A few days ago, I had the opportunity to visit Vienna - the cultural capital of Austria. What a beautiful place! Christmas markets on every corner, grand architecture on every street and classical music playing in every building. I was excited to take lots of pictures to post on my Instagram account, particularly of the architecture - my favourite kind of photographs to take when I travel. However, during the five days I stayed in Vienna, the sun did not come out once. A looming grey sky overpowers my images, which appear dull and dark due to the lack of sunlight when the images were shot. I had a solution - Autoenhance.ai recently updated our sky replacement feature, which detects grey skies and replaces them with a beautiful blue sky in seconds. In my blog post, I take you through replacing the sky in my architectural images from my trip to Vienna.
These photos were taken at Schloss Schönbrunn - the number one place to visit in Vienna, according to Lonely Planet, and the ancestral summer home of Marie Antoinette. The site is massive and the grand palace, which was originally constructed as a hunting lodge, even boasts beautiful temples across the extensive grounds. However, on the day I visited the palace, the weather was not in my favour. It was a grey and misty day (cold too, for that matter). The photos I took look very dull and the water in the lake in the image of the temple looks murky and brown. Meanwhile, the palace photos have a dark atmosphere which pushes the building further away in the image. I uploaded these images to Autoenhance.ai, and received enhancements in seconds. The AI photo editor not only replaced the grey skies with beautiful blue ones, it also brightened the external images using the relighting image tool. The yellowish exterior of the palace is brightened, and the greenery and blue/green tones in the water seem much more vibrant. The enhanced images certainly exemplify the palace and gardens as the Hapsburg family’s summer home.
My next image enhancement was of the Naturhistorisches Museum, located in Vienna’s Museum Quarter. This grand nineteenth-century building boasts one of the world’s most spectacular natural histories. Admittedly, I didn’t visit the museum, but took this photo from the steps of the entrance to Kunsthistorisches Museum - Austria’s largest art museum (which I did visit!). The architectural design of both museums is extremely similar, almost like a mirror image. Unfortunately, this photo of the Naturhistorisches Museum looks very dark and the sky, which takes up a lot of space in the image, is grey and overpowers the photo. When I uploaded the image to Autoenhance.ai, the AI photo enhancer detected the grey sky and the algorithm calculated the horizon, it instantly replaced the sky with a bright blue one. It looks very realistic and the image maintains its quality. The image was also brightened, so the photo now seems like it was taken on a bright and sunny day. The AI also detected that the image was slightly wonky from the angle it was taken, and it corrected the perspective using the perspective correction tool. All of this was achieved in seconds.
My final image enhancement was of the Hofburg Palace - the former imperial palace of the Hapsburg dynasty, and the family’s winter residence. It currently houses the Spanische Hofreitschule (the Spanish Riding School), which I visited for a spectacular practise performance by the famous Lipizzaner horses. Before entering the palace, I had to take a photo of the grand exterior. Yet, my image looks very dreary. A dark rain cloud is located in the background of the image, and the foreground looks dark. Nevertheless, when I uploaded the image to Autoenhance.ai, the AI photo editor replaced the sky with a bright blue sky and brightened the image, making the palace exterior look much brighter. The perspective was also corrected, and the enhanced image shows the building from a much more appropriate angle than the angle it was taken at.
Whilst an automated photo editor has helped improve the quality of my images for the benefit of my Instagram audience, it can also improve real estate images listed on the property market. The UK is also well known for its grey skies and gloomy days, so when a potential buyer is looking for their dream property online, it’s essential to show what a property can look like on the best days of summer.
Learn more about how to replace a sky in a real estate image.
