I like it.
First a few before and after samples.
Ridiculously easy to use. I typically hit my photos lightly with the Lightroom stick and keep it moving. I have not gone into Photoshop in years. But the edits above were completed in no time with just a few clicks. <Edit -> Sky Replace…> and there you go. The suggested sky was good, but I had fun trying out different back grounds. The bit of wizardry used to edit around the tree branches and other background elements is done automatically and stands up to close inspection. I would be hard pressed to know the sky had been replaced if I had not done them myself.
Will I actually use it? Might do.
I can perhaps see myself using it for a wide environmental portrait if there is good sky isolation in the distance. Test runs, that I will not share here, where the subject fills the frame look a tad unnatural and I suspect that is not what this was intended for. Scenes where the trees in the background are out of focus can look a bit dodgy as well unless you go with a sky with hues close to the original the blur can look a bit off. But, like when the subject fills the frame, switching out backgrounds with blurred trees is not likely the intended use case either. Or perhaps someone more fluent in Photoshop would be able to obtain a better result.
Everyday use? No. The photos above are nice, but I would rather keep the original scene. If I were to change the background trying to make every picture look special every time it would take the edge off of those times where I am able to grab a special background by chance. I prefer the photos below where their original backgrounds make them a bit special to me.
This Adobe Sky replacement is still impressive. I can definitely see why one would use it. I may also again one day. But for now I will take the pictures as they are, special or not.
Eric L. Woods 