Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

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henk99
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Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by henk99 »

I have been shooting a lot of images at an airshow, but that day the weather was not great. The sky was a light/dark gray all day. This meant that I had to overexpose to get the aircraft exposed properly. This causes the skies to be very bright to the point of annoying.

I mainly use LR and I have some settings I do that get the sky darkened again, but this takes me a lot of time. I use masking in combination with dehaze and add shadows to get the aircraft exposure right again. I have noted that with enough 'dehaze' function, I can even get back all the structures in the clouds etc. So, to me, this means the information is there and the image is not blown out. The biggest issue is that it takes way to much time at each image.

Is there an easier way to do this? I also have PS because of the cc membership, but I'm not experienced with it (yet). I have looked somewhat into adjustment layers, but can't get it to work for me yet.

So, to summarize:
I have aircraft photos, with the aircraft exposed properly, but a sky that is way too bright. How do I correct this in an easy way?
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Hammy
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by Hammy »

I've never used Lightroom, so I don't know if this is an option, but here's how I do it in Photoshop...

Create a new curves layer (layer > new adjustment layer > curves)
Drag the 'curves line' down until the sky is correctly exposed.
Invert the curves layer (ctrl + I)
Use the brush tool (B) to colour the sky in.

If you go wrong, hitting X will toggle the brush between adding and removing the curves layer.
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henk99
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by henk99 »

Hammy wrote:I've never used Lightroom, so I don't know if this is an option, but here's how I do it in Photoshop...

Create a new curves layer (layer > new adjustment layer > curves)
Drag the 'curves line' down until the sky is correctly exposed.
Invert the curves layer (ctrl + I)
Use the brush tool (B) to colour the sky in.

If you go wrong, hitting X will toggle the brush between adding and removing the curves layer.


Thanks for this Hammy. I have tried this and it works quite well I think. However, I found it difficult to paint around the aircraft itself. I have tried using a feathered brush, which made things a little better, but still. The edge was still clearly visible. Of course this was the first try using this method, but I was still spending a lot of time on it.
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Hammy
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by Hammy »

It takes an awful lot of patience and practise, alas I know of no better way of doing it. Different opacities and brush sizes are how I do it.

Having spent many an hour at uni fussing over editing images for printing, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it, but I'm sure there's mistakes in the below, which I spent about half an hour on...

Image
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nacl1
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by nacl1 »

Have you tried using the dehaze slider in PS CC or LR CC. It will often restore cloud texture, if there is any in the first place. It is quick and easy. The downside is that you may have to lighten up shadow areas, and deal with dust spots that emerge from nowhere. Works well with a gradient filter.

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tankbuster
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by tankbuster »

Hammy wrote:It takes an awful lot of patience and practise, alas I know of no better way of doing it. Different opacities and brush sizes are how I do it.

Having spent many an hour at uni fussing over editing images for printing, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it, but I'm sure there's mistakes in the below, which I spent about half an hour on...



out of interest do you do your work with a mouse or do you have a stylus pen.
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Hammy
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by Hammy »

tankbuster wrote:
Hammy wrote:It takes an awful lot of patience and practise, alas I know of no better way of doing it. Different opacities and brush sizes are how I do it.

Having spent many an hour at uni fussing over editing images for printing, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it, but I'm sure there's mistakes in the below, which I spent about half an hour on...



out of interest do you do your work with a mouse or do you have a stylus pen.


A mouse; I've tried stylus pens, but have never really persevered with them.
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tankbuster
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by tankbuster »

Hammy wrote:
tankbuster wrote:
Hammy wrote:It takes an awful lot of patience and practise, alas I know of no better way of doing it. Different opacities and brush sizes are how I do it.

Having spent many an hour at uni fussing over editing images for printing, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it, but I'm sure there's mistakes in the below, which I spent about half an hour on...



out of interest do you do your work with a mouse or do you have a stylus pen.


A mouse; I've tried stylus pens, but have never really persevered with them.


Thanks. I'm often tempted to buy a stylus but never really sure if it helps or not.
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john001
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by john001 »

Depends how much you do! If you do a lot the mouse can cause stress on tendons (well mine anyway) the other method with a tablet takes a lot of practice but can be more flexible.

tmattias
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Re: Overexposed sky...best way to deal with it?

Post by tmattias »

The Huion H610 is a cheaper alternative that works almost as well. I'm satisfied with mine and have no plans on upgrading to the Wacom.

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