troubling you, Mister? Well here's a method that may help you out.
The solution
Let's start after step 4 above (the tree layer is above the beautiful sky layer).
Select the transparent area of the tree layer using the Magic Wand (with Contiguous off) or Color Range.
Invert the selection.
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Zoom in to about 400 percent or whatever is sufficient to get a good look at the fringe area.
Create a Layer Mask revealing the selection.
Click on Filter > Others > Minimum to get the Minimum Dialog box. (You'll see the black and white Layer Mask in the Dialog box and the colored leaves and fringe in the image area.)
Increase the Radius in the Dialog box while observing the fringe. When the fringe is gone, press OK. (This filter only accepts integers, but you can use the Fade command under Edit to fine tune the change.)
Use Gaussian Blur to soften the edges to your liking.
That's it. you should have a real nice tree with a beautiful sky.... and no fringes.
Enjoy!
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