One of Luminar AI’s most powerful features is the ability to replace skies in just about any image. The program comes with many types of skies to choose from, along with an option to use your own sky images as well. This makes Luminar AI a great program for replacing your boring skies with something more engaging for your viewers.
In this tutorial, we will cover three different scenarios where Luminar AI is a great choice for performing sky replacement in your images.
Let’s get started!
Replacing a Big, Blue, Boring Sky in Luminar AI
There’s nothing wrong with big blue skies. If they’re photographed correctly with composition and subject matter in mind, they’re often beautiful additions to images.
But what if your big blue sky is simply boring? With Luminar AI, it’s possible to replace the sky completely and even add incredible elements, like mountains. That’s exactly what we’ll do in our first tutorial.
You may download this image from Pexels to follow along.
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Create a duplicate layer by pressing Ctrl + J.
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Convert to a Smart Object by right-clicking on the duplicate layer, and selecting Convert to Smart Object.
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Go to Filter > Skylum Software > Luminar AI.
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In Luminar AI, go to For This Photo in the upper right corner, and use the scroll bar to choose Natural Skies Selection > Afterhours.
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Click on the Edit tab and choose the Creative icon in the left menu.
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In the Sky AI tab, select Sky Selection and scroll down to Blue Sky 4.
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Click on Advanced Settings underneath Sky Global. Change the Sky Temperature to 30 and the Sky Exposure to 40.
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Select the Augmented Sky AI panel. In the dropdown menu, select Mountains 4. Change Amount to 100; Warmth to 80; and Relight to 100.
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Select the Sunrays panel. Click on Place Sun Center, and move the sun directly above the mountain, halfway to the top. Then, enter these values for the sliders: Amount: 10, Overall Look: 50, Sunrays Length: 10, and Penetration: 40.
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Go to the Rays Setting panel. Change the Number of Sunrays to 60 and Randomize to 10.
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Go to the Dramatic panel. Change Amount to 50 and Local Contrast to 50.
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Click Apply to return to Photoshop if you’re using Luminar AI as a plugin. If you’re using Luminar AI as a standalone program, there are options to export your image.
Let’s take a look at how our image turned out.
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When replacing skies in Luminar AI, it’s best to consider sky options that use the same colors in your image to spare yourself additional time in editing. For instance, a blue sky is best replaced with a blue sky to better match the colors in the foreground.
After completing your sky replacement, using plugins from the Nik Collection is a great way to enhance your images further.
Adding a New Sky to a Poorly-Edited Photo
If you have old photos that were perhaps poorly-edited, consider completely revamping them using Luminar AI. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to fix a boring sky on an image with a strong and distracting vignette.
You may download this image from Pexels to follow along.
- Repeat steps one through three from the above example if you’re using Luminar AI as a plugin. Otherwise, open up the image directly in Luminar AI to begin.
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In Luminar AI, go to For This Photo and select Easy Landscapes.
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Select Sunset in Templates.
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Click on the Edit tab, and choose the Creative icon in the left menu.
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In the Sky AI tab, select Sky Selection, and scroll down to Dramatic Sunset 4.
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Click on the Sunrays panel. From there, click on Place Sun Center, and place the sun directly on top of the existing sun on the left side of the image. Then, enter these values for the sliders: Amount: 50, Overall Look: 50, Sunrays Length: 30, and Penetration: 20.
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Go to the Dramatic panel. Then, enter these values for the sliders: Amount: 30, Local Contrast: 40, Brightness: 60, and Saturation: 20.
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Go to the Essentials tab in the right menu (directly above Creative). Click on Enhance AI. Change Accent AI to 60 and Sky Enhancer AI to 30.
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Go to the Landscape panel. Then, enter 20 for Dehaze and 50 for Golden Hour.
- To finish, click Apply to return to Photoshop. If you’re using Luminar AI as a standalone program, you can once again choose your export options.
Below is a look at how our image changed over the course of the editing process.
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At any time during the editing process in Luminar AI, you may opt to undo everything and start from scratch. To do so, find the three dots at the lower-right corner of the screen, and choose Reset Adjustments.
If desired, you can add lighting effects to your image after you replaced the sky by making use of Photoshop’s Overlay Blend mode.
How to Use Luminar AI’s Sky Replacement Creatively
One of the intriguing uses of Luminar AI is to trick the program into believing you’re trying to replace a sky that doesn’t exist in your photo. Sometimes, you’ll be able to pull this off by using a photo that either has large amounts of water or empty space, which Luminar AI can mistake as skies.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to add a sky and sunrays to an otherwise empty room in order to create a very creative background for our subject.
You may download this image from Pexels to follow along.
- Repeat steps one through three from the first example above if you’re using the software as a plugin. Otherwise, we’ll open up the image directly in Luminar AI to begin.
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Select Edit. We won’t be using Templates for this image.
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Choose the Creative icon in the left menu. In the Sky AI tab, select Sky Selection, and scroll down to Sunset Clouds 1. Then, enter 100 for Relight Scene and 100 for Sky Global.
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Just below Sky Global, click on Advanced Settings. Then, enter 100 for Sky Temperature and 100 for Exposure.
- Select the Augmented Sky AI panel. Choose Plane 2 from the dropdown menu. Then, enter these values for the sliders: Warmth: 85 and Relight: 100.
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Then, click on Place Object, and move the plane so it’s centered just below the man. Use the handles to adjust the size of the plane to make it smaller.
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Select Advanced Settings just below Place Object. Change the Defocus slider to 10.
- Select the Sun Rays panel. Then, click on Place Sun Center, and move the sun so that it’s in the man’s outstretched hand.
- Then, enter these values for the sliders: Amount: 12, Overall Look: 18, Sunrays Length: 77, Penetration: 30.
- In the Sun Settings panel, use these values: Sun Radius: 40, Sun Glow Radius: 70, Sun Glow Amount: 60.
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In the Ray Settings, set these values: Number of Sunrays: 74, Randomize: 9, Sun Warmth 30. Finally, in Warmth, set Sunrays Warmth to 100.
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Select the Mood panel. In the dropdown menu, choose Los Angeles. Change Amount to 50.
- Click Apply to save your image and return to Photoshop. If you’re using Luminar AI as a standalone program, you can once again choose your export options.
Let’s have a look at how our image turned out.
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One of the best ways to learn all the features of Luminar AI is to click through all the options the program has to offer. This is especially true when you’re working on a creative image like this one, where just about anything goes.
Luminar AI Makes Sky Replacement Easy
Luminar AI is the world’s first 100-percent artificial intelligence-based photo editing program. What makes this great for so many potential users is the fact that anyone can use the program without advanced photo editing experience. If you’re a smartphone user, you’ll likely feel at home with how easy Luminar AI can produce wildly creative images.
Even programs like Adobe Photoshop has a basic option for replacing skies in your photos. This may be sufficient for existing Photoshop users who want to save money and get the most out of their software.
Image Credit: Craig Boehman