I have Elements 2018. Would like to replace sky around photos of flying birds.

[jmillsp]

Is this possible to do. I have seen photos of birds with the sky replaced but it was done with Lightroom and Photoshop somehow. Wondering if it is possible to replace only the sky in Elements 18 or is there a better way? Can lightroom be added as an addition to Elements?

[hatstead · Accepted solution]

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.

[jmillsp]

Oh my!! That sounds like a bunch above my pay grade! Will this work if you have birds in flight that you want to replace the drab sky with? Wondering if the birds would be replaced too.  There is surely and easier way with, perhaps, a different program?

[hatstead]

If you are so inclined, please post one of the pictures with the birds and I will work on it later today and repost. The key is the picture with the replacement sky. This technique, originally offered by Alibony, does not depend on canned presets. You can replace the sky with a plain blue sky, with clouds or without, with a rainbow or without, etc. If you run into a problem, we can help.

[Greg_S.]

If you are interested in another program, I suggest you upgrade to Elements 2022 which has a sky replacement Guided Edit tool.  It took just a couple of clicks for me to replace the sky in this photo and the program did a great job of finding the birds in flight automatically.  (Obviously, the sky is inappropriate for this photo but it illustrates the technology.)

[jmillsp]

That sounds like a better fit for me! Thanks allot! Have been thinking about getting a new program anyway. Have also seen some that use Lightroom and Photoshop to do this but I have been using Elements for a long time and it is not as expensive.

[Greg_S.]

. . .  Although the Elements Guided Edit has a limited number of sky replacements, you can also use your own sky with a few clicks.  See the instructions posted here.