Blown-out sky? Flat gray? Select Sky uses AI to instantly detect and mask the sky — then you darken, saturate, or shift its color without touching a single pixel in the foreground.
🌤️What used to require Photoshop now takes one click in Lightroom. This lesson covers the full Select Sky workflow from mask to final edit.
Where to Find It
The Masking Panel
1
Press D — open the Develop module
Make sure you have a landscape or outdoor photo with visible sky selected in your library.
2
Press Shift+W — or click the Masking icon below the histogram
The Masking icon looks like a circle with a dotted outline. Click it to open the full Masking panel showing all mask types.
3
Click "Select Sky" — Lightroom analyzes and creates the mask
A brief analysis plays. The sky appears with a colored overlay. Your Masks panel shows "Sky 1" as a new mask layer ready for adjustments.
⌨️Keyboard shortcut: Shift+W opens Masking from anywhere in Develop. Press O to toggle the mask overlay on and off.
How It Works
The AI Under the Hood
Lightroom's AI was trained on millions of outdoor photos. It learned to detect sky across different lighting conditions and edge types — including complex treelines and building silhouettes.
✅
Handles Well
Clear blue skies
Dramatic clouds
Sunrise / sunset skies
Jagged treelines
Building rooflines
⚠️
Can Struggle With
Flat overcast (no horizon)
Interior + bright window
Sky reflected in water
Foggy / misty scenes
🤖The AI gets you 90–95% of the way. Manual brush refinement handles the rest. Together they beat any manual selection — every time.
Reading the Mask
Check Your Overlay
Before making any adjustments, confirm the sky is properly isolated. Press O to toggle the overlay and scan the entire frame.
🔴
Red overlay = sky selected
Anywhere you see red is included in the mask. Your adjustments will affect these pixels. Check that all sky is covered.
🟢
No overlay = foreground (safe)
Unmasked areas are completely untouched. Check especially near treeline / building edges for any red bleed into foreground.
🔍Zoom in with Z to inspect edges. Toggle overlay with O. Check the treeline and horizon before touching any sliders.
Refinement
Refining the Edges
Use Add and Subtract brushes to fix any imperfections in the AI-generated mask. Don't discard the mask — just refine it.
1
Click "Sky 1" in the Masks panel to select it
Make sure the sky mask layer is highlighted. The Add and Subtract options appear at the bottom of the mask panel.
2
Subtract → Brush — paint over foreground that bled into mask
Any tree branches, building tops, or foreground that got selected — paint over them. The mask retreats from painted areas instantly.
3
Add → Brush — paint any missed sky patches
Sky the AI missed (gaps in trees, sky above structures) — switch to Add, paint those areas back in. Use Feather 60–80 for natural edges.
✏️Bracket keys [ ] resize your brush. Keep Feather around 70–80 — a soft edge blends better than a hard one.
Fix It
Darkening a Blown-Out Sky
With the sky mask active, open the Basic panel. All sliders now operate only on the sky region — the foreground is locked.
E
Exposure — overall darkening of the sky
Start here. Pull Exposure down (–0.75 to –1.50). Watch the sky darken while foreground stays exactly where it is. This is the foundation of sky recovery.
H
Highlights — recover the brightest cloud patches
After Exposure, pull Highlights down (–40 to –80) to recover bright cloud areas and near-white patches that Exposure alone doesn't fully fix.
W
Whites — pull back anything still clipping to pure white
If the histogram still shows clipping on the right edge, pull Whites down to recover the last remaining blown areas. Then add Texture +15–20 to enhance cloud detail.
💡Press \ (backslash) to toggle before/after. A good sky recovery is immediately obvious — the transformation is dramatic.
Enhance It
Boosting Sky Color
With the sky mask active, color controls only affect the sky. Vibrance, Saturation, and HSL let you make a flat sky come alive — without touching foreground colors.
✨
Vibrance First
Boosts less-saturated colors more gently. Safer for sky — won't push vivid areas to cartoonish levels. Start here before adding Saturation.
