So I went to chicago and...

[Jackal]

I took a good amount of pictures of buildings (because buildings and neighborhoods down here in Miami look boring compared to chicago's old architecture.

I was totally expecting this to happen but I was wondering if there was a way around this problem. The problem is when I expose for the dark buildings the sky is blown out. I know you can layer two exposures in photoshop (I shoot RAW) and erase the blown out sky layer so that darker sky shows up from the darker exposure. But the thing is that's tideous and annoying to do to EVERY building shot.

Would a circular polarizer take care of this problem?

I know that if I'm shooting a closer subject I can meter for the sky and use fill flash. But of course that's just not possible with buildings.

Any other post processing I can do?

I use Photoshop CS. Equipment is listed in my sig.

Thanks in advance!

(P.S. I was in Chicago from July 3rd through 6th. I went down town on the blue line train to jackson street on the 3rd at night time after the fireworks were done. I've never seen so many people in my entire life. It was a river of people!!!!!!)

[chtgrubbs]

You can try the Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight. Sometimes it can work wonders.

[Jackal]

I've tried that but it gives pictures a weird effect. Thanks anyways. =)

[GenEOS]

On static images with a higher dynamic range than your camer can expose for shoot too images, one exposed for both parts and bring them together in photoshop. Other ideas may be to use fill light if possible, on smalller subjects...you will need a large flash for the Sears Tower though....
:-)

[blue_max]

I would think a polariser would help you a lot - particularly for damping down reflections from windows.

It's effectiveness varies depending on the angle of the light, but you can lose a couple of stops of light and maybe that will help you blur or even lose people walking by.

It would be a good filter to have - and when it works (angle of light etc), it works very well.

Graham

[PhotosGuy]

Have you tried the shadow & highlights adjustments in RSE?