Modern cameras, including my own Sony A7riii, possess an extraordinary amount of dynamic range — the range that it can delineate between dark shadow and bright highlight. Yet, even modern cameras have less dynamic range than the human eye. Cameras often face the limits of their dynamic range when facing bright skies. Quite simply, it is difficult for the camera to capture the vivid rich detail of a bright sky while also properly exposing the foreground. The old method of maximizing dynamic range is known as HDR, or high dynamic range shooting. Multiple images are shot at different exposures and then combined. But this doesn’t work if there is any motion in the frame, it is difficult to do with handheld shooting, and it often results in artifacts and ghosting. With a modern camera with good dynamic range, shooting raw and processing with software like Lightroom, will allow you create final images that are perfectly exposed for both the foreground and the sky.
In this post, we will do a simple step by step method that will allow you to fix your skies with Lightroom.
Step 1 — Shoot Raw and “under” exposed
Modern sensors are known to preserve more shadow information than highlight information. As a result, when shooting landscapes, I prefer to shoot with a slightly negative exposure bias, -1 to -2 stops of negative exposure compensation. As you can see in the histogram above, there is a lot of information in the shadows, while there was minimal clipping of highlights.
While the sky looks fairly rich and detailed, the train station in the foreground is practically hidden in silhouette.
For those experienced with Lightroom, you know that you have sliders for shadows and highlights. The simplest thing to do is lift the shadows and reduce the highlights, as shown below:
Unfortunately, this really didn’t do the trick. The train station is still too underexposed. Meanwhile, the sky has become rather drab. Just above the shadow and highlight slides, we have the exposure slider… But what happens if we just increase the exposure?
While I wouldn’t say this is a bad result, the sky is a bit overexposed. I would prefer a richer darker blue sky. Additionally, using +/- 100 on the sliders can often push things in a way that becomes too extreme.
If only there was a way to adjust the sky and the foreground separately!! Fortunately, Lightroom has simple tools that allow exactly that. So as we progress, we will see how I edit the foreground and sky separately, using Lightoom masks.
But before we bother with masking…
Step 2 — Edit just for the foreground
Personally, I use a preset as a starting point and then make further adjustments. However you do it, edit the image without even thinking about the sky. Lift the exposure and the shadows, just thinking of the foreground. If you compare this image with the final image on the top of the page, you can really see how over-exposed the sky has become.
After we basically have the rest of the image the way we want, then we get into the sky…
Lightroom’s Masking Tools
Lightroom offers various tools to easily create a “mask.” Masking an image allows you to selectively apply adjustments to just a portion of the image.
On the far right of the panel above, we have the “brush” mask. While this can be effective for creating a mask, it requires extreme precision for something like a sky. With trees and buildings sticking up above the horizon line, it can be difficult to perfectly mask just the sky. The middle tool is a “graduated filter” which creates a “gradient mask”… essentially allowing you to mask everything above or below a line you create in the image. If you had a perfectly straight horizon, with no foreground objects sticking up into the sky, this would work perfectly. Unfortunately, a gradient mask will also often catch buildings and trees sticking up into the sky.
Relatively recently, Lightroom refined their tools in a way that truly allow for perfect sky editing.
Step 3 — Create a Gradient Mask
We will start with a graduated filter. Pull it down from the top of the image,
and pull it down well below the horizon line. Below the image, there is a check box that allows you to see the mask as it is applied. Click “Show Selected Mask Overlay” and the masked area will be bathed in a semi-transparent red mask. You will later be able to edit just the areas that are bathed in red. For this step, it’s fine to err generously, taking in far more than just the sky. I’ll often drag the graduated filter down to the bottom of the image, essentially taking the entire frame into the mask… for now.
Technically, this is a “graduated” filter — The darker the red, the more intensely edits will be applied. But we are really only going to be concerned with the sky eventually.
Step 4 — Range Mask
As shown below, the prior step will leave too much masked. Zooming in to the frame, we can see how the building roof and trees fell into the mask.
Notice in the panel on the right, a selection called “Range Mask.” Range masks allow you to fine tune the mask based either on color or brightness (luminance). Select a Luminance mask, and this will allow us to select just our sky.
The sky is significantly brighter than the rest of the image.
Once again, there is another box for “Show Luminance Mask.” We click this box, and the image becomes black and white, with red showing the mask. We then use the “range” slider. The higher portion of the slider is the brighter parts of the image. So we adjust the slider, shifting it rightward, until only the sky is masked. If there are a few bright areas in the foreground, they can be removed with a brush later,but this will rarely be necessary. Adjusting the “range” of the luminance mask to something around 70-100 to 90-100, will separate the sky from the rest of the image.
Below, you can see how adjusting the luminance mask perfectly separated the tree from the sky:
Step 5 — Fix your Sky
Unclick “show selected mask overlay.” You now want to see the effect of your edits. When we fixed the foreground above, we increased exposure thereby making the sky too bright. Now, we will just bring the exposure back down. Bring down the highlights. I like to add some “dehaze” and some “saturation” to the skies. The effect, a very rich blue sky.
Click “done” and you close the graduated filter, and you should pretty much have your final image:
Conclusion:
With a bit of practice, this method is extremely quick. It shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes per image in Lightroom. It’s faster than doing HDR composite images and just as effective. In fact, it can be more effective than HDR as it’s easy to do handheld, doesn’t require multiple captures, and can be used even where there are moving subjects.
If you like “blue skies” instead of the blownout sky look, then this method will greatly improve your final images.
My favorite gear for shooting landscapes:
APS-C Kit:
Full Frame Kit:
- Sony A7riii (Adorama / Amazon)
- Sony 12-24 F/4 (Adorama / Amazon) [My review here]
- Zeiss Batis 25mm F/2 (Adorama / Amazon) [My review here]
- Sony 16-35mm F/2.8 GM (Adorama / Amazon) [My review here]
For budding enthusiasts, the Sony A6400, now available for pre-order from Amazon and Adorama, will be an excellent tool.
Please also note, many of the above-listed products include 3 months of Adobe Creative Cloud (including Lighroom), when purchased at Adorama or Amazon.
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