Blown out skies or interesting feature?

[tameboy]

Many thanks for looking and considering this image for me. My question is regarding the sky in the top left. Whilst I like this image, I can't decide whether the over exposed sky is an irritating distraction or an interesting feature of this shot. It was shot mid to late afternoon, under some highish cloud, so it was always going to be a struggle to adequately expose the foreground without blowing out the sky. Any tips??

Camera Canon EOS 550D
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 17 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Canon Exposure Mode Aperture-priority AE
Lens Type Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

And before anyone asks, my Trek Pod trekking tripod had broken by this stage of the walk so I could not use a tripod. Blasted thing was clearly not up to the task of a proper trek. I have been sent a new one by Amazon, but if my first experience was anything to go by, it is no surprise that the company no longer exists.

[SwissJon]

Hmm.. That's a real shame, because that had real potential for being a lovely photo.

Ok.. Well as it is, it's a detraction from the photo, but I wonder if you couldn't use a graduated filter in PS, LR or Gimp to rescue it by toning it down a bit.

This is a perfect example of where an NDGrad filter on a camera would have made this into a really dramatic and lovely photo, instead of needing rescuing.

It's a real shame, because you got the composition, focus and everything else spot on. With out a graduated filter, there is one other trick you could have used, and that's to take two photos, set your camera to manual, expose for the scenery, then adjust the SPEED, until you san see the sky in all its glory.. Then open the two in PS as layers and have a go at merging them or using HDR.. It might or might not work, but at least it's better than only having one photo that "could have been"..

Oh.. And splash out on a Gorrilla Pod.. They're not very highly technical, but they weigh next to nothing, and in emergencies they've saved my bacon!

I really like the composition you have here.

[dvtldav]

Nice photo. I like the capture, but the sky is blown out. You could do as Jon suggested and use the gradient filter tool in LR or use the adjustment brush in LR. I have just started using the adjustment brush and like it because I can select certain areas that I want to adjust and it doesn't have to be in a straight line, you can follow the shape of an element if you have a steady enough hand and you can apply the adjustment brush to more than one area. You can do one adjustment brush to one area and apply another adjustment brush to another area.

Dave

[digirebelva]

When you look at the photo, where is the first place your eye goes, if its not where you want the emphasis to be, then you have a distraction that takes away from the image instead of complimenting it.

If you cant successfully tone it down, then I would replace the sky altogether..

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by digirebelva

If you cant successfully tone it down, then I would replace the sky altogether..

Might seem like a bit of a cheat, but digirebelva is right.. if you have a picture with a sky with the right tonal qualities, you could carefully blend it in in PS. Would be a shame to lose such a nice photo just because you didn't have a filter.

[dlambert]

Sorry to hear about your TrekPod. If you don't mind sharing, what broke on it? I had pretty good luck with mine last summer, fwiw.

[EOBeav]

You could replace the sky, but the land area immediately in front of the sky is also blown out, so you'd have a tough time getting it to look natural. I agree this would have been a perfect time to do some bracketing and use at least two of the exposures. Or, come back to this spot with the sun in a different place, if you can. Landscape photography is all about opportunity. Although this is a beautiful scene, and you got the comp just right, the light is working against you. It's going to be very difficult to recover this one. If it's blown out, it's blown out.

[autofocus]

I played with it by adding a solid color layer, and further masked back in the foreground...the question is does it look natural enough??..I'm still not sure. It is too bad though, because it is a very nice shot


sky by vmontalbano, on Flickr

[Ginger Pixie]

I take it you didn't shoot in RAW? If so, you could use photomatix or something to get some detail back in the highlights?

[digirebelva]

Originally Posted by autofocus

I played with it by adding a solid color layer, and further masked back in the foreground...the question is does it look natural enough??..I'm still not sure. It is too bad though, because it is a very nice shot


sky by vmontalbano, on Flickr

I might have gone with more of a greyish sky to match the color of the water, nonetheless it does look better, it doesnt immediately draw my eye to it