Replacing sky

I use PSE7.  What is the best way to replace a white washed out sky on a landscape photo  with a natural blue sky?  I'd like to use a blue sky from one of my better landscape photos.  Thanks.
Denny Riffert

Denny,
Open picture (1), and picture with good sky(2)
Make a selection of the good sky  using one of the selection tools
Copy this selection to clipboard (Edit>copy)
Open the picture (1) again, paste sky selection (Edit>paste)
Using the move tool, drag this new sky over the old sky. Using the corner handles you can stretch it a little  so it covers
For this layer, set blend mode to darken
Set foreground color chip (lower left) to white
Drag foreground to transparent linear gradient from below up to top of tree line (if there are trees)
With soft white brush at reduced opacity, paint horizon white - want horizon lighter than rest of sky
For your reference a good light sky color is C7D7EA, a good dark sky color is 628DCO
HTH

Similar Messages

  • How to replace sky when there are trees in the photo

    I have several photos taken outdoors with a dull sky. I also have several sky shots to supply the blue sky; with or without clouds. I know a couple of ways to do  that --as long as the horizon line is clear, such as roofs, etc.  My preferred method is to use a tool; e.g., Magic Wand, to select the sky area and then copy/paste a blue sky image using Ctrl+Shift+V command. This makes the copied sky inserted into the original image and I'm happy with the results.
    But when there are trees or other bushes between the camera and the sky, problems begin.  No matter how carefully I try to include all the "holes" in those trees, the end result contains white spots where the selected section failed to follow the tree "holes".  Anybody know how to fix these types of problems?  I am somewhat familiar with layers-- which I have tried to use to solve this problem.
    Using PSE-12 on Windows 8.1
    TIA,
    Pete Grant

    Pete,
    There are several ways to do this. In my experience the Alibony technique works well. You will be able to use your "good" sky pictures:
    Watch Lesson 12: Quick Colorless Sky Replacement | Alibony Lessons for Photoshop Elements Episodes | How To Videos | Bli…
    As I pointed out to you on June 5, 2014, this is how I do it after watching the Alibony video.
    Open your picture (A) (File>open), and open the replacement sky picture (B)
    On the sky picture (B), go to Select>all from the menu, then Edit>copy to place it on the clipboard
    Go back to your picture (A), then Edit>paste. The new sky (B) should come in on a new layer
    With the move tool, use the corner handles to reduce the size of the sky (B) to cover the old sky on (A)
    In the layers palette, set the blending mode of (B) to darken
    Set the foreground color chip to white
    Get the Gradient tool out of the toolbox, and drag a foreground to transparent, linear gradient from below up to the top of the tree line, while holding down the shift key.
    With a soft white brush, at reduced opacity, gently paint the horizon a bit, as we want the horizon to be a tad lighter than the rest of the sky.
    If necessary, add a few clouds with the Return to Eden set.

  • Photos app replace sky?

    In the new OSX Photos app is there a way to cut out a sky and replace it with another image of a more dramatic sky. Presumably this involves a tool to select the sky, and perhaps a layering facility .... Thx, Gus

    Not that I know of. I had the same problem which was solved by accessing the files. I used this method, which is actually mentioned in another thread-
    http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/how-to/how-to-fix-iphone-camera-roll-crash-and-phot os-turned-to-other-in-itunes/
    Now, I was going to test a theory, but it involves restoring your iPhone.  I WAS going to do this, but then I found the method in the link above, which was much faster.  My theory is that it might be a corrupted/damaged photo that's saved in Photostream.  I was thinking that, maybe if you reset your Photostream through iCloud, then restore your iPhone from a backup, it might work.  Again, I didn't test this because the method in the link works in minutes.

  • Replacing sky... I did search back posts...

