Sometimes we see a great image in the foreground but the sky is less inspiring. Sometimes we see a fantastic sky without foreground interest. Here we will learn how to match up sky and foreground from two different images in Photoshop. Learn even more techniques for lifting your images on our various Adobe Photoshop training courses for all levels with even a Photoshop Lightroom course in Brighton, Sussex.
Check out this Photoshop Tutorial on How to Remove Blemishes.
It is a good idea to take pictures of a variety of skies, not just sunsets, for later use.
Below is an image with potential - find something similar in your stock and follow the instructions to transform your image. The detail around the skyline will need preserving.
Image by Heather Buckley - http://www.heatherbuckley.co.uk
- Open your image and open the sky image you wish to use for the sky detail.
- With both images open, you can click on the background layer in your sky image and drag it onto your foreground image, or you can chose Edit > Copy in your sky image and Edit > Paste onto your foreground image. Your layers palette should look like this:
- The best way to get rid of the sky from the foreground area is to use a layer mask.
With a layer mask it is easy to tweak your cut out to perfection as the underlying detail in your image will still be there if you need it. - With your sky layer selected click on the Layer mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
- Select a brush from the tool palette and set your brush size at the top left of the Photoshop workspace.
- Make sure the colour picker at the bottom of the tool palette is set to black and white (if not click on the little black and white icon in the bottom left corner see below:
- With the foreground colour set to black, paint out the areas of the sky that overlap your foreground.
Should you wish to restore an area, swap the foreground colour to white and paint the area on your mask to reveal the image on this layer. - Paint over the edges of the sky. Varying the brush opacity may help and will not leave an obvious line. Reduce the opacity over the fine details will help to preserve them.
- When you are happy with your mask you can play with the opacity.
Select the sky layer and set the Layer Blend to Multiply.
Layer Blending Modes can be changed by locating the horizontal dropdown menu at the top of your layers palette. It is set to normal by default. We want to change it to multiply.
I like to think of a mask as a cardboard cutout. It appears as a black and white icon to the right of the layer that is being masked.
The black bits are like a cutout (you can see through this to the layer underneath
The white bits are like the cardboard you can’t see through this – the image underneath will be obscured by the image on top
It is important that you paint on the mask only, and not the image.
When painting on the mask, the mask icon will appear next to the eye icon and there will be a blue line around your mask.
When your image is selected a brush icon will appear next to the eye icon and a blue line will appear around the image
PAINT ONLY ON THE MASK NOT ON THE IMAGE
Image by Heather Buckley - http://www.heatherbuckley.co.uk
Adding Drama to the sky using Photoshop Gradients
Adding a gradient can add drama to a sky similar to burning in the sky in a darkroom.
- Create a new layer by clicking on the New Layer icon at the base of the Layers Palette
- Select the ‘Gradient’ tool from the tool bar
- Choose the ‘Linear gradient’ option
- Set Foreground colour to black
- Set the Gradient option to Foreground to Transparent
- Set the Gradient Opacity to around 30%
- Tick the ‘Reverse’ box and drag the gradient line towards the area you wish to make darker
- If necessary, the opacity of the gradient layer may be reduced to suit
Below is the finished image:
Image by Heather Buckley - http://www.heatherbuckley.co.uk
