Getting some detail in a sky.

Johnny Thunder

Johnny Thunder

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John
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Hi guys.

Could you please explain how I go about pulling some detail back into the sky.
I have been shooting old ruins with lots of dark areas and dark walls, against a fairly bright sky.
There is some detail in there, but I don't know how to get it out.

When I got decent exposures for the ruins, the sky was blown. I took a few shots with a little underexposure to get some detail in the sky.
 
Tripod, remote and shoot several different exposures. Combine in PS and voila!

or create and HDR image with all the shots.
 
I saw a neat little trick that darkens up the sky in PS. Gradient adjustment layer, black to white from the top and just move the gradient starting point up to the required spot.

Can really help when sorting out a washed out sky.
 
If you can cut out the sky and copy into a new layer then you can do all sorts. Layer merge using multiply, use the unsharp mask tool to name but two.
 
A few thoughts:

Use an ND fliter when you shoot
Shoot in RAW
Bracket your images - at least two shots one exposed for sky on for buildings
Use the local adjustment brush in ACR or Lightroom to paint in some exposure compensation
 
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