    First off I'm clearly a beginner with this software.  This shouldn't be so hard because I've done it once before but sadly I didn't save the directions I found online.  Today I've tried a bazillion directions including this forum and I'm clearly doing something wrong. 
    I have a pix of a house and a pix of a beautiful sunset and I want to replace the dull sky on the house pix with the sky from the sunset pix.  First I tried this method:
    http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-replace-a-sky-in-photoshop
    but when I take the eraser and erase the parts of the sky that overlap the house if I go above the roof line of the house it erases the sky too.  Hey as a kid I was never good about coloring in the lines so this method just isn't working.
    So I thought this method where you select the sky with the magic wand and delete it would be far easier:
    http://photographyofgrace.com/Filehost/Downloads/ReplacingASkywithPSE7.pdf
    However..... If you go to page 3 of this tutorial you will see that one of the layers had the magic wand used, they selected the sky, deleted it and now its transparent, i.e. has the checkerboard pattern where the sky use to be.  The checkerboard pattern is both in the big pix and the little one to the right in the layers area.  Well here is my problem, when I do it I can see the checkerboard pattern in the small pix on the right in the layers area but when I click on that layer in the big picture there is no checkerboard pattern.  Doesn't matter what order the 2 layers are in (i have the original layer which is locked and the background copy which has the checkerboard pattern on it and its unlocked)  When I click on the copy which on the right is checkerboarded (transparent) its NOT transparent in the big picture. 
    So when I take my pretty sunset picture and try and drop it in to the house with the checkerboard sky it just covers the whole thing, its not filling in just the transparency its just covering the entire house. 
    I'm almost in tears, I've read everything I can, followed the directions on about 10 tutorials on this and not once can I make this magic wand method work.  I'm in tears and have been trying to make this work since 11 am.  Again the eraser method is too hard with the lines of the house and trees and I keep erasing the darn sky.
    Can someone please help me do this.
    Thanks for ANY help.
    Susan

    Your first tutorial link is not doable in Elements as it uses a couple of methods that are not available in Elements...in particular blending via the layer's style panel to bring back in the underlying image using the brightness stops to define what comes through.
    If you have a blown out (white) sky you can use that to your advantage. I used Photoshop so my screen grabs will look different than an Elements user interface but I only used methods that are possible using Elements.
    1. Open your image and open an image with the sky you want to add.
    I'll use a couple of my photos for the example.
    Start photo....dreary winter sky.
    Here is the shot with the sky that I want to use.
    2. (A.)You want the start photo active for this first part so make sure it is the document that you are currently working on.
        (B.)Go to the menu bar and choose Select<All. This will select the entire image.
        (C.)Go to the menu bar and choose Edit<Copy. This will copy the entire image into your clipboard.
    3. (A.) Create a solid color fill adjustment layer over your start photo. (Don't worry about color. It's not going to matter.)
        (B.)Alt click on the solid color adjustment layer's mask. This will make your document go white as the focus will be on the adjustment layer's mask. (If          you are on a Mac, you will Opt click instead of alt click.)
        (C.)Go to the menu bar and choose Edit<Paste. This will paste your image into the mask.
    *Shortcuts:
    Ctrl + A on PC; Cmd + A on Mac = Select All.
    Ctrl + C on PC; Cmd + C on Mac = Copy.
    Ctrl + V on PC; Cmd + V on Mac = Paste.
    Note: You will see a grayscale version of your image. (Masks only "see" grayscale" so the colors are converted to their brightness values.) Above is my start image pasted directly into a mask.
    4. With the mask still the focus, call up the levels command. You can call it up from the menu or use the shortcut. Ctrl + L on PC; Cmd + L on Mac. The goal is to push the image using the levels command to pure black and white.
    Here I have pushed the image as solid black and white as I dare without losing detail,
    Note: I am using a red color fill adjustment layer so it's visual obvious that I am looking in the mask. (Using a black or white solid color adjustment layer can lead to confusion because if you click away from the mask for any reason the focus moves back to the image.)
    5. Now, you will need to paint out any items you did not get using the levels command. You can lasso and fill, use a paint brush with black, or use the gradient tool as I used to eliminate the snow covered ground where I do not want my new sky to appear. (Note: If you haven't guessed white paint can be used to include more items to be included. Gray areas will be semi-transparent. Think feather and transition.
    Above I used a black foreground to transparent gradient to the mask to include the ground.
    6. Switch to your sky photo then copy it into your clipboard.
    7. Paste your sky photo into the document you are working. It should be at the top of the layers stack. If it isn't at the top of the stack in the layer's palette, drag it to the top.
    8. Your sky layer should be directly over the solid color adjustment layer. You are going to create a clipping mask by clicking on the new sky layer and pressing ctrl + G. If on a Mac, you will press Cmd + J.
    *Additional info on clipping masks a.ka. clipping groups.
    http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/Photoshop_Elements/layers/layer_groups_clippi ng_masks/1_layer_groups_clipping_masks.htm
    Here is the result with the sky clipped above.
    9. Optional: To give more umph to the image.
       (A.) Create a composite of everything you have done so far. Create a blank layer at the top of your layers stack and press ctrl + shift + alt + E if on              Windows. If on Mac, the shortcut is cmd + shift + opt + E.
       (B.) Change the composite layer's blend mode to either overlay or soft light and adjust the opacity to taste.
    The above has the contrast and blending I wanted but seems a little dark for my taste. I'll use blend modes to take care of that.
    Optional Step: Since it turned out a little darker than I wanted I made another composite of what I have thus far using Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E. That's Cmd + Shift + Opt + E if you are on a Mac. I put this composite into Screen blend mode and put it's opacity at 63%.
    Note: If that would have been a body of water instead of a field with snow behind the trees, I would have added some sky reflections...

