Changing white sky into blue?

[Sherina W]

Ok folks, I have my 1st commercial gig where I am taking pictures of pools. I loaded up my 1st set of pics and noticed that the sky is really white with no clouds in it. I can't seem to make it blue, any tricks? I need to make it a pretty blue, where it doesn't look fake.

Any tips of the time of day to take these type of shots to maybe avoid that? I took them last night around 530-ish

[gmarblestone]

Try bracketing. Underexposing the pool will make the sky look better.
Look at HDR too once you have the bracketing.

But if you can't reshoot you can always find fake skys and put them in.

G

[bondarnes]

I have a folder of different sky images. Some with clouds and some without. I then just add a sky layer and paint it in where needed

[dmora]

Shoot raw.

Use lightroom to add a "graduated filter" and knock down the exposure on the sky.

Like this:



You'll notice the closer to the horizon i start losing a little detail.

Same here.



dmora added 3 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Also try to avoid shooing into the sun. I see you said you were shooting 530 pm. If you're getting white skys there, you're shooting into the sun and you're going to be in for a world of pain getting any detail back that way with out using bracketing or strobes.

With that much contrast, you probably cant pull back detail with just 1 shot in RAW with the graduated filter trick in Lightroom. You'll need to bracket 2 different shots, 1 with scene in good light, another with the sky in good light... then HDR butcher them.

[Sherina W]

Originally Posted by dmora

Shoot raw.

Use lightroom to add a "graduated filter" and knock down the exposure on the sky.

Like this:



You'll notice the closer to the horizon i start losing a little detail.

Same here.



dmora added 3 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Also try to avoid shooing into the sun. I see you said you were shooting 530 pm. If you're getting white skys there, you're shooting into the sun and you're going to be in for a world of pain getting any detail back that way with out using bracketing or strobes.

With that much contrast, you probably cant pull back detail with just 1 shot in RAW with the graduated filter trick in Lightroom. You'll need to bracket 2 different shots, 1 with scene in good light, another with the sky in good light... then HDR butcher them.

Thx, I use PS CS3 not lightroom. I don't know what is a good time to shoot pools and landscaping. I normally shoot portraits outdoors and its always in the late afternoon but this is so different. Should I try for like noon or something to avoid shade and hot spots?

Sherina W added 0 Minutes and 26 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Originally Posted by bondarnes

I have a folder of different sky images. Some with clouds and some without. I then just add a sky layer and paint it in where needed

What do you mean exactly?

[dmora]

Originally Posted by Sherina W

Thx, I use PS CS3 not lightroom. I don't know what is a good time to shoot pools and landscaping. I normally shoot portraits outdoors and its always in the late afternoon but this is so different. Should I try for like noon or something to avoid shade and hot spots?[/size]



What do you mean exactly?

You can do it in CS3! :)
Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels (or curves if you're a photoshop bad arse)
Adjust the levels to make the sky pop out then "paint out" the part of the image that doesn't need exposure adjustment.

Technically you can do photography what ever time of day you want depending on the "look" you are trying to get. Its a matter of setting up the camera settings or lighting to get the exact image you want to sell.
It just requires knowledge of how to correct for failures in the process.

And what Don was suggesting is kind of sketchy... Its basically how weather men work in front of a blue screen or green screen. You put in a fake image behind them. Or in your case the blown out sky.
However, if you arent familiar with photo merging or advance photoshop manipulations this will all be greek unfortunately. :(

And get Lightroom! Its only 99$ with a student discount. :p

dmora added 10 Minutes and 2 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Heres a photoshop tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVuDbcAfN_I

Also are you getting sunlight in the pool at that hour? I figure the sun would be setting so far that you would be getting shade in the pool area and only buildings being lit. At least from my experience at shooting at that hour.

Look up other architectural photography and see how others do it, time of day, lighting used, any post processing you can see (unnatural light conditions/HDR)

Here's the master, Julius Schulman.
http://www.wirtzgallery.com/exhibiti...lman/js03.html


Here's a great link too:

http://modernica.wordpress.com/2009/...pools-part-ii/

[ovimo]

Shoot a sky you like as a separate image.
Select all the "white" sky in the pool picture with the select tool in PS.
Create new layer via copy.
Overlap the second image of the sky you like over the pool image.
Go to the Copied Layer and select only the "ugly" sky.
Change the working layer to the new sky. You will still have the selection active. Choose "Select-Inverse".
Erase all the extra sky from the new sky.
Delete the Copied Layer.
Flatten.
You now have a pool image with a great sky.
Sell it and buy me a beer...

[kenw]

simply darkening the "highlights" can often improve the sky. Paintshop Pro has a tool called Highlight/Midtone/Shadow which allow you to +/- each separately. Curves and other tools will do the same altho not as simply.

[Flea77]

I would suggest shooting later in the day and use a CPL filter. If needed, use reflectors or fill flash to bring the subject up enough to equal the exposure you are getting for the sky.

Allan

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by Sherina W

Any tips of the time of day to take these type of shots to maybe avoid that? I took them last night around 530-ish

Sherina,
You are at the right time of day. You have to expose for the sky for it to be blue. You probably exposed for the pool and area around the pool. When the exposure was taken the sky is "hotter" than the area around the pool so the sky was overexposed and thus came out white. Best solution is to put your camera on a tripod. Take at least two exposures, one for the pool area and the other for the sky. Then sandwich them together in PS. Pasting in from another image always has imperfections that can be a problem to make it look right. Get it in the camera at the shoot.