Got the blues, sky is the wrong colour

[KeyboardDemon]

Inexperienced photoshop user here.

I have a picture of a group of people taken on a sunny day but the sky has come out completely white. What's the best way to bring out the blue?

[kalniel]

Inexperienced photoshop user here.

I have a picture of a group of people taken on a sunny day but the sky has come out completely white. What's the best way to bring out the blue?

Depends on your camera and format. If it's a RAW image you're working on, then there's likely to be some headroom in the highlights so by using some kind of highlights reduction slider (in Lightroom it's just called highlights) you might be able to bring the values down to the point they're not clipping to white any more.

If it's a jpeg or you're on a camera which doesn't have a good sensor then you may have clipped to white irreversibly (there's no longer any of the original data in there) in which case your only option is to fake it - ideally with a photo taken from the same spot/time and by blending layers from the original and your sky photo.

[KeyboardDemon]

It was taken in RAW format on a Canon EOS 5D Mkii.

I don't have access to the PC at the moment, I'll try and post the picture (as a JPG) later when I get the chance.

[kalniel]

Should be a lot of headroom then and assuming you let the camera handle metering it's unlikely to have metered to the point where it's unrecoverable. Make sure you're editing the RAW file and just use the highlights/equivalent slider to bring the sky back.

[Butcher]

I sometimes use the graduated filter in ACR to fix skies, that way you don't over darken the foreground too much.

[KeyboardDemon]

Here is the image:


I don't know if there is anything I can do to improve the sky, I'm not really sure what to do to improve the foreground either. I guess I thought that starting with the sky might be easier.

[kalniel]

I don't know if there is anything I can do to improve the sky,

Well a wise man once said..

there's likely to be some headroom in the highlights so by using some kind of highlights reduction slider (in Lightroom it's just called highlights) you might be able to bring the values down to the point they're not clipping to white any more.

Should be a lot of headroom then and assuming you let the camera handle metering it's unlikely to have metered to the point where it's unrecoverable. Make sure you're editing the RAW file and just use the highlights/equivalent slider to bring the sky back.

Regarding the former then you do the opposite - increase the shadow exposure/add digital fill-in. There should be another slider for that.

If following the above is too hard, host the raw file somewhere and give us a link, we'll have a play and tell you what we did.

Are you sure it was a blue sky originally though?

[g8ina]

That was never a blue sky, no shadows !

[KeyboardDemon]

If following the above is too hard, host the raw file somewhere and give us a link, we'll have a play and tell you what we did.

Are you sure it was a blue sky originally though?

Here is a link. I don't know how much work is involved, I tried changing the highlights, but it only gave me the option to push the slider up not down. Pushing it helped improved some of the foreground but did nothing for the sky.

I'm certain it was a blue sky, here's a picture I took on the same day, at the same event:

[kalniel]

Not by the time you're on the horizon it's not - it's haze. There's not a lot of blue left in the file, I can only see it in the top right. Someone with photoshop might be able to do better, a quick play in LR gets me the following (resized for forum, let me know if you want the full sized):



It's mostly levels adjustment - highlights down, shadows up. Minor colour temp adjustment. Bringing back the sky does flatten the rest of the image when you're doing bulk adjustments like I did, so you might just give up on the sky (Also I didn't boost colour saturation as per your jpeg)

edit: colour boosted version:


probably have to resort to fakery, sorry.

[KeyboardDemon]

Not by the time you're on the horizon it's not - it's haze. There's not a lot of blue left in the file, I can only see it in the top right. Someone with photoshop might be able to do better, a quick play in LR gets me the following (resized for forum, let me know if you want the full sized):

It's mostly levels adjustment - highlights down, shadows up. Minor colour temp adjustment. Bringing back the sky does flatten the rest of the image when you're doing bulk adjustments like I did, so you might just give up on the sky (Also I didn't boost colour saturation as per your jpeg)

edit: colour boosted version:

probably have to resort to fakery, sorry.

Thanks. I think I'll try and get something like your colour boosted version, then mask off the lower part and simply painting a light blue over the sky section using a big brush and painting it in a single stroke for an nice even finish.

[g8ina]

Ahhhh haze, yeah that would explain the no shadows bit I checked in PS and could get a trace of blue out of the sky, but only a trace.

[Saracen]

There are several ways of dealing with it, depending on quite what colour data is 'buried' In the sky. It looks like there's enough to use real data.

If so, the basic method I'd use is to add a new layer, then a gradient fill, selecting the area you what graduated in the new layer. Oh, and set the gradient from black to 'transparent'. Set the blend mode to Overlay.

You should now have a darker, hence bluer, sky BUT the graduated darkness will also be over everything else at the lower edge, including the heads of the people., So, add a layer mask, pick a brush size and paint over the bits you don't want darkened, thereby removing the gradient fill over those bits.


If there's not enough data in the sky (I.e. completely blown out/clipped) then you can use one of two other similar methods. One is to add in a sky from a different image. For that to work, you need to be VERY careful to pick the right sky, the right sort of lighting. Over the years, I've taken a variety of "sky" photos, with different levels and types of cloud, for exactly that reason. Oh, and when doing so, you can expose for the clouds, of course.

You can then add in that cloud layer and similarly use masks to get it only where you want it.

The third method, and I don't use it, is to use a colour gradient fill as a background. Often, a little cyan with a hint of magenta will do. Then, the technique is as the first example except that you're going to want to add a noise layers to get rid of any potential banding in the gradient. To my mind, if doing this, keep it VERY subtle, and add just a hint of colour to the sky. It's extremely easy to overdo this, and end up with a sky that screams Photoshop.

None of these methods are hard, by the way, and it's no doubt taken longer to type this than it would to do it. There are also countless tutorials online that walk you through it, if you search on terms like "sky white blue Photoshop". Some are better than others, so I'd suggest reading a few. But it's a very useful tool to have in your Photoshop skill bag. Just remember, keep it modest, subtle, or it looks Photoshopped.

[Bobster]

because of the position of the sun, the exposure on the people, if you wanted to expose for the sky, you would have needed to add flash.

[Bobster]

[KeyboardDemon]

Thanks guys.

@Bobster: What did you do to get that result, I could ask you for the file but there would be no benefit to me in getting that, I think I would benefit more in knowing what you did and then to try and replicate your results for the background before blending in Kalniel's colour boosted version from above. If all goes to plan I'll have some time to have a crack at tonight.