  • Sky+HD box freezing

    I am aware of the problems with freezing HD+ boxes in January, the correspondence seems to have died down now. However my box which is a Samsung still freezes every 5-7 days or so. I have done all the recommmended fixes but still have the problem, it looks like I am stuck with it?? I could get a new smaller Sky HD+ box, but in order to preserve my recordings I would need to tranfer my existing hard drive, can anyone confirm that this will solve the freezing problem. I am guessing that the problem lies in the hardware in the Samsung box, and not in the data on the drive. Thanks for any info.  Jim

    Yes, this was a problem which affected some Samsung and Pace boxes and was largely resolved by a backend change which Sky implemented - hence the sharp drop in posts on the subject.
    For those boxes still having the problem, Sky recommended a Planner Rebuild, and a Full System Reset (which would delete all your recordings). If there was still a problem, the advice was to call Sky. Subsequent posts highlighted that those customers were given a replacement Sky box to solve the problem.
    Other Sky+HD boxes don't have the same freezing problem.

  • White-grey sky to blue with either blue or white/cream colored objects?

    Hi Everyone:
    I took up a keen interest in bird photography earlier in the year. So many times when I go out the sky is grey or white.
    I have many nice shots of snowy owls, great or snowy egrets and blue herons that would be even better if I had blue sky.
    Use PSE 12 for a resource.
    So basically my question is in two parts:
    Considering I'm a beginner with mostly Lightroom experience:
    a) Blue Herons - Both background and main subject are either blue or have shades of blue. Goal is to look natural, smooth with defined edges, retain proper coloration and well-blended.
    b) Snowy Owls and Egrets are white or cream on a grey-white background.
    I seek a nice contrast with well-defined edges.
    if I use the smart brush on a snowy owl for instance it takes part of it and turns it also blue!
    How  does one accomplish the above?
    Any bird editor tricks?
    Thanks in advance.
    Bruce

    Bruce,
    The Alibony technique for sky replacement works best for me:
    Watch Lesson 12: Quick Colorless Sky Replacement | Alibony Lessons for Photoshop Elements Episodes | How To Videos | Bli…
    Here are my refined notes after watching the video: I posted most of it a few days ago in a reply.
    You need 2 pictures: The one that you have with the drab sky which you wish to replace, and a picture of a "good" sky - just blue sky with clouds, nothing else on it. You can take the picture of the sky yourself, or download one from Alibony.
    Also, familiarize yourself with the gradient tool, as we will be using this in step #7.
    Open your picture (A) (File>open), and open the replacement sky picture (B)
    On the sky picture (B), go to Select>all from the menu, then Edit>copy to place it on the clipboard
    Go back to your picture (A), then Edit>paste. The new sky (B) should come in on a new layer
    With the move tool, use the corner handles to reduce the size of the sky (B) to cover the old sky on (A)
    In the layers palette, set the blending mode of (B) to darken
    Set the foreground color chip to white
    Get the Gradient tool out of the toolbox, and drag a foreground to transparent, linear gradient from below up to the top of the tree line, while holding down the shift key.
    With a soft white brush, at reduced opacity, gently paint the horizon a bit, as we want the horizon to be a tad lighter than the rest of the sky.
    If necessary, add a few clouds with the Return to Eden set.
    TIPS: The Return to Eden cloud brushes are available for download from Adobe Studio Exchange (free)
              Good light sky color is C7D7EA
              Good dark sky color is 628DC0

  • Color Matching using Color Sampler Tool?

