How would I recolor a blown out sky?

[Pito Salas]

I took a series of pictures today, an totally flat overcast day. Wherever I see sky, it is blown out to pure white. I thought I could create a mask to capture that area (by marking it with edge detection). But then I want to be able to recolor it to a bluish grey or something. I thought the channel mixer might do it but I after playing with in for a while I realize that I totally don’t understand what it does or what the UI means.

[BenB]

Hello Pito,
First of all I am not an expert on this subject, but might be able to help you get it sorted out. On the other hand you might already know what I am writing here, in that case I am not much of help -;)
The approach you took is a possibility but it needs some understanding of the RGB colour model and how to create different colours in mixing RGB-colours will help a lot. If you search the internet you probably will find some information that will help you about mixing. Look for RGB colour wheel/model. Very often it will lead you to Photoshop explanations, but the principal is the same.

I was able to create a blue colour in one blown-out sky (but still a bit “artificial”), using the method of masking the sky. This all done on a jpeg-file,

However I don’t know if you are shooting I RAW or jpeg.
I shoot mostly in RAW, and I discovered that using Nitro, was able to retrieve blue sky with clouds (from blown-out sky) very efficiently and beyond expectations. I hardly managed that in other software.
If you are shooting RAW, I will gladly make some suggestions how I was able to do that (It’s a bit beyond the standard “retrieve highlights”). It was really a surprise to me by choosing the right workflow in Nitro.
Hth
Ben

[BenB]

This might be of use : https://www.color-meanings.com/rgb-color-model/

Ben

[BenB]

This might be of use to you

[Nik Bhatt]

There are a few ways to recover a blown out sky. One is to use the Recover Highlights function in the app (in the area with Auto Enhance).

That can be a good first start. Then you can tint the highlights using the Split Toning adjustment if you like. You can also consider HSL.

The channel mixer is a simple and yet hard to understand tool – it’s not for this purpose.

[Pito Salas]

Trying but I can’t find recover highlights.

[Nik Bhatt]

Recover Highlights is only available for RAWs. If it’s available, it appears in the first edit section along with Auto Enhance and Clone.

It is also not available for ProRAW files, as they are not actually RAW files (despite the name, they do not contain RAW data).

If it’s a JPEG, then you can use Split Toning. If it’s a ProRAW, you might try Tone Map first to see if that helps or not with getting detail in the sky.

[Pito Salas]

Actually I found “recovery” as a slider even for a Jpeg.

[BenB]

Actually I found “recovery” as a slider even for a Jpeg.

Yes but that is not the “Recover Highlights” Nik is talking about. That is only available for RAW pictures in the AI section (first icon beneath the histogram)

The recovery as you mentioned works as follows (Quote from the RawPower help function) this slider works like a “selective exposure”. Only the brightest pixels are affected, but unlike highlights, it adjust the brightness just like exposure. Sometimes you will get better results with Recovery and other times Highlights will work better.

[Pito Salas]

Thank you. And thanks for the idea of getting documentation from Raw Power where none is available for Nitro. It’s reasonable to assume similar features!

[Pito Salas]

Thank you. And thanks for the idea of getting documentation from Raw Power where none is available for Nitro. It’s reasonable to assume similar features!

[Nik Bhatt]

I do not plan to write a Nitro manual – manuals are very time-consuming especially when they have to be localized (with localized screenshots). This summer I plan to make a series of videos instead.

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