Make Cloudy Sky Blue – Part 1

Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan
Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan under cloudy sky.

We do not always get the ideal situation to shoot scenes with a blue sky as the background, especially in Malaysia where we have clouds many months of the year. The photos that I took of the Leaning Tower in Teluk Intan had an overcast sky. I do not usually do massive post processing of the images that I shoot, certainly not changing the sky colour. Nevertheless, it is a rainy day today and I am yearning for some blue skies. Just for the fun of it, I took the photo of the Leaning Tower and replaced the gloomy sky with a cheery blue one.

Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan
Voila! Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan with blue sky.

This is how I turned a cloudy sky to blue with Photoshop:
1. Select the Magnetic Lass Tool and trace the outline of the sky in the image.
2. Hold Shift key and trace the outline of parts of the sky not included in the selection.
3. Click Layer > New > Layer via copy. This will duplicate the traced part of the image and create another layer.
4. In the Layers window, select the duplicated layer.
5. Click Image > Adjustments > Variations. This will open the Variations window.
6. Click More Blue until the desired colour is displayed in Current Pick.
7. Click Ok to exit the Variations window.
8. Click Layer > Merge Down to complete the process.

*Update*
I fiddled a little more with the colour as the blue in the first image was too vivid. The colour below is nearer to that of the sky. This are my initial attempts in photo editing. It is fun. I am wondering if I should get a better LCD monitor or perhaps take my 17″ CRT down from Penang for this.

Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan
Voila! Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan with a nicer blue sky.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

3 thoughts on “Make Cloudy Sky Blue – Part 1”

  1. Good tutorial. Thx!

    However I personally feel that the sky’s colour’s a lil bit wierd.

    Haha… It’s ok if it is “just for fun” as u said. 😀

    Peter:
    This was done on the notebook. I checked on the desktop. The colour is off. :o)

  2. Haha….it’s better now 😀

    Peter:
    I certainly hope so! 😛 Please have a look at my subsequent attempts in the next entry.

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