Make Your Photos Look Cinematic With the Sky Replacer
Making photos look like cinema stills is an art all its own. This style of photo editing has become increasingly popular in recent years, as people try to recreate the colorful simplicity of a Wes Anderson shot or the gritty contrast of a Nolan film. When done successfully, cinematic editing can take your social media posts, photography portfolio, or graphic design projects to a whole new level. And now, with the Sky Replacer, you can create a dramatic scene from even the simplest of photos.
How Does the Sky Replacer Create Movie-Style Photo Edits?
Cinematic photography is all about setting, framing, and most of all, lighting. After all, there’s nothing more cinematic than casting your subject into the moody shadows of a storm or the golden rays of sunset. The Sky Replacer not only replaces the sky in your photo with a new one, creating a brand new scene, it also adds matching lighting to your subject to make the effect as realistic as possible. The result is a dramatic sky effect that looks straight out of an award-winning film.
The Sky Replacer comes equipped with several preset skies, but you can also upload your own sky photo or stock image to achieve your ideal cinematic shot. Combined with the Photo Editor’s other cinematic editing tools like Vignette, Film Grain, Lens Flare, and Color Grading, you have a whole new avenue for photographic storytelling.
How to Create Cinematic Scenes With the Sky Replacer
The Sky Replacer intelligently analyzes any photo with visible sky, making the sky completely editable or replaceable. When you pick a new sky, the foreground isn’t replaced; rather, the colors and lighting in your chosen sky will be used to illuminate the subject in a new light. It sounds complicated – but for you, it will only take a few clicks. Here’s how to use this tool and combine it with other Photo Editor features for the ultimate cinematic effect.
Step 1: Upload Your Photo
Open up the Sky Replacer to get started on your edits. Upload a photo with plenty of visible sky and a clear subject, like a person or building. Note that film is often very intentional with staging and framing, so for the most effective cinematic results, follow these tips on photo composition.
Step 2: Replace the Original Sky for Drama
Once uploaded, the Sky Replacer will immediately isolate all the areas of your photo that include sky, making it ready for editing. Click Select Sky to choose a new sky for your cinematic edit.
The Sky Replacer comes equipped with several preset skies. If you can’t find one that aligns with your vision, you can also upload a sky photo from your computer or choose from BeFunky’s enormous collection of stock images.
After you’ve picked a sky, click the Settings icon to access the Color and Adjust sliders. Here you can adjust the colors, exposure, intensity, and transitions of the new sky and your foreground. This is your chance to set the mood!
After you’ve adjusted the tool to your liking, simply return to the first Sky Replacer screen and Apply for the changes to take effect.
Step 3: Make More Cinematic Photo Edits
No matter what style of film you’re going for, the Photo Editor can make it happen. All it takes is layering the right tools and effects. Here we’re going to start in the Edit tab with the Funky Focus tool to blur the edges of the image and replicate the look of certain film camera lenses.
Manipulating different color channels with the Levels tool helps to bring out the blues in the image and increase the contrast for a more dramatic look.
The Film Grain effect found in the Photo Editor’s Cinematic effects section makes this digital photo look like it was shot on 35mm film, giving it that perfect cinematic feel.
Step 4: Save Your New Film Still
There are dozens more cinematic tools and effects that you can play around with in the Photo Editor. Once you’re completely satisfied with the results, the last step is to Save your new movie-style photo edit.
In just a few minutes, we’ve turned this image from a regular digital photo into a nomination-worthy film still.
Cinematic Editing Inspiration
The Photo Editor offers plenty of tools that can be combined with the Sky Replacer for specific cinematic effects. Depending on how you use it, the Sky Replacer can produce film-style photos that are peaceful, quirky, melancholy, fantastical… the list goes on! Here’s some creative inspiration for your next batch of cinematic edits.
Colorful Surrealism
For Wes Anderson style photo edits, replace the sky with a sky of a single color. Use Anamorphic in the Cinematic effects category to add a blur and vignette to the edges of the photo, and to distort the image for that iconic wide-angle look. Add Vibrant Colors DLX for some saturated surrealism.
Romantic Fantasy
Turn any photo into a fairytale by combining the Sky Replacer with the Glow tool. This photo has an added lens flare to make the magic even more believable.
Stormy Noir
Use the Sky Replacer to create a cloudy and desaturated scene. The Black and White effect paired with the Vignette and Film Grain tools is perfect for creating tense, naturalistic drama.
Unearthly Sci-Fi
Replace the existing sky with a photo of one that’s unusually hued for an understated sci-fi effect reminiscent of Star Wars or Dune. If the replacement sky you use is large in scale, it can help boost the sense of otherworldliness. Pair it with a warm lens flare for an extra cinematic effect.
Add Movie Magic to Your Photos With the Sky Replacer
Cinematic edits are popular for a reason – they add drama and depth to your photos that make them impossible to look away from. Recreate your favorite director’s look or come up with a style that’s all your own. Get started with your own film-style photo edits today in the Sky Replacer!
