A sky can be washed out even in an otherwise properly exposed picture. With an image editing program such as Photoshop, you can add sky back into the photo. This technique works best when there is strong contrast between the sky and the subject.
Add sky to a photo:
1. Open your photo in an image editing program.
2. Open an image of a sky in a separate window, select and copy it to the clipboard.
3. With a Magic Wand selection tool, click on the washed out sky area until it is completely selected.
4. Go to the Edit menu and select Paste Into (or similar command). The sky will be placed as a new layer precisely into the selected area.
5. If desired, use the Move Tool to change the placement of the sky.
6. If the sky is too dark, change its opacity.
7. Save image layers into a JPEG file.
Want to try it yourself? The zipped file contains five FREE images of blue skies with various cloud formations. The images are 640x480 pixels at a resolution of 150.
