One Way to Create Dramatic Skies (Clouds, Sunsets, etc): Attached area series of photos outlining one set of steps in one way to create dramatic pictures of skies. Note, this method...

plieber

Attached area series of photos outlining one set of steps in one way to create dramatic pictures of skies.

Note, this method typically darkens the whole picture

Also note, I could have used a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky while keeping the foreground lighter.

"Normal" & Under Exposed Photo

RAW Photo in Photoshop's ACR

Levels

Final Result after Curves

gmoretti Loc: Budd Lake, New Jersey

Thanks for the tips and nice results.

davidintexas

Thank you. Great insights.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

Anthony Charles Loc: Santa Maria

Thank you Thank you this is Exactly what i was trying to get members to do with my "question" post

plieber

Thanks, fellows! Here are a couple more examples.

Sunset Example 2

Sunset Example 3

Greg Loc: Maryland

plieber wrote:

Attached area series of photos outlining one set of steps in one way to create dramatic pictures of skies.

Note, this method typically darkens the whole picture

Also note, I could have used a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky while keeping the foreground lighter.

You could also use masks to darken only the sky or a plugin like Nik's Viveza to selectively darken or lighten selections of an image.

HOHIMER

I was on a flight one day recently in a window seat. The person in the aisle seat turned out to be a photographer for National Geo. At one point in the flight he leaned over and asked me if he could take a shot of the clouds through my window. After he took the shot he explained that he often took shots of interesting cloud formations to be used later in other pictures he had taken. He remarked that particular shot, he just took, might even be used up-side-down in some future picture.

David707 Loc: Medford OR

I like #3...awesome pic. And thanks for the tips.

plieber

David707 wrote:

I like #3...awesome pic. And thanks for the tips.

You're Welcome!

Cameraman

plieber wrote:

Attached area series of photos outlining one set of steps in one way to create dramatic pictures of skies.

Note, this method typically darkens the whole picture

Also note, I could have used a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky while keeping the foreground lighter.

Hi:

That's amazing. You made a completley dull and boring sky into a fantastic looking sky!

Suneel

Lmarc Loc: Ojojona, Honduras

Couldn't you make a mask and redo the sky without affecting the foreground? It might turn the horizon trees into silhouettes but in this example that wouldn't be bad. Since I've started playing with masks it's always the first thing that comes to mind.

alaskan

plieber wrote:

Attached area series of photos outlining one set of steps in one way to create dramatic pictures of skies.

Note, this method typically darkens the whole picture

Also note, I could have used a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky while keeping the foreground lighter.

These were made with HDR software.

plieber

Lmarc wrote:

Couldn't you make a mask and redo the sky without affecting the foreground? It might turn the horizon trees into silhouettes but in this example that wouldn't be bad. Since I've started playing with masks it's always the first thing that comes to mind.

I've found with masking even with generous feathering you can see the line between the masked part and the unmasked part if one does something really dramatic with the foreground or background. Soon I plan to post a question how everyone goes about masking.

plieber

alaskan wrote:

plieber wrote:

Attached area series of photos outlining one set of steps in one way to create dramatic pictures of skies.

Note, this method typically darkens the whole picture

Also note, I could have used a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky while keeping the foreground lighter.

These were made with HDR software.

Very nice work!! What HDR software did you use? Your results are not as "gritty" as I find with most HDR software.