Help with photoshop cs5???

[dbrooks1983]

I recently started using photoshop cs5 and am completely new to postprocessing. I used photoshop to merge 9 pictures together and with a little cropping and straightening, I came up with the picture below. I was wondering if anybody can give me some pointers on how to fix the sky. It seems too over-exposed to me and was hoping somebody would have some ideas on how to correct it. Basically, I would like to make it more blue.

This is the original image:



I tried messing around with color balance settings a little and came up with this:



And when I did the auto fix, it came up with this, but I'm not too crazy about it:



Any chances of making it look better? Any help provided would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[jojonac]

Are you familiar with layers?

What I would do is open the image, then create a duplicate layer of the image.

Next i would open an adjustment layer and use the saturation adjustment...bump the master up 20-50.

Then i would open an adjustment layer and use the curves adjustment...try bringing the middle part of the curve down so you have sort of a half s curve with just the lower part of the s showing.

Then use the group folder, and drag both adjustment layers into the folder. Create a layer mask for the folder, and then paint in black over the bottom part of the screen. This will blank out the effects of the adjustments on everything except the sky.

Last I would set the overall opacity of the layer to around 50-80 percent, you dont want it to look too fake.

Then merge it all together. Good luck and feel free to PM if I have confused you.

I hope this helps

jojo