How to Sky Write in PhotoShop

Ordering a message written in sky writing is an expensive undertaking and actually performing the sky writing is limited to the realm of a small cadre of licensed pilots, but this doesn't mean the sky is the limits. Instead, corral your engines and do some sky writing in Photoshop, the Adobe graphics software. With Photoshop as a starting base, any sky landscape becomes fodder for your personal message.

Skill level:Moderate

Instructions

1 Open Photoshop. Click "File," then click "Open." Locate the photo of the sky to add writing to and double click the image.

2 Click the "View" menu. Click "Fit on Screen," so the entire layout of the sky is visible.

3 Double click the "Color Picker," the two coloured squares at the bottom of the "Tools" pane on the left side of the work area. Select a white or light grey paint colour and click "OK."

4 Click the "Brush" tool, which in located in the middle of the "Tools" pane. Pull down the brush head menu, which is the second drop down from the left on the toolbar at the top of the work area. The menu is unlabeled but has a small circle with a number underneath it.

5 Choose one of the round fuzzy --- not solid --- brush heads. Slide the "Size" bar down to "20." Hover the cursor over the sky and check whether its size appears accurate. If the cursor, and therefore the sky writing, appears too big, reduce the "Size" bar. If the brush head should be larger so the sky writing is easier to spot, increase the "Size" slider.

6 Slide the "Opacity" bar on the toolbar down to 75 per cent. Hover the cursor over the image, press and hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to form the skywriting words. Lift up the left mouse button for each word break.

7 Click the "File" menu. Click "Save As." Type in a new name for the photo to protect the original and click "Save."