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Replace skies in 3 easy steps

  1. Photoshop User Guide
  2. Introduction to Photoshop
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    2. What's new in Photoshop
    3. Edit your first photo
    4. Create documents
    5. Photoshop | Common Questions
    6. Photoshop system requirements
    7. Get to know Photoshop
    8. Keep Photoshop up to date
  3. Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
    1. Work with Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
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    4. Use the Capture in-app extension in Photoshop
  4. Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
    1. Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
    2. Get to know the workspace
    3. System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
    4. Create, open, and export documents
    5. Add photos
    6. Work with layers
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    9. Retouch your composites
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    11. Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
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    23. Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
    24. Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
    25. Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
    26. Work with Camera Raw files
    27. Create and work with Smart Objects
    28. Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
    29. Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
    30. Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
    31. Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
    32. Content aware fill for iPad
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    1. Common questions
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    5. Introduction to the workspace
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    7. Generative AI features
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    2. Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
    3. Generate Image with descriptive text prompts
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    5. Replace background with Generate background
    6. Get new variations with Generate Similar
    7. Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
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    1. Replace object colors
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    13. Rotate, crop, and adjust images
    14. Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
    15. Process versions in Camera Raw
    16. Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
  17. Image repair and restoration
    1. Remove Tool
    2. Remove objects from your photos with Content-Aware Fill
    3. Content-Aware Patch and Move
    4. Retouch and repair photos
    5. Correct image distortion and noise
    6. Basic troubleshooting steps to fix most issues
  18. Image enhancement and transformation
    1. Replace sky in your images
    2. Transform objects
    3. Adjust crop, rotation, and canvas size
    4. How to crop and straighten photos
    5. Create and edit panoramic images
    6. Warp images, shapes, and paths
    7. Vanishing Point
    8. Content-aware scaling
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  24. Web, screen, and app design
    1. Photoshop for design
    2. Artboards
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    4. Copy CSS from layers
    5. Slice web pages
    6. HTML options for slices
    7. Modify slice layout
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    9. Create web photo galleries
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  28. Troubleshooting
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    10. Photoshop 3D | Common questions around discontinued features

From clear blue skies to dramatic sunsets, create the mood you want in your images with a quick sky replacement in Photoshop

Gone are the days when replacing the sky required multiple steps and careful fine-tuning to achieve a seamless look. Now you can save time and get the sky you love and let Adobe Sensei do the masking and blending for you! 

Further, you can easily adjust Sky Replacement settings, manage sky presets, and get more skies for your image.

Replaced sky

TRY IT IN-APP

Replacing the sky and upgrading your original image has never been easier. 

Read the full article to learn how to get started with Sky Replacement and elevate your creative journey.

Get the sky you love with Sky Replacement

Introduced in October 2020 (v22.0) and updated in August 2021 (v22.5)

Add drama to your images with Sky Replacement in 3 quick steps:

  1. Access Sky Replacement

    Choose Edit > Sky Replacement.

  2. Choose a new sky

    • The Sky Replacement dialog will appear
    • Select a new sky from the included presets or add one of your own
  3. Adjust the settings to create the perfect image

    The sky area on the original image is automatically selected and masked, allowing the new sky to be displayed based on your selected options. For a seamless look, adjust the sliders to modify the sky and blend the foreground with the background colors.

    Easily replace the sky in your image
    Easily replace the sky in your image

Fine-tune Sky Replacement settings

Updated in April 2022 (v23.3)

Sky Replacement panel in Photoshop

A. Sky Move tool B. Sky Brush C. Hand Tool D. Zoom Tool E. Manage sky presets F. Preset Preview Zoom G. Delete Skies H. Import skies from images I. Create a new sky group J. Recently used skies K. Sky Preset Menu 

In the Sky Replacement dialog, you can set the following options:

