Unbelievably Easy Way To Turn DAY Into NIGHT In Photoshop
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You can turn day into night in Photoshop with just three adjustment layers and one sky selection. The whole effect rests on a Color Lookup Table that Adobe ships inside Photoshop, plus a few quick tweaks to sell the illusion.
In this tutorial, you will take a bright daylight photo and transform it into a moonlit nighttime scene. You will desaturate the image with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, apply the NightFromDay LUT with a Color Lookup adjustment layer, darken the highlights with Levels, and finish by swapping in a real nighttime sky with the Select Sky command.
This is one of my in-app Photoshop tutorials, so you can open the practice file directly inside Photoshop and follow coach marks on screen. Every step works the same on your own images too.
Key Takeaways
- A Hue/Saturation adjustment layer set to about -65 Saturation removes the vivid daytime color before you build the night look.
- The Color Lookup adjustment layer applies the NightFromDay.CUBE preset, which darkens the image and shifts the color balance toward blue in one click.
- A Levels adjustment layer finishes the darkening: drag the white Output Levels slider to about 115 and the Gamma slider to about 0.85.
- The Select Sky command (Select > Sky) uses Photoshop’s AI to select the sky automatically so you can composite in a nighttime sky photo.
- A Layer Mask built from the sky selection hides everything except the sky area, which lets the night sky image show through cleanly.
Table of contents
- What You’ll Learn
- Requirements
- Download the Practice Files
- Keyboard Shortcuts In This Tutorial
- How To Turn Day Into Night in Photoshop
- Open the In-App Tutorial
- Step 1: Desaturate the Image With Hue/Saturation
- Step 2: Apply the NightFromDay Color Lookup Table
- Step 3: Darken the Highlights With Levels
- Step 4: Replace the Sky With Select Sky
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Turn Day Into Night in Photoshop, Then Make It Your Own
- Related Links
What You’ll Learn
- How to open Adobe’s hands-on tutorials from the Discover panel and follow the on-screen coach marks.
- How Color Lookup Tables (LUTs) remap the colors in a photo to create a specific look.
- How to build a convincing day to night color grade with Hue/Saturation, Color Lookup, and Levels adjustment layers.
- How to darken highlights that would never appear in a real nighttime photo.
- How to select a sky automatically with Select > Sky and composite in a nighttime sky using a layer mask.
Requirements
- Photoshop 2021 (version 22.5) or newer to use the in-app tutorial and the Select Sky command.
- Older versions work for the color grade itself. The Color Lookup adjustment layer has been in Photoshop since CS6, but you will need to select the sky manually with the selection tools.
- A daylight photo with visible sky, or the practice file. Download it below or open it from the Discover panel inside Photoshop.
- A nighttime sky image to composite in. The practice file includes one on its own layer.
Download the Practice Files
Not on the latest version of Photoshop? Download the tutorial files here and follow along with the video and this article.
Keyboard Shortcuts In This Tutorial
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Open the Discover panel | Ctrl F | Command F |
How To Turn Day Into Night in Photoshop
The technique stacks three adjustment layers on top of your photo, then replaces the sky. Everything lives on adjustment layers and a mask, so the edit stays non-destructive and easy to fine-tune later.
Open the In-App Tutorial
To follow along inside Photoshop, open the Discover panel by clicking its icon or by pressing Ctrl F (macOS: Command F). Click Hands-on Tutorials, then scroll until you find this tutorial or type “Change Day Into Night” in the search bar and click to open it.
Press the blue Start Tutorial button and Photoshop opens the tutorial files for you, complete with guided overlays that point at each control as you go.
The working file contains two layers: the daylight photo and a nighttime sky image that you will composite in at the end. For now, hide the sky layer by clicking its Eye icon in the Layers panel.
Step 1: Desaturate the Image With Hue/Saturation
Daylight photos are full of saturated color, and that is the first thing that gives away a fake night scene. Start by clicking the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Hue/Saturation.
In the Properties panel, drag the Saturation slider to the left to about -65. The image loses most of its color intensity, which gives the next adjustment a much better foundation to work with.
Step 2: Apply the NightFromDay Color Lookup Table
Click the New Adjustment Layer icon again, and this time choose Color Lookup.
