Replacing The Sky Part 2

A few people have asked about the technique used in the previous post. This is the process in Photoshop (I use CS2):

1. Use the Magic Wand to select sky – Tolerance 32, check Anti Alias and Contiguous. Use Shift key to add areas.

2. Select/Modify/Expand.  1 Pixel.

3. F7: Press down Alt and double click on Background Layer to make it Layer 0.

4. Hit Backspace key to change the sky area into a checkerboard pattern.

5. Hold down Ctrl and press D to get rid of the marching ants.

6. Choose new sky image. Hit Ctrl and A to select, Ctrl and C to copy it, Ctrl and W to close it, and Ctrl and V to copy it into the image.

7. The sky will appear as Layer 1 in the Layers palette. Click and drag it below Layer 0 and it will show through the image.

8. Press Ctrl and T to transform the sky – move it around till it looks right. Press Return to preserve changes.

9. Select the Blur tool (looks like a water drop). Use it along the sky line. Soft edge brush – 10 pxs – and trace it along the line. Use 50% strength, Normal mode. This will blur the line between the main image and the new sky and make it more natural looking.
 
10. Select Layer/Matting/Defringe and go for 2px width.

There is another method for images where the skyline is more complicated e.g. where it contains trees, poles, spires, etc. I'll post that shortly.