For some time now I have been using Luminar 4 to replace skies, and it does an amazing job. This week, however, Photoshop added some new tools in the V22.0 update for sky replacement and facial editing.

New to this version is Neural filters. You’ll find them under filters in the top menu bar. At the moment there is smoothing and blur for faces, plus a host of beta filters. The smoothing and blur work great for portraits. The beta filters, however, need a lot more work. When trying the happiness filter I ended up with ghosting around the lips and double eyebrows. Trying the head direction left ghosting around the edges of the face. Great idea, and I hope once it is no longer a ‘beta’ release it will work as it should.

To use the Neural filters click on filters and the new screen will open up. Click on skin smoothing to activate it and you can then move the sliders to your liking

The beta filters are activated by clicking on the little science beaker. The first time you use it you have to download them and they are installed and ready to go in one step. They really aren’t release ready yet though. I found them highly inaccurate.

Sky replacement

The sky replacement does work a treat. It’s easy and quick to use, accurate, and saves having to go over into Luminar to perform a basic sky replacement. To change the sky you simply click edit then scroll down to sky replacement

Once you click on sky replacement the next window opens and it starts working straight away swapping in the sky that’s open at the time. You can click the down arrow beside the thumbnail to choose a different sky. Another neat feature is by clicking the little sprocket icon you have the ability to import and use your own skies should you wish to.

I found the sky replacement very accurate with no halo’s or ghosting even through the trees and fine details in the structure at the top of the silo.

The sky replacement in Photoshop would certainly give Luminar a run for its money as it works great, and for skies that don’t have water in the foreground, it will definitely save me swapping over to Luminar to change the sky. Would it not be for the new Luminar Ai coming out soon that does sky replacement and reflects into the water for more realistic waterscapes I probably would stay solely in Photoshop.

But with the added water reflections feature in the upcoming Luminar program I will still be upgrading to the new Luminar Ai. For those who don’t have Luminar, the new sky replacement tools in Photoshop is definitely a great addition.

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