💧
Then Saturation
Raises all colors equally. Add on top of Vibrance for more drama. Sky: +15 to +30 is a good range. Check realism with backslash.
HSL Color Mixer → Blues: Drag the Hue slider ±5–15 degrees to shift between a soft afternoon blue and a deep cobalt. Even small shifts dramatically change the mood.
🔵Blues Saturation +20–35 in the HSL panel is the quickest route to a richer, more dramatic sky.
Creative Control
Golden Hour & Blue Hour
With a sky mask active, the Temperature and Tint sliders operate only on the sky — not the foreground. This lets you set completely different white balances for sky and land.
🌅
Golden Hour
Temperature: push warmer
Tint: +5 to +15 magenta
Highlights: pull down
Orange/Red Saturation: +20–35
🌙
Blue Hour
Temperature: pull cooler
Tint: –5 to –10 green
Shadows: lift slightly
Blue/Purple Saturation: +20–30
⚡Masked Temperature is the real power move — warm sky, cool foreground (or vice versa) in the same image. Without Photoshop.
Edge Cases
When Select Sky Struggles
The AI needs visual contrast to find the sky. When that contrast is low, the mask may be incomplete or incorrect. Know the workarounds.
☁️
Flat overcast — no horizon definition
Sky and land merge tonally. Try a Luminance Range mask instead — target the brightest tones, which are usually the sky even when both are pale.
🪟
Interior shots with bright windows
The window looks like sky to the AI. Use Subtract brush to remove it, or use a Linear Gradient just over the window area for a cleaner result.
🌊
Sky reflected in water
Water reflection is often selected along with the sky — but reflects light differently. Use Subtract brush to remove it from the mask.
🔧Select Sky is the starting point, not the final word. Refine with brushes, or switch to a Luminance Range mask when the AI can't find the sky.
Advanced Technique
Subject + Sky Together
The Masks panel supports multiple independent mask layers. Create one for the sky, one for your subject — each with its own set of adjustments.
1
Create Sky mask → adjust exposure, saturation, temperature
Click Masking → Select Sky. Apply your sky edits — darken, boost blues, warm the temperature. "Sky 1" is now your first mask layer.
2
Click the + in the Masks panel — add a second mask
Click the large + at the top of the Masks panel (not inside the existing mask). Choose Select Subject. A new, independent mask layer is created.
3
Apply subject adjustments independently
With the Subject mask active: adjust brightness, skin tone, Clarity, Texture. Sky mask is unaffected. Two masks, two completely independent edit sets.
🎭Sky + Subject masks together give you full scene control — essentially Photoshop-level layer editing inside Lightroom.
Troubleshooting
Sky Didn't Select Properly
When the AI misses a patch of sky, don't discard the mask. Extend it manually — the AI did 90% of the work in zero seconds.
Press O to show the mask overlay — scan the entire frame for unmasked sky
Click "Sky 1" in the Masks panel to select the existing mask
Check for gaps in trees, sky above rooflines, horizon corners
Toggle overlay off with O — confirm added areas look seamless
Use Subtract → Brush for any foreground that bled into the mask
Your Homework
🌤️
Select Sky Challenge
Find a landscape or outdoor photo and complete all steps before Lesson 19.
🤖 Masking → Select Sky — let the AI build the mask
🔍 Check the overlay (O key) — fix with Add or Subtract brush if needed
🌑 Darken the sky exactly 1 stop — set Exposure to –1.00
💙 Boost blue saturation +30 — HSL → Blues → Saturation
↔️ Toggle before/after with \ — see the full impact
💬 Share your before/after in the club gallery or comments
Up Next
Lesson 19 — Lightroom Classic
Masking: Linear Gradient
The digital graduated ND filter — draw a gradient across any angle of your frame to darken skies, lighten foregrounds, or add atmospheric edge darkening. In Lesson 19, we combine it with Select Sky for a complete landscape editing workflow.
Graduated ND EffectAdjustable AngleBlend with AI Masks