Using Masks in Photoshop: Add New Skies to your Landscape Photography

Sometimes you get an amazing landscape shot, but the sky is so drab and lacks emotion. Out in the field you can not control this aspect of the weather, but with some post production in Photoshop you can create some interesting new images.

Skies with a lot of small details in the clouds towards the horizon, and very little interference, are great to have.

Step 1. On the new document select the layer of the landscape and using the Magic Wand tool select the sky by using a tolerance of 20 or less and add to that selection by holding the shift key. Enter into the Quick Mask Mode to further correct the mask and use other tools such as the Polygon Lasso and Brush.

Step 2. With the selection still activated click on the new sky layer and then hit the Layer Mask icon on the Layer Palette.

Step 3. Refine the position and scale of the new sky layer. Use the Transform tools to scale down or re position the sky so that it fits and looks right. Make sure that the layer image and the mask are not linked, the ‘chain link’ image will be gone.

Step 4. Click on the Layer Mask and go to Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur and create a slight blur with a radius of 1 maximum.

Step 5. Create an Curves Adjustment Layer for Previous Layer go to Layers/New Adjustment Layer/Curves. Try to get the lighting of the sky close to that of the buildings. Create a Layer Mask to this layer and use the Gradient tool to make a fade of black to white from top to bottom, this will add to the depth of the horizon.

Step 6. Flatten the document or save a new version of the file and then adjust the Curves and Contrast to this flat version. You can create New Adjustment Layers based off of Curves and Color Balance. A Smart Sharpen or Unsharp Mask filter can be the final step.