Thoughts on how to fix this sky?

[RogerAylstock]

This is a 5 shot HDR from my Yosemite trip last week. Processed in PhotoMatix then CS3. The PhotoMatix output had a real angry sky with an added pink band right in the middle. I got the pink out but I think the sky still looks very angry. You can see the real sky from the 2nd shot below. I think part of my problem was I didn't get a good dark sky image as part of my 5 shot. The 2nd one below is a slightly different angle.

Any ideas on how I might turn this sky more blue and less angry gray?

5 shot HDR
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l90/ramjetvette/IMG_1588_89_91_92_94v1.jpg


Different shot with what the sky actually looked like.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l90/ramjetvette/IMG_1580.jpg

[JoYork]

Can you not overlay the second shot as a layer over the first and merge it down?

[RogerAylstock]

Can you not overlay the second shot as a layer over the first and merge it down?JoYork, the angle of the second shot is a bit off. When I tried to overlay, I got the big tree in the 2nd shot. But that does give me an idea. I could extract the sky from the second shot and enlarge it just a bit and it should then fill the space of the sky in the first shot.

[JoYork]

Yep - or you could even use a different sky from a different photograph. Might be worth keeping an archive of various skies to use in the future for this purpose.

[RogerAylstock]

Yep - or you could even use a different sky from a different photograph. Might be worth keeping an archive of various skies to use in the future for this purpose.
Yeah, I'm always torn about using a sky that wasn't there. Luckily I have another sky shot from that 2nd image.

[anvilimage]

I usually take one of the 3-5 pics used for the HDR with the best looking sky, throw it on a layer underneath, put a mask on the HDR and then paint through the mask with the brush set on a low opacity and flow to gradually bring it through. Or, I use the Orton effect to bring out more tones in the existing image. FWIW...

-joe

[kevincc]

even though the sky is a bit bright, this shots tight.

[canonloader]

I think you should crop out the crappy sky and make the reflection in the water and the bridge the center point of this shot. ;)

[megadima]

Here's my edit . Photoshop tools used : lasso tool , hue/saturation , brightness/contrast