Professional Sky Replacement Services
Professional sky replacement and exterior photo retouching, from $1.00 an image. A grey sky flattens a building and dates a listing. Replacing it is easy; replacing it so the light on the building agrees with the new sky is the part that takes a retoucher. From $1.00 an image, within 24 hours. Pixel Retouching has replaced skies since 2014, from ISO-certified studios in Singapore and Dhaka.
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3 skies replaced free. No credit card, no sign-up.
Trusted by Agencies, Photographers & Developers
Estate agencies, property photographers and developers send us overcast exteriors and get bright, believable listing images back the next working day.
What Is Sky Replacement?
Masking out a flat or blown-out sky and compositing a new one in, then relighting the scene so the building, the shadows and any reflections agree with the sky that is now behind them.
The sky is half the frame
On most exteriors the sky occupies a third to a half of the image. When it is featureless white, the photograph reads as dull regardless of how good the property is.
Light direction has to agree
A dramatic sunset sky over a building lit by flat overcast light is the classic giveaway. The scene is relit so the shadows point the way the new sky implies.
Edges are the hard part
Roof lines are easy. Bare branches, aerials, railings and foliage against the sky need masking, which is where automatic sky tools visibly fail.
Believable, not theatrical
A sky should look like a good day at that property, not like a stock photograph. Overdone skies undermine trust in the rest of the listing.
How Our Sky Replacement Service Works
Four steps from raw frames to listing-ready files, with no account setup in between.
Send your exteriors
JPEG, TIFF or RAW by upload link, Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer or straight to your FTP.
Masking & compositing
A named editor masks the sky by hand, composites the new one and relights the scene to match.
Quality control
A second editor checks edges, light direction and consistency across the property set.
Delivery
Portal-sized files return within 24 hours. Revisions are unlimited.
Our Sky Replacement Services
From a simple blue sky swap to a full day-to-dusk conversion. Drag any slider to see the real file, before and after.
Standard Sky Replacement
A flat or blown-out sky replaced with a natural blue and light cloud, with the building relit so the exposure and colour of the scene match the new conditions rather than contradicting them.
- Natural blue with light cloud
- Building relit to match
- Shadow direction kept honest
- Never theatrical or overdone
Complex Edge Masking
Bare branches, television aerials, railings, chimney stacks and foliage masked strand by strand, which is exactly where automatic sky-replacement tools leave halos and chewed edges.
- Bare branches masked properly
- Aerials, cables and railings kept
- No halos along the roof line
- Foliage edges left natural
Window & Reflection Sky Fixes
Where glass fronts and windows reflect the old sky, the reflections are rebuilt to match the new one, so a glazed building does not carry two different skies at once.
- Reflections rebuilt in glass
- Glazed facades handled properly
- Conservatories and shopfronts
- One consistent sky throughout
Interior Window Views
Sky visible through interior windows replaced to match the exteriors in the same set, so a property does not show a grey day inside and a blue one outside.
- Interior views matched to exteriors
- Blown-out panes recovered first
- Consistent across the whole set
- Garden and street views cleaned
Real Estate Exterior Packages
Whole listing sets treated together — sky, lawn, driveway and facade — so every exterior image of a property shares the same weather and time of day.
- One sky across the whole listing
- Lawns and greenery revived
- Driveways and facades cleaned
- For-sale boards removed on request
Sunset & Dusk Skies
Warmer evening and dusk skies for hero images and marketing material, with the building relit to the lower, warmer light those skies imply.
- Warm evening and dusk skies
- Building relit to warmer light
- Hero and campaign images
- Pairs with day-to-dusk conversion
Photography We Replace Skies In
Anywhere the sky is in frame and the weather did not cooperate.
Residential exteriors
The everyday listing shot, brightened honestly.
Commercial property
Offices and retail units with glazed frontages.
New developments
Show homes and marketing suites before landscaping.
Aerial & drone
Wide skies where the horizon dominates the frame.
Hotels & hospitality
Arrival shots that set the tone for a booking.
Landscape & garden
Grounds and planting shown at their best.
Golf & leisure
Wide green spaces under flat cloud.
Industrial & logistics
Large flat facades that need some sky interest.
Architectural photography
Portfolio work finished to editorial standard.
Marine & waterfront
Sky and water reflections handled together.
Automotive exteriors
Vehicles shot outdoors under grey light.
Travel & tourism
Destination imagery with believable weather.
Who Uses Our Sky Replacement Service
Anyone whose shoot date and the weather did not agree.
Real estate photographers
Overnight turnaround so listings go live next morning.
