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Goudy1
Goudy1
Participating Frequently
July 11, 2019
Answered

Elements 2019 [How do you replace sky around trees?]

How (step by step)  do you replace sky around trees in Elements 2019?

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    hatstead
    hatsteadCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    July 12, 2019

    Yes. Thanks so much.

    Frank Goudy


    Frank,

    I asked because there is also a nice technique for this purpose propounded by Alibony. Sometimes with dense foliage the magic wand tool does not fetch the drab sky (for deletion) within the arborization, and this is where this comes in.

    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 another source.

    Also, familiarize yourself with the gradient tool, as we will be using this in step #7.

    1. Open your picture (A) (File>open), and open the replacement sky picture (B)
    2. On the sky picture (B), go to Select>all from the menu, then Edit>copy to place it on the clipboard
    3. Go back to your picture (A), then Edit>paste. The new sky (B) should come in on a new layer
    4. With the move tool, use the corner handles to reduce the size of the sky (B) to cover the old sky on (A)
    5. In the layers palette, set the blending mode of (B) to darken
    6. Set the foreground color chip to white
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. If necessary, add a few clouds
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    12 replies

    Greg_S.
    Community Expert
    Greg_S.Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 23, 2022

    @Dave_Tr., there are usually many techniques that can be performed in Photoshop to perform the same function.  Some techniques are more sophisticated and/or refined than others. So, to answer your question directly, I suppose the answer would be yes.  But, personally, I don't think it would be necessary in most cases.  In the original workflow that I suggested, a copy of the original is made and always present "for safety." 

     

    This discussion is from 3 years ago and applied to Elements 2019.  In Elements 2021 a new Perfect Landscape Guided Edit was introduced that automatically replaces the sky in a landscape photo.  This Guided Edit allows a user to continue editing in Expert Mode and to make suitable modifications, including using masks.  The Guided Edit AI generally does a good job of finding  the existing sky, even between complex foliage, and is probably sufficient for most Elements users.  But the program has sophisticated tools for being more exacting.

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    Dave_Tr.
    Inspiring
    October 22, 2022

    Thanks for this article.  I use other methods for blending layers, but haven't played much with the Magic Wand tool.  I'll have to try this.  Question:  after the selection is finalized, instead of doing a Delete to remove the sky pixels, isn't it safer to save the selection and then use layer masks to pick up the pixels from the new sky?   Thanks.

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    Greg_S.
    Community Expert
    Greg_S.Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 11, 2019

    Try this:

    • Open the image in the Editor
    • Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer so that you are not working with the original
    • Select the Magic Wand tool from the toolbar (1)
    • Make sure the Magic Wand tool is selected in the Tool Options (2)
    • Make sure the Contiguous option is unchecked. (3)
    • Click on the sky in the image.  (4) You should see marching ants around the sky.
    • If all of the sky is not selected, adjust the tolerance for the tool.  (5)

    • Click on the Refine Edge button (6) to get a better idea of what parts of the image have been selected. (6)  The on white or on black view are suitable for this purpose.

    • Once satisfied with selection of the sky, press Delete. The sky pixels will be removed, leaving a transparent area.
    • Open the image of sky that you want to use in the image.  Drag the replacement sky image from the Photo Bin to the open image of the tree and drag the new layer beneath the tree layer in the layers panel.

    Let us know if you have any questions.

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    Goudy1
    Goudy1Author
    Participating Frequently
    July 11, 2019

    Thanks for yur help but I still have a problem. First i did go to the

    fuull discussion. Everything was as you said until the last step.

    I selected the cloud image. But ONLY the Cloud Image appeared. In your

    video the following appears: Layer 1, the Sky Replacement, The

    Background. While only the Sky Replacement appears in the layers area

    on my computer.

    At this point I was stymied.

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Frank

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    Greg_S.
    Community Expert
    Greg_S.Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 11, 2019

    If you click on the Photo Bin toggle in the lower left corner of the Editor, you should see your two photos (the tree and the replacement cloud).

    Select the tree image and it will appear in the editing window.

    Now, click and drag the cloud image from the photo bin to the tree image in the editing window.  This will create a new layer at the top of the layers panel and the cloud will appear in the edited image.  (It sounds like you had the cloud replacement image selected in the Photo Bin.)

    Select the Move tool (Press V) and drag Layer 1 to the top of the Layers panel.

    You may need to resize or move the cloud layer around to suit your composition.

    Hope this clears the skies for you.

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