There are times the universe doesn’t align and give a stunning sky. To enhance my landscapes I will add a sky in my Photoshop post-production workflow. Replacing skies can add impact to your images and if you are just starting out, it is important to build up a good sky library.

This is one technique I use to create a long exposure look in the sky. I will do this if I am replacing a sky in my image, I apply the long exposure look first, then use that sky to replace in my image.

Follow these steps

Step 1 Open your sky image in Photoshop (if it is a Raw image make the necessary adjustment using levels or curves) do the same if you are using JPEG sky.

Step 2 Duplicate your Layer. Duplicate layer hit Ctrl J (windows) to duplicate it. 

Step 3 Now go to Filter> Blur> Radial Blur and Change blur method to Zoom and Best (start with 12 or increase if you want a more blurred look)

Step 4 Click in Blur Centre box and change anchor point by click and drag square around to get the effect you want. Do you want the blur to go left to right? Play with the look. Click OK. 

Step 5 Your sky will have a blurred look all over. You may now want to add a mask to brush out areas you do not the blurred look. Use black brush to brush out areas or drop opacity. It depends on the sky and the look you are after.

Step 6 Once you have the look you are after save as a JPEG. Then use this to replace sky in your image of choice