    Let's say I want to replace a sky in a landscape with a more interesting one with clouds. Is there a way to match the luminosity and hue of the replacement sky to the original landscape by using the color sampler tool? That is, to do the color matching by the number rather than by experimenting with various adjustment layers to get the match?  Thanks!!

    Perhaps you could put the new sky on top with luminosity blend mode. The color of the old sky would show through. But this would invariably require brushing.
    Replace Color is a better option. In the dialog, set the source color (in sky with clouds) at the top. Destination color (sky without clouds) at the bottom.
    Unfortunately this adjustment is not available as an adjustment layer. You'll want to keep the original image, perhaps as an underlying layer, in case you need to go back to it.

  • Should Have Known Better

    Silly Me,
    When looking at the BT Vision option to replace sky, I was reading through the blurb on the website and saw the term ' BT VIsion HD + box'. 'Great that will do for me' thinks I and places an order. Box duly arrives and I set it up, then wait for a couple of weeks for the great switchover.
    So I retune and guess what? No HD channels to be seen anywhere. Hang on, the box is advertised as HD.
    Now call me thick if you you like, but if the box is classed HD Then everything within it should be HD.
    THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER, I forgot that I was dealing with BT.
    As it is a forum I suppose I had better ask a question, so does anyone know if a freeview HD tuner is going to become available, or are we all going to left in the dark ages.
    Oh and thanks BT, I loved the free crash course in Hindi.

    HD will come with the launch of Youview
    Life | 1967 Plus Radio | 1000 Classical Hits | Kafka's World
    Someone Solved Your Question?
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  • Trying to use the BT Sport player for the first ti...

    I have BT Sports through Sky and need to watch it online today as I am awaiting a replacement sky box.
    Now when I try to log in theres a message saying sky customers are automatically signed up to bt sport online, and I've tried logging in with my bt email adress and password to no avail. Can anybody help or point me in the direction of how I can get logged in?

    I have a similar problem, I signed up via the Sky Digital platform, received an order confirmation email and the channels where activated on the Sky box immediatley. 
    I then recieved an email to activate BT-ID to use the Sports App. This asks for my account name (accepted) and security question (accepted), then it takes me to a page for a password (not given one). 
    I click a link to change the password (or create one in the case), this generates an email with a link, again the account name and security question is request only this time the security answer is not accepted.
    I also tried to register for a BT-ID manually but it states my user already exists.
    Any pointers welcome.

  • Replacing a cloudy grey with a blue sky.

    I have Photoshop Elements 5, and Windows XP Home operating system. I am trying to replace a grey sky with a blue sky. I have "the photoshop elements 5 book for digital photographers" by Scott Kelby. He describes on pages 301-302 the steps necessary to replace the sky in a photo. I have followed the directions and have been unsuccessful. Obviously, I have missed something important. Part of the sky is changed and part isn't.
    Any suggestions??
    thanks

    I don't have the Kelby book, but here is a way to replace the sky:
    1. Rename the Background layer to something else. This is needed to create the transparency in the next step.
    2. Use the various selection tools to select the gray sky. The Magic Wand should work well (you may have to Shift-click several times to select it all). Feather the selection 1 or 2 pixels and delete it, replacing the sky with transparent background.
    3. Create a new blank layer below the picture layer.
    4. Set Foreground & Background colors to blue & white respectively.
    5. Select the Gradient Tool with the Foreground-to-Background option. On the blank layer draw a gradient vertically from the top of the sky to the bottom. This will create a natural-looking sky.
    Notes:
    You will get different results depending on where you start and end the gradient. You can redraw the gradient as many times as you wish on the same layer until you are happy with the result.
    You might also try setting the Foreground & Background to dark blue & light blue for the gradient.
    See this example: http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=10lyUmQQJsbmZNTwW3yKLw2vJDIs30
    It's my house (I wish!)
    Is this method similar to Kelby's?

