How To: Beautiful Sky Overlays/Actions

So lately I've been seeing a lot of hype (and rightfully so) about new Actions coming out by Photographers - called Texas Skies, Beautiful Sky overlays, etc. Those are great for the professional who has a $900 program like photoshop and can afford another $150 additional fee for the action and overlay set. But for those of us who are by no means professional, and want to just add a little pop of color to our photos using a "rinky dink" (sorry Adobe!) program that is geared more toward graphic design - like Elements 11, I've got a new trick for you! It is super easy and won't cost you an extra penny... 

As you can see, in the photo below, my original picture is on the left. Big blue sky. Well, that picture looks great by itself - yep, that's my adorable boy! ;) - but I wanted to play with it a little and add just a POP of color. What I did, was take a photo of the sky one night when the colors were absolutely radiant. Next, I used Elements 11 to remove the sky, and place the other photo of my new sky in the layer behind my first photo. Viola! Brand new sky. Of course, you have to consider things like shadows from the sun, which as you can see, I had to remove.

You also might have to play with hair a little - like in this next photo. Obviously, it's not perfect and like I said before - it's not necessarily for those of you who want your snapshots to look professional. It is, however, a quick and easy way to make your pictures look really cool to hang on the wall in your home!