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Tutorial

Sky Replacement in Photoshop

5 min read · Intermediate · Updated 2026-04-24

A flat overcast sky can sink an otherwise great landscape photo. Photoshop has shipped with a built-in Sky Replacement feature since 2020, and it works well for 80% of cases. For the other 20% (mismatched lighting, complex foregrounds, dramatic edits), the manual method gives you full control.

This tutorial covers both. Start with Method 1 because it is fast. If the result does not match your vision, fall back to Method 2.

Method 1: Edit > Sky Replacement (the fast path)

Step 1: Open your image and run Sky Replacement

[ Screenshot: Edit menu with Sky Replacement highlighted ]

Open your photo. Go to Edit > Sky Replacement. Photoshop opens a dialog with a default sky preset already applied so you can see the effect immediately.

Step 2: Pick a sky preset that matches your scene

[ Screenshot: Sky preset gallery in the Sky Replacement dialog ]

Click the sky thumbnail at the top of the dialog to open the preset picker. Adobe ships three categories: Blue Skies, Spectacular, and Sunsets. Pick a preset that roughly matches the time of day in your foreground. Match the direction of the original light if possible.

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Step 3: Tune the edge with Shift Edge and Fade Edge

[ Screenshot: Shift Edge and Fade Edge sliders ]

Shift Edge moves the boundary between sky and foreground inward or outward. Use a small negative value to pull the edge slightly into the sky and avoid haloing on tree branches. Fade Edge softens the transition. Both sliders default to zero, which is rarely correct. Spend 10 seconds adjusting.

Step 4: Match foreground lighting with Color Adjustment

[ Screenshot: Color Adjustment slider blending the foreground tones ]

The most common Sky Replacement giveaway is a foreground that does not match the new sky's color temperature. Drag the Color Adjustment slider up to about 50%. Photoshop tints the foreground to pick up the dominant hue from the new sky. A blue sky cools the foreground. A sunset warms it.

Step 5: Output to a new layer group

[ Screenshot: Output To dropdown set to New Layers ]

Set Output To at the bottom of the dialog to New Layers. Click OK. Photoshop drops a layer group called "Sky Replacement Group" containing the sky, a foreground luminance adjustment, and a foreground color adjustment, each on its own layer with its own mask.

This is the trick. Because every adjustment lives on its own layer, you can fine-tune any one of them independently after the dialog closes.

Method 2: Manual sky replacement (full control)

Use this when the built-in feature picks a bad mask edge or when you want a custom sky photo.

Step 6: Select the sky with Select > Sky

[ Screenshot: Select menu with Sky highlighted ]

Run Select > Sky. Photoshop's machine learning model creates a marching-ants selection of just the sky pixels. This is usually 90% of the way there.

Step 7: Refine the selection in Select and Mask

[ Screenshot: Select and Mask workspace with the sky selection refined ]

Click Select and Mask in the top options bar. Use the Refine Edge brush to repaint over treelines, hair, and any thin foreground details. Output to a layer mask on the original photo's layer.

Step 8: Drop your replacement sky underneath

[ Screenshot: New sky layer placed below the masked foreground ]

Place your replacement sky on a layer below the masked foreground. Resize and position it. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer clipped to the sky to dial in the color temperature. Add a Curves adjustment clipped to the foreground to nudge its tones to match.

Pro tip: light direction is everything

The fastest way to spot a fake sky is mismatched light direction. If the original sun lit your subject from the left, your replacement sky must also have its light source on the left. Rotating the sky horizontally with Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal often saves a replacement that otherwise looks off.

Common gotchas

Do not use Sky Replacement on photos with reflective surfaces (water, wet streets, glass). The sky in the reflection still shows the original sky and the disconnect is jarring. For those photos, you have to manually paint the reflection too, which is a much longer process.

If your photo was shot with a polarizer, the original sky is darkest at 90 degrees from the sun. Your replacement sky needs the same darkness gradient or it looks fake.

Want to go deeper?

The landscape retouching course we recommend

Domestika's landscape photography retouching courses cover sky replacement, color grading, and dodge-and-burn from the ground up.