  • How to replace over cast sky (no pixels) using Photoshop 8?

    New to Photoshop 8 for Mac OSX. Image has a severely over cast sky. Essentially no pixels. Attempted to use smart brush or quick fix using info shown on Adobe TV. The blank sky area was selected properly but the color ( blue sky 1) failed to be added. These tools seem to work only when there are some pixels (color ) in the selected area. I did successfully use the quick fix feature on an image that had some pixels within the selected sky area. Having the capability to easily add blue sky to a severely overcast sky will be necessary to upgrade fron PSE6 to PSE6.

    I am not an expert re this tool, having had occasion to use it just a couple of times.
    Be sure that in the tool's option bar, "inverse" is not checked if you want to work on the subject
    I did an experiment, opening up a new blank file, transparent. I could not lay down any color with the tool.
    The same obtains when you go to Enhance>adjust color>replace color. If the layer is all black or white (i.e.no color), then it will not work.
    My take on this is that some pixels have to be present for functionality.

  • Can i remove white sky and replace with another

    hi, im new to elements and photo editing, is there an easy to understand way of removing a whashed out white sky and replacing it with a blue/white cloud style of sky, i already have a donor sky.thanks for any advice given, ive got v7

    Make a selection of a segment of the donor sky with one of the selection tools
    Go Edit>copy
    Open the picture with the washed out sky
    Go to Edit>paste. This will put the donor selection on its own layer. Position it with the move tool over the old sky
    Set blend mode of this layer to darken
    Set foreground color chip (lower left) to white
    Drag foreground to transparent linear gradient from below up to top of tree line (if there are trees)
    With soft white brush, at reduced opacity, paint horizon on a new layer at top of stack. Horizon should be lighter than rest of sky..
    HTH

  • Problems with trees in a shot for sky replacement

    i need to make an sky replacement ..there are trees in the shot..and is really hard to do it...i tryed the colorama method...and nothing....not with the amount of detail I  want..any help? thanks!!!

    That dude does not know how to use binoculars.
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    However, I'm going to assume you're using an appropriate sky for the lighting in your scene. Here's a tutorial that may work for you (here's another, more basic, method).
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  • Replacing A Cloudy Sky with A Blue Sky

    Can anyone suggest an easy way to replace a cloudy sky with a blue sky using Photoshop? I'm doing real estate photography currently, and I have to take photos on a cloudy day. My major problem is when I have trees in the photo that I need to replace with a blue sky. Thanks, Arnold

    Those cloudy skies may have helped soften the sunlight and reduced any hash shadows.
    Nothing screams bad photo like a photo taken with the sun at the wrong angle, like photos at noon when the bright sun is directly overhead and it produces strong dark shadows on the house you are trying to sell.
    There was an article in PetaPixel about how good photos had helped sell a house in days when it had been on the market (with bad photos) for many months.
    http://petapixel.com/2015/03/12/my-photos-helped-sell-a-home-in-8-days-after-it-was-on-the -market-for-8-months/

  • WHAT IS THE BEST NAD EASIER WAY TO REPLACE THE SKY IN A LANDSCAPE FOR A DIFFERENT ONE?

    WHAT IS THE BEST AND EASIER WAY TO REPLACE A SKY IN A LANDSCAPE FOR A DIFFERENT ONE?

    depends who clunk you can get away with.
    easiest is magic wand and use the layer properties to make it 'multiply' or 'lighten' or 'darken' etc as suits your images.
    a step on from this would be to use the layer blending options. it's the easiest way to get a good overlay,
    paste the new sky image into your image and scale it to fill the whole area, then double click the layer
    then use the blending options especially noting the 'blend if' sliders at the bottom which you can use to tell it to allow different tones to show through.
    this mixed with holding the l'alt' key as you adjust the sliders allows you to fade from 0-100% of certain tones being visible through the layers, so you can for example allow you new sky layer to be seen in between branches of a tree etc. fiddle with it and you'll see what it does.
    combine this with a layer mask where you can paint out bits that you definitely don't want the sky to show through.

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