Blown out sun

Here's a pic I took recently. It's received some good feedback but obviously, the sun is quite blown. Now, I wasn't using a filter on this one, but even a 3-stop hard grad wouldn't have fixed it (I know, I tried it on other shots taken at the same place), especially since the sun is so low on the horizon. Composition-wise, I couldn't not include the sun: it's too low to cut the frame below it, and when the sun was higher in the sky you didn't get the right light filtering through the stupas. I tried what I could in post but short of replacing the whole thing (which I'm open to, I'm just not sure with what) I don't know what else I can do.

Now just to be clear: I don't actually mind that the sun is blown; it probably wouldn't really look natural if it weren't. However, it looks weird to me here, and I'm not sure why. I don't know if there's a color problem or if my curves adjustment was too aggressive, but something looks off to me. Can you help me nail it, then fix it?

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The problem is with the transition between the sky and blown out area area, it seems that the sun isn't pure white at the brightest point, but rather 222 on the histogram, meaning that the surrounding sky is brighter than the sun itself, so you're right in assuming it was whatever curve/tone manipulation that you did; it should be more like this:

I would naturally have taken another shot, specifically to get that part of the image right, then combined it with the main image in post-processing. Its a very easy operation in PS.

Lowner wrote in post #16718414
I would naturally have taken another shot, specifically to get that part of the image right, then combined it with the main image in post-processing. Its a very easy operation in PS.

I tried that but the bloom expands into the mountains and even some of the temples, so the gradient seemed quite obvious (also why my attempts at replacing the sky didn't look promising).

I'm in a hurry this morning so I did not spend much time. I just did a bit of quick clone stamping but it could be smoother with more time. You could try the healing brush.

^^^ That. Clone stamp with reduced opacity may be worth a shot.

digital paradise wrote in post #16718672
I'm in a hurry this morning so I did not spend much time. I just did a bit of quick clone stamping but it could be smoother with more time. You could try the healing brush.

Wow, you're better at this than I am! Couldn't get the tones right but now that I know it can be done, I'll give it another shot. Thanks!

Did you also increase saturation or something? The colors are a bit more orange on yours in the whole pic.

armis wrote in post #16718442
I tried that but the bloom expands into the mountains and even some of the temples, so the gradient seemed quite obvious (also why my attempts at replacing the sky didn't look promising).

Not sure what you mean by "the bloom" expands. I would have at least one image with a circular sun, with maybe a rather dark sky! This I would cut out and overlay onto my straight shot of the rest of the scene, then simply sample and paint the sky back to something sensible where the transition looked weird.

Well, the brightness of the sun creates a circular gradient, if you will, that doesn't only affect the sky, but also the mountains in the background and even the pagodas. When I took an underexposed sky and slapped it on top, the transition looked real fake if I cut it off at the mountains, and really dark if I tried blending it. Maybe I was just doing it wrong though :/.

armis wrote in post #16719053
Well, the brightness of the sun creates a circular gradient, if you will, that doesn't only affect the sky, but also the mountains in the background and even the pagodas. When I took an underexposed sky and slapped it on top, the transition looked real fake if I cut it off at the mountains, and really dark if I tried blending it. Maybe I was just doing it wrong though :/.

Just place the circular sun on the other shot and then "repaint" the sky, sampling from outside the blown section.

Much.

I like the original one with the slightly blown out bit. Awesome photo, that has to go on the wall. Where is it?

tim wrote in post #16726672
I like the original one with the slightly blown out bit. Awesome photo, that has to go on the wall. Where is it?

Really? Hm. I dunno, I think the blown out bit was a bit overpowering. A smaller one would have been ok, but here it took a lot of real estate.

It's Bagan, in Myanmar. Amazing place!

Side question since we're here: does it bother anyone else that the bright patch in the clouds doesn't line up with the light rays?

armis wrote in post #16728196
Really? Hm. I dunno, I think the blown out bit was a bit overpowering. A smaller one would have been ok, but here it took a lot of real estate.

Like you, I'd prefer something between the two extremes. I must admit I'd not noticed that the light rays don't line up, still that's easy enough to correct.