From Afternoon to Sunset/Sunrise: How To

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 Taking landscape pictures in the afternoon can many times result in boring skies. Usually the sky is a simple blue with some white clouds here and there, nothing too interesting. Sunset and sunrise are the two times during the day when the sky becomes painted with all sorts of beautiful colors. These times are often the best times for shooting landscapes, although it's not always possible to shoot during those times. Maybe bad weather is coming, you have prior commitments, or anything else is taking up this small slot of time where the sky is the most interesting. So do you have a photo that has a boring sky, causing the rest of the image to be boring and flat as well? Don't fear! Photoshop is here! You can also use this method to enhance skies that are already taken at sunset/sunrise.

What You'll Need:

• Photoshop
• An image that you would like to enhance
• A basic knowledge of Photoshop

That's it! Let's get started!

1. Open your image in Photoshop and create a new layer above the background (the image you're going to be editing)
2. Select the brush tool and a warm color such as yellow or red. ​​
3. Paint on the sky; keep the color mostly on the clouds, but don't forget to warm up the blue sky too. Change the colors you paint with frequently to get a colorful sky with more interest. This is where you get creative! 
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4. Set the layer mode to 'overlay'.
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5. On the top menu, select filters>blur>Gaussian blur. Set the blur to an amount that you like.
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6. Erase any areas that are too saturated or look unnatural. For this part it's best to use a soft eraser with a low opacity.
    
   
   
7. Add any other colors you want to the sky by adding a new layer, setting the mode to overlay or soft light and drawing in the color just like before. Then simple use Gaussian blur to blur the layer to your liking. You can also play with the opacity on the layers to fit your image.
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8. At this point, the sky is starting to look better, but the image is totally off balance. The only thing with that warm tone is the sky. For this image, the biggest concern with this issue is the water. To fix that we're going to add some filters and more color layers. Create an adjustment layer for 'photo filter'. 
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9. Choose one of the warm filter options and adjust it to fit your liking. To decide if you like it, don't look at the sky that you've already edited. The parts of the filter touching the sky will be erased later. Look at the lower parts of the image that you are looking to warm.
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10. Erase the top parts of the sky on the filter layer. You can either use the eraser tool or use the brush tool with the color black. Don't erase too far down on the horizon line or you may end up with a blueish line where your previous sky editing didn't quite reach. If you are able to erase further down without this blue line across the horizon, feel free to do so.
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11. Now that the color tones are closer to the correct colors, we're nearing the end. If your image doesn't have water or a reflective surface, this next step may not be necessary. Create a new layer and set the mode to soft light. Pick a color that fits the tone of your sky and draw over any parts of the reflective surface that should have a brighter color to them.
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12. The next step for the reflective surface is the give the whole body of water (in this case) a glow with similar colors to the sky. Create a new layer with the blending mode 'overlay'. Paint over the entire reflective surface with a color that is similar to the colors in the sky.
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13. Set the opacity of that same layer to somewhere around 20-30. If you need to add more colors to the reflective surface for it to look more realistic and interesting, go ahead and add those colors and then use Gaussian blur to mix them together. You can also add more layers for this if you want. Erase any parts that may have spread to other parts of the image.
14. Now it's time to pull everything together. Create an adjustment layer> photo filter. Select a violet filter and set the density to around 17. 
15. Now add another adjustment layer, but this time one for brightness/contrast. Set the contrast to +45 and the brightness to +9.
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16. Congrats! You're done! You can make any other tweaks you think may be needed for your particular image and then all you have to do is save it.