Estate agencies
A consistent sky style across every instruction.
Property developers
New build marketing shot to a fixed programme date.
Drone operators
Wide aerials where the sky dominates the frame.
Architectural photographers
Portfolio and editorial finishing.
Hotels & hospitality
Arrival and grounds imagery for booking sites.
Marketing agencies
Campaign exteriors turned around to a deadline.
Listing portals
Bulk normalisation across many photographers.
Why the Sky Decides the First Impression
It is the largest single area of an exterior photograph and the first thing a viewer reads as good or bad weather.
Grey reads as neglected
Flat overcast light makes render look dirty, brick look dull and lawns look dead. None of that is the property’s fault, but it is what a buyer sees.
Reshooting depends on the weather
Waiting for a blue-sky day can cost a week of marketing time, and in some seasons it simply never comes. Replacement removes the dependency.
The thumbnail is the whole pitch
On a portal the exterior shot is the one image a buyer sees before deciding whether to click. A bright sky is what earns that click.
Consistency across a set matters
A listing where one photograph has blue sky and the next has cloud looks edited. Treating the whole set together is what keeps it credible.
Our Sky Replacement Workflow
The same four stages run on a three-image trial and a four-thousand-image catalogue.
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01
Masking
Sky masked by hand, including branches, aerials and railings.
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02
Compositing
New sky placed and scaled to suit the lens and horizon.
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03
Relighting
Building, shadows and reflections matched to the new sky.
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04
Delivery
Portal-sized files by link or FTP within 24 hours.
Before & After Gallery
Real client files. Drag any slider to compare the original sky with the replacement.
Sky Replacement Pricing, per Image
Starting rates for standard complexity. Send a sample and we confirm the exact price before any work begins.
Simple roof line, natural blue sky, building relit to match.
Bare branches, aerials, railings and foliage against the sky.
Reflections in glass rebuilt to match the new sky.
Sky through interior windows matched to the exterior set.
Warm evening sky with the building relit to suit.
Sky, lawn, driveway and facade across a whole listing set.
Bulk orders of 10+ images qualify for discounted pricing, and 100+ for up to 50% off.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the replacement look believable?
That is the test we work to. The building is relit so its exposure, colour and shadow direction agree with the new sky. A dramatic sky over a flatly lit house is the giveaway, and it is exactly what hand-editing avoids.
Can I choose the sky?
Yes. Tell us the style — clear blue, light cloud, dramatic, sunset, dusk — or send your own sky images and we will use those. Agencies usually settle on one house style that we then apply to every property.
Can you handle bare branches and aerials?
Yes, and it is the main reason to use a retoucher rather than an automatic tool. Branches, television aerials, cables, railings and foliage are masked by hand so no halos or chewed edges appear along them.
Do you fix reflections in windows?
Yes. Where glass reflects the old sky, the reflections are rebuilt to match the new one. Without that step a glazed building ends up carrying two different skies at once.
Can you replace the sky seen through interior windows?
Yes, and it is worth doing when the exterior shots have been treated. The interior view is matched to the same sky so the property does not show a grey day inside and a blue one outside.
Do you also fix the lawn and driveway?
Yes, usually in the same pass. Dead grass is revived, moss and stains are cleaned from driveways, bins and cars are removed and for-sale boards can be taken out on request.
Can you convert a daytime shot to dusk?
Yes. Day-to-dusk conversion adds a twilight sky and warm interior lighting, and it consistently performs as the strongest image on a property listing. It is priced on our real estate editing page.
Will every photo of one property get the same sky?
Yes. All exteriors in a set are treated together so the whole listing shares the same weather, time of day and light direction. Mixed skies across one property look edited immediately.
What resolution do you need?
Send the largest file you have — RAW or full-size JPEG. The sky area needs enough resolution for a clean mask, and a heavily compressed image leaves visible artefacts along the roof line.
Can you handle bulk sky replacement?
Yes. Capacity runs to 8,000 images a day, and your chosen sky style is recorded per account so every property that follows matches the last.
What is your turnaround time?
Standard turnaround is 24 hours, so an evening upload is back before the next morning. Complex masking and full exterior packages may take 24–48 hours. Rush is available.
Is there a minimum order?
No. You can send a single image, or start with the free trial of three. There is no minimum quantity and no sign-up required.
Related Photo Editing Services
Sky replacement is almost always ordered alongside the rest of a property set, and with the enhancement work that makes an exterior usable.
Start Your Free Sky Replacement Trial
Send three overcast exteriors and see them relit before you commit to anything. No credit card, no sign-up, no obligation.