[Cheezman]

Here are three versions of a single snap. One is HDR. I'm not crazy about HDR, but sometimes the exposure range just isn't broad enough to interpret as I'd like. In this case it seemed to me that the lower part of the photo with much color and tonal range contrasted unfavorably with the house above and the white sky. In the second version, I replaced the sky. It's just a quick job with Elements and some quick dodging to try to match it up. I'm not sure I like the more active sky over the original, white sky and it also looks fakey. The third version is as-shot, with an overlay blend applied at about 25% opacity.

My questions are: Does the white sky original detract from the photo? Does the replacement sky improve the photo? Do you have any advice on how to better execute a replacement sky? Which version do you prefer?

Thanks for any help.

The middle photo is HDR

exif: 1/60 sec, f/8, ISO 400