Need help with this sky!

I shot this right after the sun went down. I loved the light bouncing off the side of the engines. Due to the headlights, I had to go two full stops over in exposure compensation. This left an already semi white blah sky even more blah. And even brighter than it was. It bugs the heck out of me, and I just don't know what I can do with it. Any suggestions?????

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Just select with the wand tool, invert the selection. Then use the rectangular selection tool and right click and select "layer via copy". Then between the background layer and the one you just created, insert the sky of your choice.

I see what you're doing here, but the background hills need to be darkened as well. It looks a bit strange.

I too think you could insert a sky but you would have to make sure the sun is on the left of the sky. The reflection on the train seems to indicate that this is where the sun was when you took the picture. The inserted sky above is nice, but the sun is in the wrong location according the the glare on the train.

Here is a simple solution, just add a graduated blue sky.
Sometimes it works in this case i'm not sure?

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I agree, a graduated filter might be the best choice, but perhaps not one so obvious as the one above?

here's a workup with a graduated coffee filter from nik color effect pro...

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I like the idea behind the graduated sky.
I am not good at photoshopping, and pasting in a different sky is something I have never tried before. Actually, I've never tried adding parts of any photo to another photo. I will have to figure out how to do that.
Thanks for suggestions, keep 'em coming.

hi this is my take - using pse4 - select sky with magic wand and delete, add new layer fill with gradient - i used dark blue- add adjustment layer to this and fiddle with hue and saturation until you get what you like - move train layer to the top - flatten images - save - i think that was all the steps - only took a couple of minutes - (know what i did but have to think twice when writing it down )

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If you do put in a sky, make sure it matches in terms of sun direction, color palate, lens zoom, etc.

I am not saying this is perfect, but it at least matches the rest of the shot. Compare this to the one offered by SRPhotgraphic, and you will see how much it helps to try to match.

Rad

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I still haven't gotten the hang of copy and paste in elements4. After several attempts I got this result. I spent a lot of time getting rid of a bright line between the ground and sky.

TrainRider wrote:
I still haven't gotten the hang of copy and paste in elements4. After several attempts I got this result. I spent a lot of time getting rid of a bright line between the ground and sky.

That really did a number for the picture. well done.

Rian