Pep up landscape shots with a new sky

Learn how to add drama and impact to any scenic shot as Jon Adams shows you using our Skies Kit and Photoshop’s Sky Replacement Tool

- Jon Adams

When it comes to shooting landscapes, we can’t always be in the right place at the right time. Of course, if you are in a good location, the first of these boxes will automatically be ticked, but getting the right conditions to coincide with the time you are there is all down to Mother Nature! You may have the bones of a great scenic shot but if the sky is a dull grey – or an equally dull, plain, cloudless blue – all you can do is wait, and hope.

If your schedule means you can’t wait for the light to change, this technique gives you a digital route to a better shot. It involves the process of compositing, where an image is created from different components. This is a skill used in areas such as commercial and advertising photography, where the impact of the end result is what counts, and not the ‘purity’ of the process used to get there.

Whether you want your landscapes to be composited from different pictures depends on your taste and ethical approach, but as with all creative endeavour, there’s never any harm in learning the skills employed to achieve a task.

STEP BY STEP REPLACING SKIES IN YOUR SCENES

Learn how to customize and adjust your skies without having to wait for the weather