# Adjusting Valley/Sky Exposure/Temp



## tspear (Dec 26, 2015)

I finally have some pictures where there is a effectively a valley (caused by buildings, mountains...). The sky is slightly over blown and I want to back down the exposure and do a minor fix of the color. My current technique is to use the graduated filter with an erase brush over the areas I do not want to adjust.
I recall reading about an alternate technique, but I cannot find it. Any suggestions?

Tim


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## Johan Elzenga (Dec 26, 2015)

Well, you could obviously also use the adjustment brush with 'auto mask' enabled and paint in the sky, but in the end the effect is the same.


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## tspear (Dec 26, 2015)

JohanElzenga said:


> Well, you could obviously also use the adjustment brush with 'auto mask' enabled and paint in the sky, but in the end the effect is the same.



That was my old method. I find the graduated filter with erase is generally faster for me. But I thought I read about a new technique and cannot find it in my notes, or searching on here. it could just be my memory failing...

Tim


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## Johan Elzenga (Dec 26, 2015)

Often you don't need a filter to fix a slightly blown out sky. Just use 'Whites' and/or 'Exposure' to fix it. If the rest of the image becomes too dark as a result, that can be fixed with 'Shadows' and/or 'Curves'. Perhaps that was the technique?


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## tspear (Dec 26, 2015)

JohanElzenga said:


> Often you don't need a filter to fix a slightly blown out sky. Just use 'Whites' and/or 'Exposure' to fix it. If the rest of the image becomes too dark as a result, that can be fixed with 'Shadows' and/or 'Curves'. Perhaps that was the technique?



Maybe, any tutorials or suggestions I can read up and play with?

Tim


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## Johan Elzenga (Dec 26, 2015)

Sorry, no. I've written Lightroom books myself (in Dutch), so I don't tend to read tutorials. I'm sure Google can help you however.


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## Tony Jay (Dec 26, 2015)

tspear said:


> Maybe, any tutorials or suggestions I can read up and play with?
> 
> Tim


Tim, this technique does not require a tutorial:

Grab the highlights slider and pull it back to -100.
Take the whites slider and pull it up until the brightest tones are just shy of blowing (or until your judgement tells you the brightest tones are bright enough).
What this does is separate the brightest tones and brings out as much detail as is possible in a bright sky.

I do a similar thing in the shadows.
I pull up the shadows slider - sometimes to maximum.
I then pull the blacks back until there are just a smidgeon of completely black pixels (sometimes a lot more if the image demands it).
This manoeuvre separates out the darkest tones.

The final step is to increase clarity (read local contrast) because the above edits tend to reduce local contrast.

Experiment.
Over several days play with an image.
Go away and have a sleep and then come back to it and see whether it looks right.
Change what seems to need changing - start from scratch again if needs be.
Use snapshots and/or virtual copies to keep the various versions if that is important to you.
After a week all these adjustments and the judgement required will be second nature to you.

As an aside, I see that you shoot with a Canon 6D - this may limit how aggressive one gets with the shadows manipulation and how much global and local noise reduction is required and therefore what looks good.

Another aside - the tonal adjustments I suggest above tend to increase both global and local contrast. As a result colour tends to becomes rather vibrant. My experience is that Vibrance and Saturation might require reducing rather that any increases, but, as with everything, this is a season-to-taste scenario.

Tony Jay


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## tspear (Dec 27, 2015)

Tony,

Thank you. I know what I will be playing with on my flight home next week.

Tim


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## Rob_Cullen (Dec 27, 2015)

The HSL Panel is very powerful for global and color-specific changes to- Hue, Saturation and Luminance.
And generally if a global result affects areas where it is not wanted, an Adjustment brush could negate the effect.


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## ogre (Jan 3, 2016)

tspear said:


> I finally have some pictures where there is a effectively a valley (caused by buildings, mountains...). The sky is slightly over blown and I want to back down the exposure and do a minor fix of the color. *My current technique is to use the graduated filter with an erase brush over the areas I do not want to adjust.*
> I recall reading about an alternate technique, but I cannot find it. Any suggestions?
> 
> Tim



I've heard of the erase tool within the Graduated ND filter but I don't see it on my version, 5.7.1. Is it a key stroke function along with something else or does my version not have this?

Thanks for your time,
Dean


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 3, 2016)

It was added in Lightroom 6.0 Dean, so time to upgrade (or switch to CC) if you're tempted.


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## ogre (Jan 3, 2016)

Thanks Victoria. I click the "check for updates" but it comes back and says I'm up to date. I realize there is a version 6 now, don't know why I get that message. 

Anyway, thanks again.

Dean


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 3, 2016)

The "Check for Updates" option only checks for *updates* to that specific Lightroom version, it does not check for any available full version *upgrades*. The last update to LR version 5 was 5.7.1, so if that's what you are running then using the "Check for Updates" button will indeed tell you that you're up to date.


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## ogre (Jan 10, 2016)

Thanks Jim, I'm considering going to the cloud soon anyway.

Thanks for the help,
Dean


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