Make Skies Bluer in Photoshop Elements

This effect produces the blue skies that we unprofessional photographyer moms long for on sunny days and rarely capture in our pictures unaided.  It also works great in some water shots!  This brush has a nice way of working only on the blue tone in the sky, so if colors closer to the horizon are starting to show those sunset colors, this effect won’t take them away.

• Click on the layer with the sky in it, if you have more than one layer and select the sky area where you want to improve the blue tones.  It’s important that you do this step first!  Add a Gradient Adjustment Layer by clicking the half-black, half-white circle near the top of your layers palette and select the word Gradient.  (This is not the same as Gradient Map.)
• Ok, take a deep breath.  This next part is a bit tricky.
• Double click on the Adjustment Layer Thumbnail, which is the first box on your new layer.  A Gradient Fill box should pop up.  Put a check mark in the Reverse and Align with Layers boxes, and leave the other settings at their defaults.

• Double click on the box next to the word Gradient to open the Gradient Editor.
• You should see a Color Bar with a crayon type shape at each corner.  The top “crayons” are Transparency Stops and the bottom “crayons” are Color Stops.

• Click once on the left Color Stop.  In the Stops section below, double click on the Color box.  In the resulting Select Stop Color dialogue, find the # field and type 64c8fa.  Hit OK.

• Click once on the right Color Stop.  In the Stops section below, double click on the Color box.  In the resulting Select Stop Color dialogue, type 0000ff in the #field.  Hit OK three times.
• Change the blending mode of this layer to Color Burn and adjust opacity to taste.