  • Shift Edge: Determines where the border between the sky and the original image begins.
  • Fade Edge: Sets the amount of fading or feathering from the sky image to the original photo along the edges
  • Brightness: Adjusts the brightness of the sky
  • Temperature: Adjusts the temperature of the sky warmer or cooler
  • Scale: Resizes the sky image
  • Flip: Flips the sky image horizontally
  • Lighting mode: Determines the blending mode used for lighting adjustments
  • Foreground Lighting: Use to set the contrast for foreground; a setting of zero will not make any adjustments
  • Edge Lighting: Slider to control the lighting adjustments applied to the object edges in your sky images; a setting of zero will not make any adjustments
  • Color Adjustment: Opacity slider that determines how strongly the foreground is harmonized with the sky colors - a setting of zero will not make any adjustments
  • Output: This allows you to select whether the changes to the image are placed on New Layers (named Sky Replacement Group) or a Duplicate Layer (single flattened layer)
sky replacement

Edge enhancement

With the April 2022 release of Photoshop 23.3, we have improved the quality along the edges of objects in Sky Replacement. The contrast between the foreground and background around the thin line objects is better preserved, while the halo artifacts are also reduced when replacing a bright sky with a darker sky or vice versa. To achieve this quality improvement, a new layer group is introduced in the layer stack of the sky replacement result, which includes two adjustment layers and a mask that is less smooth than the compositing mask.

Edge enhancement in sky replacement
Use the Edge Lighting slider for better blending along edges of objects in your sky composite

To control the lighting adjustments applied to the object edges in your sky images, simply use the new Edge Lighting slider in the Sky Replacement dialog. Larger values provide higher contrast while reducing more halos along the edges.

You can see a new layer group called the Edge Lighting Group is added to the layer stack of the sky replacement result. All the rest of the layers remains the same.

Edge lighting layer group

Select and manage sky presets

In the Sky Preset flyout menu, you can set the following options:

  • Import Skies:

Import Skies from images: Use for creating one or more new sky presets from your own sky images. This allows you to select multiple images and import them as new presets in one batch.

Import Skies from Sky Presets: Use for importing existing sky presets from one or more .sky files.

sky replacement

  • Create New Sky Group: Create a new group of presets for various sky use cases that you frequently work with
  • Rename Sky: Change the name of a sky from the list
  • Delete Sky: Delete one or more skies from the list
  • Show Recents: Show recently accessed skies on the list
  • Append Default Skies: Use this option to append Sky defaults to the list of Sky presets
  • Export Selected Skies: Export chosen sky presets to a .sky file and save it on your machine.
  • Get More Skies: Takes you to the Adobe Discover website where you can view and download more sky images or sky presets, for free. 

Get More Skies for sky replacement

With the August 2021 (v22.5) release, a new menu item in the Sky Preset fly-out menu will take you to the Adobe Discover website where you can view and download more sky images for free.

Improved Sky Replacement panel
Use the Get More Skies option to browse through a number of free sky files and pick the perfect sky for your images

To access new sky files, do the following:

  1. Navigate to Edit > Sky Replacement.

  2. Click the disclosure arrow to reveal the Manage Sky Presets panel.

  3. Click the gear icon in Manage Sky Presets panel to expose the fly-out Sky Preset menu.

  4. Choose Get More Skies...

    • The Sky Replacement dialog stays open, but the user’s default web browser is launched.
    • The web browser automatically opens to the Get More Skies page on the Adobe Discover website.

    If you are currently logged out on the website, you would be automatically logged in when being directed to the website from Photoshop.

  5. Select a Sky Pack for download. Each Sky Pack is represented with an animation of example images.

  6. The downloaded .sky file can be imported as a new sky preset in Sky Replacement by doing any of the following:

    • manually through the sky preset menu (both Mac/Win)
    • drag and drop .sky files to the Photoshop canvas while Sky Replacement is not open (both Mac/Win)
    • drag and drop onto the blank title bar area (Mac only)
    Get

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