Replacing a Night Sky with Color

Bellagio and Ceasar's Palace
Las Vegas, Nevada

Replacing a blank sky with something more interesting is easily achieved using layers and masks in Photoshop. (You can also accomplish this with Photoshop Elements.) In this night shot of two famous casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, I photographed too late to record the twilight blue of the sky. (See original below.) So I replaced the black featureless sky with a blue gradient to simulate the blue hour I missed. 

Original black sky

Using a mask, I prevented the twilight blue from covering up the buildings and street lamp. Learn the power of Using Layers and Masks in Adobe Photoshop in my online course that begins October 5, 2020, at the Lifelong Learning Center in Missoula, Montana. Click here to register.