Sometimes, you may want to change the sky in a photo to a bluer sky or a more vibrant sky. This tutorial shows you how to do it easily in Adobe Photoshop.
Below is a photo of me taken in Tuscany. It was the middle of the afternoon on a hot day, so the sky was over-exposed in the photo. I think the feeling of the idyllic Tuscany countryside is more compatible with a gentle, sky sky - so let’s try to replace the sky with a better one.
1. Open image and open Sky Replacement
Open the photo in which the sky needs replacing, then select ‘Edit’ in the Menu bar > Sky Replacement:
2. Choose a new sky
The Sky Replacement dialogue will appear. You can then choose a new sky from Photoshop’s library, or you can import a sky from an image of your own:
I choose this one from Photoshop’s library:
3. Optional: adjust sky settings
Adjust the sliders in the Sky Replacement dialogue to modify the sky, to blend more seamlessly into your foreground layer. These are all intuitive, so play around a little to make the sky look more natural with your foreground. Make sure the ‘Preview’ box is ticked, so that you can see the changes you are making to the sky as you go.
Below is an explanation of the different functions on the sliders:
Shift edge: adjusts where the border is between the sky and the original foreground.
Fade edge: determines the amount of fading between the sky and the original foreground along the edges.
Brightness: adjusts the brightness of the sky.
Temperature: adjusts the temperature of the sky, from warm to cool.
Scale: resizes the sky.
Lighting mode: you can toggle between Multiple and Screen to see which looks better, as the suitability of different blending modes depends on the image.
Foreground lighting: increases or decreases the lighting contrast against the foreground.
Edge lighting: controls the lighting adjustments around the edges in the sky, with larger values providing for higher contrast.
Colour adjustment: adjusts the colour harmony between the sky and the foreground by changing the colours on the foreground to suit the new sky.
Output: always select ‘New Layers’ so that you can make further colour, shadow and lighting adjustments.
Click ‘Ok’ once you are ready.
That’s it! You have replaced the sky.
Before:
After:
