How do you usually correct blown out skies?

[haring]

How do you usually correct blown out skies? I know there are so many tutorials on youtube but I want to know which method you prefer the most. Which is the fatest, etc.
I mainly shoot weddings so HDR doesn't really work for me. People just move all the time...

[BCampbell]

If you're shooting in RAW and have at least some detail in the sky, you can try exposing two different copies about one stop apart and blending them with layers and a gradient mask. Going too far beyond one stop starts getting a little trickier.

You can also use layers and masks to add in the sky from a different image...

[SusanH1970]

Rather than trying to correct the blown out sky, I expose for the sky and then use a reflector or fill flash to light my subjects.

[dakwegmo]

My favorite way to fix them is not get them in the first place. As Susan H. suggests, take the sky into account then do what you need to to get your subject properly lit. For portraits this may mean reflectors or flash, and for landscapes it may mean filters or multiple exposures.

It's pretty rare that I have an image with a blown out sky that is otherwise worth saving, so I don't do a lot of this type of fix in post. However, from my experience, there will different techniques depending on the particular situation. A bright sunny day, with your subject in shadow might have a different fix than an overcast day.

[Krusty79]

I prefer a preemptive approach, so I bought a soft, 2-stop graduated neutral density filter to combat this common problem. If you're using a tripod, you can just hold the filter in front of the lens.

[stevenrecords]

Sky replacement. I really like having an interesting sky. So i will develop a sky library of my own and then in Photoshop go to Select/Color Range. Then click on the sky and adjust the fuzziness to make the sky selected only. Duplicate the background layer and click the mask button with the new layer selected. Drag in your new sky and place it just below the masked layer. If any other parts got selected on the image, you can click on the mask and use a black brush to cover it again. I do this for a lot of music photography I do.

[OsmosisStudios]

Don't blow out the skies.

I realize it sounds snarky, but it's the truth. If you don't blow out the skies in the first place, you don't have to worry about fixing it.

[BCampbell]

Oh come on, that's bad advice.

Yeah we would all like to live in the world of puppy unicorns where skies never blow out. In reality, sometimes the dynamic range between the sky and the foreground is greater than what the sensor can record. so "don't blow them out" doesn't really help.

Before pressing the shutter, you can use graduated filters. The drop-in style is probably the best; screw-ons are fine but only if you need the horizon to be exactly where it is on the filter and only if the front element doesn't rotate.

After pressing the shutter, I still believe it helps if you shoot in RAW and develop two exposures then blend. I don't really like the idea of adding a false sky but that's up to you.

You may also want to bracket with a tripod which makes blending exposures much more effective.

Fill light can work wonders, but unless you have some really impressive light you're going to be limited in what you can light. Reflectors and strobes work here, but really, if you're talking landscapes you're going to have a tough time lighting all of the foreground.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Don't blow out the skies.

I realize it sounds snarky, but it's the truth. If you don't blow out the skies in the first place, you don't have to worry about fixing it.

Which is why I said meter for the sky, then use a reflector (at the very least) or fill flash (at best) to light the subjects.

And, no, you weren't snarky at all. Just truthful.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by BCampbell

Fill light can work wonders, but unless you have some really impressive light you're going to be limited in what you can light. Reflectors and strobes work here, but really, if you're talking landscapes you're going to have a tough time lighting all of the foreground.

No offense, and you did give some excellent advice for landscapes, but the OP did in fact state he was shooting weddings. So in that case, a reflector if available light is decent or fill flash if not so would work well.