I need help with this one

[windrider86]

I took this picture right after sunrise. I brought up the saturation a tad to bring out the colors in the rocks but have no clue what to do with the blown out sky. I tried replacing the background with a sunrise picture i took a little bit later but it just doesnt look right. Any ideas? I hate to trash it cause the rest of it looks so good but cant do anything with it with the sky like that. And no I cant go back, its over a thousand miles from home

[oriolhdz]

Well, you will have to play with photoshop a little bit.
You can do what you did and after you paste the sunset sky you can add a color filter layer to blend the sky and the other part of the photo so it looks natural.
Other thing it comes to my mind is make a mask layer and try to pump up the saturation on blue channel or maybe you can paint it with a soft blue.
Patience here will be your best friend!

[Thinking_Mommy]

I like it a lot. Its very crispt and the mountain shadow in the sunrise is a nice touch. Look how calm and serene the water is! Wow.
The only thing I find distracting is the white sky. I had to look very closely because I almost thought the photo just cut off right there. I wish I could tell you how to fix it, or that I still had my photoshop installed so I could play with it myself but I can't do that with it not installed.
My consensus: Awesome photo, do something with the sky.

[wulf]

If you add a sky, you have to make sure it fits the lighting in the valley. Did you take any other shots at the time looking in the same direction but exposed for the sky (or can you remember)? If I am shooting and notice the sky getting blown out, I often take a reference shot, which can help, even if you end up getting a new sky from another place to drop in.

Another approach would be to rotate the image so the top of the bridge is horizontal and crop it along there. It won't be ideal but might look less bad than a sky that doesn't fit.

Wulf

[Tiberius]

You can use the photo itself as a layer mask, if you don't know how, let me know and I'll post instructions.

[windrider86]

The only thing I find distracting is the white sky. I had to look very closely because I almost thought the photo just cut off right there. I wish I could tell you how to fix it, or that I still had my photoshop installed so I could play with it myself but I can't do that with it not installed.
My consensus: Awesome photo, do something with the sky

Thats why I was aksing for help cause I dont know what to do with it. I've tried dropping in another sky but it didnt seem to fit. I also tried painting it a light blue but that didnt seem to work either.

Tiberius, what did you mean by using the photo itself as a mask?

Wulf, I had taken a few other shots but they were too blurred to use. It was still prety dark and i didnt have a lot of time so the situation as a whole wasnt ideal.

[carl yeomans]

wow. i do like this one. it reminds me of a game i use to play called bridge IT.
how ever the sky is pretty blown out, if you give me permission, and the origanal file to play with, id love to see if i can fix this . it might even turn out to be a great HDR.

regard carl.

[windrider86]

Thats what i was asking for help with the sky. as I have said I've tried numerous things and none looked right. if you foloow the linl you can get it from Flickr and try her out

[carl yeomans]

Originally Posted by windrider86

Thats what i was asking for help with the sky. as I have said I've tried numerous things and none looked right. if you foloow the linl you can get it from Flickr and try her out

hi windrider86. id like to play with the origanal pic before you adjusted anything. the pic on your flickr thingy is only 500 KB. pitty you never shot this a raw.

[windrider86]

yea i know, we were on a 3500 mile bike ride and couldnt afford the loss of space on my memory card. 3086x2315 isnt big enough?