How to replace a sky?

Is there a way to replace a dull, overcast sky with a sunny blue one, so
that the photo still looks natural? If yes, how?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
Olympus 50X0, 7070, 8080, E3X0, E4X0 and E5X0 forum at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
http://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

Alfred Molon wrote:
Is there a way to replace a dull, overcast sky with a sunny blue one,
so that the photo still looks natural? If yes, how?

Wait a few days...
....While you wait, sing... "The sun'll come out...tomorrow..." If you're a
TRULY dedicated photog...you'll don the curly, red wig while you sing
t. -Works every time.

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

Mark² wrote:
Alfred Molon wrote:
Is there a way to replace a dull, overcast sky with a sunny blue one,
so that the photo still looks natural? If yes, how?

Wait a few days...
...While you wait, sing... "The sun'll come out...tomorrow..." If
you're a TRULY dedicated photog...you'll don the curly, red wig while
you sing t. -Works every time.


Actually...the real answer is yes...but if you stick a sunny sky over a
scene that was lit by a dull, over-cast sky...the light is likely to look
pretty weird...since sunny skies light a landscape quite differently than a
drab, over-cast (diffused light) sky does.

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

Actually...the real answer is yes...but if you stick a sunny sky over a
scene that was lit by a dull, over-cast sky...the light is likely to look
pretty weird...

Ummm, so, actually the answer is no! It's very hard, almost impossible,
to get a natural looking result.

The best option is to use curves to boost whatever natural colour there
is in the existing sky. The improvement you get can be somewhere between
none and a fair amount, depending on what you have to start with. Example:

http://photos.derekfountain.org/gall.../img_1813.html

Other options are to do in Photoshop what you'd have done with the
camera if you'd thought about it at the time: crop the white sky out,
arrange a building or something interesting behind the subject, etc.

--
Derek Fountain on the web at http://www.derekfountain.org/

Derek Fountain wrote:
Actually...the real answer is yes...but if you stick a sunny sky
over a scene that was lit by a dull, over-cast sky...the light is
likely to look pretty weird...

Ummm, so, actually the answer is no! It's very hard, almost
impossible, to get a natural looking result.

"Very hard," and "almost impossible" doesn't equal "no."

And while you're at it...try and note the humor in my post.
It'll bring a little "sunshine" to your face.



--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

Try a Google http://preview.tinyurl.com/273but - there are plenty of ways




"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
Is there a way to replace a dull, overcast sky with a sunny blue one, so
that the photo still looks natural? If yes, how?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
Olympus 50X0, 7070, 8080, E3X0, E4X0 and E5X0 forum at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
http://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

And while you're at it...try and note the humor in my post.

I thought I did. I certainly didn't mean to cause offence.

--
Derek Fountain on the web at http://www.derekfountain.org/

On Jun 13, 12:52 am, Alfred Molon
wrote:
Is there a way to replace a dull, overcast sky with a sunny blue one, so
that the photo still looks natural? If yes, how?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
Olympus 50X0, 7070, 8080, E3X0, E4X0 and E5X0 forum athttp://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/http://myolympus.org/photo sharing site

I find the best way to do this is to create a new layer. I keep
several "stock" sky images in a folder. You need one that has a
horizon line below the point that the horizon is at in the picture you
are fixing.

You can do it either way, but I prefer to adjust the layer positions
so that the stock sky is behind the main image. I then erase the bland
sky. Bland skies can frequently use the magic wand selection tool to
select and erase large regions at a time. If you erase too much at
any time, you can use the undo tool.

Also, as soon as I paste in the new sky, I save the image as a new
file, so that I always have the old one available in case I screw
something up.

Derek Fountain wrote:
And while you're at it...try and note the humor in my post.

I thought I did. I certainly didn't mean to cause offence.

You didn't cause offense.


--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

There are actually some very good masking tools out there that will let you
do quite accurate selections, which is the most difficult part. Polaroid
Knockout and Onone mask something something come to mind. If you shoot in
RAW, there is a very cool tutorial on how to do it without any extra
plug-ins he

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html


Bob


"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
Is there a way to replace a dull, overcast sky with a sunny blue one, so
that the photo still looks natural? If yes, how?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
Olympus 50X0, 7070, 8080, E3X0, E4X0 and E5X0 forum at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
http://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site