Try as we might to control each aspect of our photo shoot when we’re out in the field, we are limited—to say the least—when it comes to controlling the weather. Sometimes, golden hour is just another hour spent under an overcast sky. Luckily, our friends over at Fstoppers recently produced Mike Kelley’s Ultimate Sky Library to ensure you’ll always have picture perfect skies. While this tutorial may not be for everyone, it is perfect for photographers who regularly want to improve their images using sky replacements.

Why Do You Need This Tutorial?

A challenge that almost every photographer faces is showing up to your shoot with less than ideal weather conditions. Shooting during bleak, overcast days is no fun and can leave you and your client dissatisfied with the images. It’s on those shoots that it’s important to have sky replacement techniques in your back pocket. Changing out the skies in your images will not only will you impress your clients and earn you more work, you’ll also improve the overall quality of your portfolio.

Replacing skies doesn’t have to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to be time-consuming. There are plenty of resources out there to learn various sky replacement techniques, but you’ll save hours of your life scouring the internet and shooting your own skies if you simply get Mike Kelley’s Tutorial instead.

What’s Included With The Tutorial

Mike has created a total of nine lessons that teach different sky replacement techniques in a step-by-step process. The final three lessons cover images from Mike’s portfolio where he actually replaced the sky for a client. After watching these lessons, you should be equipped to take any scene with a drab sky and replace it with something that fits the vibe of your final image.

The main value of this tutorial is not necessarily in the lessons but the sky library. Mike has included over 200 raw images of skies in almost every weather condition and time of day that were taken from all over the world. The library is well organized, so no matter what type of sky you need to match with your images, they are easy to find and Photoshop in. If you choose to purchase the tutorial, you’ll also receive full rights to use these raw images however you’d like for both personal and professional work.

Even though Mike Kelley is an architectural photographer, sky replacements can add value to almost every genre of photography. If you’re the type of photographer that only wants to swap out a sky once or twice of year, this product probably isn’t for you. However, if spicing up your images with incredible skies is something you want to do regularly, you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at Mike’s tutorial.