The Canon Magazine 49
REPLACE DRAB SKIES
Why not continue
to add to your
free sky library by
taking shots of any
interesting skies
you see and adding
them to the folder
of images
QUICK TIP!
01 OPEN UP YOUR PICTURE AND A SKY
Open a landscape shot into Elements that you think
needs a sky replacement. Then, go back to File>Open,
this time navigating to the folder of free sky images
from the Resources folder (see link bottom left).
Open one you think will suit your photo.
03 EXTEND THE CANVAS IF NEEDED
For our shot, we’d like it to actually have a larger area
for the sky, so we need to extend the frame upward.
To do this, I went to Image>Resize>Canvas Size, then
set the Anchor to the bottom middle point and
entered a larger value in the Height box and hit OK.
05 ADD A BLANK WHITE LAYER
Drag your foreground layer to the top of the layers
stack, then click on the Create new adjustment layer
icon and choose Solid Colour from the list. Click in the
top left for a white colour and hit OK, then drag this
layer so it sits below the sky layer.
02 PASTE THE SKY IN AND RESIZE
In the sky image hit Ctrl/Cmd+A to select it, Ctrl/
Cmd+C to copy it, then, in your landscape, hit Ctrl/
Cmd+V to paste it in. It’ll need resizing, so press Ctrl/
Cmd+T to go into Free Transform mode and make
sure it’s covering the top portion of the picture.04 SELECT THE FOREGROUND
Click on the Background Layer to make it active, then
grab the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the Toolbox and
carefully click all the way around the foreground. Now,
click Refine Edge in the Tool Options and set the
Feather to 1px and set Output To>New Layer.06 FADE THE SKY IN
In the Layers panel you can now lower the opacity
of your sky layer to make it appear more subtle,
revealing more of the white layer below. You can also
fade it into the foreground too, using a Layer Mask
and painting with black over the horizon to fade it in.STEP BY STEP RESTORE A SKY IN ELEMENTS
We run through how to utilize your free sky images in six quick steps
FREE SKY
LIBRARY
This month we’ve
compiled 50 free hi-
resolution sky images for
you to download and use.
There’s a huge variety
of cloud coverage and
differing light, so you
should be able to find
one that works perfectly
with your landscape
photograph. See the
download link, bottom
lef t of page 48.