Cleaning up Skies in PS

[sjt1]

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With the M8, I have sometimes had problems with skies that were not that great - see pic below with the messy vapour trails on it. I have also experienced the M8 sometimes puts streaks on very blue skies (I sent one back and the replacement has the same but less extreme).

 

[ATTACH]106768[/ATTACH]

 

I tried other ways of fixing large-area defects in areas with texture and tone (even these skies still have grain-like texture on the M8), but always the fix looked artificial. For example, the sky here is lighter towards the ground. I wanted a way of keeping this and losing the vapour trails.

 

Well I think I have found a fix that doesn't look artificial - see pic with non-messy sky below.

 

[ATTACH]106770[/ATTACH]

 

Here is the fix I have been playing with.

 

1) Open the file in Photoshop as normal.

 

2) Duplicate background layer.

 

2a) I there are big things like the pole thing on the right sticking up into the sky, on the duplicate layer clone them out with a big clone brush. You dont have to be precise or even careful - its just to get rid of the thing and make the sky a bit more uniform.

 

3) Apply a gaussian blur (Filter->Gaussian Blur) on the duplicate layer with a large number (try 100-250). This smooths out the nasties like the vapour trails whilst retaining the tonal graduation in the sky. The bigger the number the greater the smoothing.

 

4) Add noise on the duplicate layer with a small number (try 1-3, depending on the ISO). This puts a bit of "grain" back into the sky and gives it a bit of texture.

 

5) The grain can look a bit sharp with just noise, and I have found you can match the "grain" of the background by applying Gaussian Blur again, this time with a small number (try 0.5-2).

 

6) Make a mask that makes the ground on the background layer visible and apply it to the duplicate layer - i.e. masks anything but the new sky on the duplicate layer.

 

For this pic I used Select->Colour Range and selected the sky, went into quick mask and tidied the mask with a soft brush, then inverted the selection and applied to the duplicate layer. On other examples, where there is not the thing sticking up over the horizon, it is much easier.

 

I have used this technique on scanned negs, where I had problems with the sprocket holes casting shadows on the neg at the top (and also where I wasn't very good with processing the film!).

 

Hope someone finds this useful.

 

Steve Taylor

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[el_greco]

Great technique. I usually work the same way with duplicating layers. So for me the "strong-blur-grain-light-blur" trick was a really interesting part. Thanks for that.

[redfalo]

It surely is a matter of taste but I personally like the orginal picture much more....

[Guest WPalank]

With the M8, I have sometimes had problems with skies that were not that great - see pic below with the messy vapour trails on it.

Steve Taylor

Are you saying the M8 created the messy vapor trails or should somehow remove them prior to post processing?

 

I agree with redfalo, the first for me is the better. The second looks unnatural.

[sjt1]

Are you saying the M8 created the messy vapor trails or should somehow remove them prior to post processing?

 

No - see this thread

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/34173-diagonal-streaks.html

 

I still see streaking on a blue sky occasionally, but its nothing like as bad before it went to be fixed.

[tobey bilek]

I keep a file of nice clean blue skies and another for nice cloud formations. When you see one, make a snap.

 

Then delete the bad sky while it is layered over the good file.

[paga]

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I keep a file of nice clean blue skies and another for nice cloud formations. When you see one, make a snap.

 

Then delete the bad sky while it is layered over the good file.

 

This is a pretty wicked trick too but I also like the "strong-blur-grain-light-blur" trick... Thx guys