diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 8657020..1d6c190 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -263,6 +263,9 @@ Usage
       -p PACKAGES, --packages PACKAGES
                             Comma separated list of select packages to show in the
                             output. If set, --all will be ignored.
+      -e PACKAGES, --exclude PACKAGES
+                            Comma separated list of select packages to exclude from
+                            the output. If set, --all will be ignored.
       -j, --json            Display dependency tree as json. This will yield "raw"
                             output that may be used by external tools. This option
                             overrides all other options.
diff --git a/pipdeptree.py b/pipdeptree.py
index 7283281..b4dba41 100644
--- a/pipdeptree.py
+++ b/pipdeptree.py
@@ -280,8 +280,8 @@ class ReqPackage(Package):
                 'required_version': self.version_spec}
 
 
-def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False):
-    """Convert to tree to string representation
+def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False, exclude=[]):
+    """Convert tree to string representation
 
     :param dict tree: the package tree
     :param bool list_all: whether to list all the pgks at the root
@@ -310,6 +310,8 @@ def render_tree(tree, list_all=True, show_only=None, frozen=False):
         nodes = [p for p in nodes if p.key not in branch_keys]
 
     def aux(node, parent=None, indent=0, chain=None):
+        if node.key in exclude or node.project_name in exclude:
+            return []
         if chain is None:
             chain = [node.project_name]
         node_str = node.render(parent, frozen)
@@ -527,6 +529,11 @@ def get_parser():
                             'Comma separated list of select packages to show '
                             'in the output. If set, --all will be ignored.'
                         ))
+    parser.add_argument('-e', '--exclude',
+                        help=(
+                            'Comma separated list of select packages to exclude '
+                            'from the output. If set, --all will be ignored.'
+                        ), metavar='PACKAGES')
     parser.add_argument('-j', '--json', action='store_true', default=False,
                         help=(
                             'Display dependency tree as json. This will yield '
@@ -600,10 +607,15 @@ def main():
             return_code = 1
 
     show_only = set(args.packages.split(',')) if args.packages else None
+    exclude = set(args.exclude.split(',')) if args.exclude else []
+
+    if show_only and exclude:
+        print('Cannot use --packages and --exclude args together.', file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(1)
 
     tree = render_tree(tree if not args.reverse else reverse_tree(tree),
                        list_all=args.all, show_only=show_only,
-                       frozen=args.freeze)
+                       frozen=args.freeze, exclude=exclude)
     print(tree)
     return return_code
 
diff --git a/tests/test_pipdeptree.py b/tests/test_pipdeptree.py
index 1e13920..682526f 100644
--- a/tests/test_pipdeptree.py
+++ b/tests/test_pipdeptree.py
@@ -122,6 +122,24 @@ def test_render_tree_list_all():
     assert 'itsdangerous==0.23' in lines
 
 
+def test_render_tree_exclude():
+    tree_str = render_tree(tree, list_all=True, exclude=['itsdangerous', 'SQLAlchemy', 'Flask', 'markupsafe'])
+    assert tree_str == """\
+alembic==0.6.2
+  - Mako [required: Any, installed: 0.9.1]
+Flask-Script==0.6.6
+gnureadline==6.3.8
+ipython==2.0.0
+Jinja2==2.7.2
+Lookupy==0.1
+Mako==0.9.1
+psycopg2==2.7.3.2
+redis==2.9.1
+slugify==0.0.1
+Werkzeug==0.9.4
+wheel==0.30.0"""
+
+
 def test_render_tree_freeze():
     tree_str = render_tree(tree, list_all=False, frozen=True)
     lines = set()