Let's share our best tricks/shortcuts- this is for blue sky

[AvrilInSydney]

Hi, I read somewhere this trick which has saved me much time! You know how fiddly it is to select a sky with lots of trees??? But you still want it blue....EASY! Just select the sky with the lasso, no need to be super exact, just don't select anything that has white in it - i.e. roof line. You can go ahead and include the trees. Now go to Adjust Color-Selective Color-drop down menu is defaulted to red but choose white-drag the blue, magenta and black sliders until you have the PERFECT sky. This method does not affect the trees, they retain their original color -your sky will be beautifully peeking thru them. This has saved me hours - one caveat though, if you want clouds you will have to add them. If anyone has great tips..let's share! Best wishes to all.

p.s. THIS WORKS BEST ON BLOWN OUT SKIES WITH A LOT OF WHITE IN THEM

[MsOz]

You should post a couple "Before and After" examples, Avril. It will give us a better idea of the type of images you are talking about, and will show us how good the results of your tip are. Your descripion is a little confusing, and I'm not sure what type of basic sky you are talking about, nor am I able to envision it as "perfect"...but that's because I'm not familiar with your technique.

It's always best if you can provide examples of tips and techniques to illustrate the effects you are writing about.

[tracerfire]

tried this, but it turns the trees the same colour you add to the sky

[Welles]

Hi Tracerfire,

Welcome to the forums!

If you have only the sky selected, the trees won't change color. My suggestion to make this tip work would be to use the Select > Color Range... dialog to make a more comprehensive selection of the sky and then use Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color and all of a sudden this suggestion works. It is particularly handy for dealing with a washed out sky.