Free Online Classes

Enhance the Sky

Finally, we have to alter the sky so that it matches the lighting o the land. Select Layer 1 and create a selection of the sky. This can be easily done with the Magic Wand or Quick Selection tool.

With the selection still active, add a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

In the Hue/Saturation tool, select the Colorize option and alter the settings so that the sky looks blue. Make sure that it is not overly saturated or dark. It needs to look realistic and blend in with the land.

This step is optional. If you want to add a gradient tone to the sky, follow this step. First, Ctrl+Click on the Hue/Saturation 2 layer mask. You should now have a selection in the shape of the sky. Add a Gradient fill layer.

In the Gradient Fill settings, use the settings in the image below.

You should now have a Gradient Fill layer. Change the blending mode to Overlay to make it blend in naturally.

Technically, we're done. But there is one more thing that I would like to teach you. And that is layer groups. To fix this lighting problem, we used many layers. If you continue to work on the image, you'll end up with many layers that are unorganized. As a good practice, you should always group layers whenever it makes sense to do so. For example, in this tutorial, we can group all the layers except the Background layer into a group called Environment Lighting. If you want to add another effect, such as adding rain, you would put those layer in a group called Rain. That way, you can distinguish which layers belong to what effect. To group the layers, hold the Ctrl key and click on all the layers except the background layer. Press Ctrl+G and those layers will be grouped. To change the name of the group, double click on the group text in the Layers palette and you can edit the text.