cleaning up really blah sky.

what is the best way to clean up a "blah" sky in photograph?

If you shot RAW expose the photo twice and blend as in this tutorial.

tim wrote:
If you shot RAW expose the photo twice and blend as in this tutorial.

Tim!!!!!! You did it again!!!

Thank You so much, I use a LOT of photoshop and found this to be most useful!!!

Now i cant wait to give exopsure bracketing a try on my 20D!!!

They say you cant use RAW files, why not turn them into JPG files prior to bringing them into photoshop. Just dont mess with any exposure correction?

Why would you do that if you shoot in RAW? You can just process the same RAW file with different exposure compensation and you're doing the same thing.

tim wrote:
If you shot RAW expose the photo twice and blend as in this tutorial.

Magic! I imagine using RAW you could process the same file with different exposure compensations and them blend them with this technique - as long as you don't overdo it.

i am glad u mention that, cause i was going to ask the same thing about changing the exposure in raw (one dark and one light) opposed to Bracketing with the camera. Same results, right? or isnt it?

Yep it's very useful to make two exposures from RAW and merge them to extend dynamic range - especially when you didn't have a tripod. You can't go too many stops before they look funny though, so if you want a very wide range you should do the bracketing in camera (remeber the tripod).

ok, thanks for the info!!

I use this "technique" in CS2, and PSE3.
Posted yesterday, 15 threads below this one.
Quick and easy sky fix.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=125977

I've had success in RawShooter exposing the image for sky detail and then making shadow highlight adjustments via: Shadow Contrast|Fill Light|Curves/Levels.

It is not the same thing nor can you expect the same results.

Changing the exposure of the same RAW image - shadow and highlight and remerging them in PP leaves you with the same amount of information you started with. You did not create any more information. You just manipulated it differently. One could argue that you could do the same thing skillfully applying masks.

When you bracket and merge two (or more) bracketed images into one, you start out with more information and end with more information. More shadow tones (information) in the overexposed images and more highlight tones (information) in the underexposed information , when combined give you a photo with more tonality then if you tried to do it with a single image.

To use the buzz-acronym HDR: The examples shown in the mags are of photographers combining up to 7 bracketed images using various HDR programs. They are not combining a single RAW image "developed" at 7 different exposure levels.

i guess i need to practice doing bracketing as well...only tried it once so far and i will compare the bracketing vs using raw to change exposure method. I already bought the DRI pro plugin to help me.

thanks

I should be more clear. Your results (the important part) will vary depending on the scene. If the scene is full midtones, then you may see no real difference in the results. However, if you are shooting into a setting (or rising sun) - or any scene with a large dynamic range - you should absolutely see better results from bracketing as opposed to exposing once for the highlights and trying to bring out the shadows in postprocessing.