The Color Lookup adjustment layer applies presets known as LUTs, short for Lookup Tables. LUTs come from the video world, where editors use them to color grade footage, but Photoshop has supported them on photos since CS6. A Lookup Table contains instructions that take the original colors in your image and remap them to different colors to create a specific look.
In the Properties panel, open the 3DLUT File menu and choose NightFromDay.CUBE. This LUT does the heavy lifting: it darkens the entire image and shifts the color balance toward blue, which reads as moonlight.
The result is not perfect on its own, and it does not need to be. The LUT gives you an excellent foundation, and the next step fine-tunes it.
Step 3: Darken the Highlights With Levels
Look closely and you will notice the image is still too bright. There are highlights that would never appear in a real nighttime photo, and your brain picks up on that instantly.
Click the New Adjustment Layer icon once more and select Levels. Then make two moves in the Properties panel:
- Drag the white Output Levels slider to the left to about 115. This caps the brightest highlights so nothing in the frame glows like daylight.
- Drag the middle Gamma slider to the right to about 0.85. This darkens the midtones and adds contrast, which pushes the scene deeper into night.
These values work for the practice image. On your own photo, adjust by eye until the brightest areas look lit by the moon, not the sun.
Step 4: Replace the Sky With Select Sky
The color grade looks pretty good at this point, but a realistic day to night transformation needs one more ingredient: a real nighttime sky.
Click on the background layer to make it active, then go to Select > Sky. This command uses Photoshop’s artificial intelligence to analyze the image and select the sky for you. In older versions of Photoshop, you will have to make this selection manually with the selection tools.
With the sky selected, turn the nighttime sky layer back on by clicking the empty square where its Eye icon was, then click the layer itself to make it active. Now click the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Photoshop builds a Layer Mask from your active selection. The mask hides everything that was not selected, so the nighttime sky appears only in the sky area of your photo. In one click, your daylight sky becomes a starry night, and the transformation is complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the Color Lookup adjustment layer with the NightFromDay.CUBE preset. It darkens the image and shifts the colors toward blue in one click, and you only need a Hue/Saturation layer before it and a Levels layer after it to finish the look.
NightFromDay.CUBE, which ships with Photoshop. Add a Color Lookup adjustment layer, open the 3DLUT File menu in the Properties panel, and choose NightFromDay.CUBE from the list.
A LUT is a set of instructions that takes the original colors in your image and remaps them to different colors to create a specific look. LUTs are primarily used for color grading in video editing, but Photoshop has supported them on photos since CS6.
Bright highlights give the effect away because they would not appear in a real nighttime photo. Add a Levels adjustment layer, drag the white Output Levels slider left to about 115, and drag the Gamma slider right to about 0.85 to darken the midtones.
Daylight scenes carry strong saturated color that looks wrong at night. Dropping the Saturation slider to about -65 with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer removes that intensity and gives the NightFromDay LUT a better foundation to work with.
No. The Select Sky command arrived in newer releases, and this tutorial calls for Photoshop 2021 (version 22.5) or later. In older versions you can still build the effect, but you will need to select the sky manually with the selection tools.
No. Every part of the effect lives on adjustment layers and a layer mask, so your original pixels never change. You can reopen any adjustment layer later and fine-tune the values, or delete the layers to return to the daylight version.
Turn Day Into Night in Photoshop, Then Make It Your Own
That is the whole effect: desaturate, apply the NightFromDay LUT, darken the highlights with Levels, and drop in a real night sky with Select Sky. Four moves, all non-destructive, each done in seconds.
Try the same stack on your own daylight photos and adjust the values to match each scene. Watch the video above to see every step in real time.
Selections and Masking Mastery
Complete course includes 2.5 hours of step-by-step lessons, 6 structured modules, downloadable practice files, and custom Photoshop brushes. Everything you need to master selections and masks in one place.
Keep going
The sky swap in this tutorial only works as well as the selection behind it. If you want to master selections and masks for any composite, not just skies, check out my Selections and Masking Mastery course.
And if you are new here, subscribe on YouTube for a new Photoshop tutorial every week.
Related Links
Final Image
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Hi Jesus, The assets won’t download, tried two different browsers.
Steve, the link should be working now!
Thanks Jesus and keep up the great work!
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