Gotta replace that sky!
Nope - I feel just the same. It seems to be a solution in search of a problem. 
I agree 100%. And there's a lot to be said for a plain, flat sky that sits back discreetly and does what a background ought to do - stay in the background rather than leaping out at us.
No better than those stupid animal nose and ear filters on various social media...
Depends what you replace it with...
Always been ccc contentious. Many years ago I took a shot of the Grand Canal, Venice and this was pre-HDR. The sky was a bit light and lacked contrast and a Grad would not have helped as it would have darkened parts of buildings as well. I thought I would be clever and replace the sky. I entered the shot in a competition and the judge remarked that the sky seemed odd but otherwise it was a good shot. At the end, one of the experienced photographers spoke to me an suggested that I did more work on the original sky. I reverted to the original and worked on it to darken and increase contrast. I was then able to re-enter in another round of the competition and it came first so a lesson was learned.
I would not normally change a sky now as the DR of camera are much higher and HDR is easy particularly with Raw and LR. The only exception is if I am producing a constructed image for a creative section.
Dave
I would not normally change a sky now as the DR of camera are much higher and HDR is easy particularly with Raw and LR. The only exception is if I am producing a constructed image for a creative section.
Dave
Quote:I would not normally change a sky now
By and large, I agree with that but there are times when a new sky can make the difference between keeping and throwing away an image.
Done correctly, a replacement sky can save an image; maybe not something that you'd enter into a competition (something I've never done, nor felt inclined to do and I hear that the judges are sometimes bound by some rather strange criteria) but certainly good enough for the rest of us.
I'm still ploughing through several hundred shots, taken at an air show in 2019 in atrocious weather.
The skies in them are beyond repair so replacement is my only option and despite a number of disasters, the success rate is impressive.
It does require some work though.
In his case it was not a judge bound by strange criteria (and few are); the print did not look quite right to me either.
When you do replace skies are these from your own sky collection? Using someone else's sky is not allowed in competitions which I enter and I agree with that; it must be all your own work.
Dave
When you do replace skies are these from your own sky collection? Using someone else's sky is not allowed in competitions which I enter and I agree with that; it must be all your own work.
Dave
Quote:
When you do replace skies are these from your own sky collection?
Yes, they're from my collection.
Whenever I see an interesting sky, I photograph it. I've got several hundred.
While I wouldn't really have a problem with using someone else's sky; and I can understand and agree with not using one in a competition, it's so easy to compile a load of your own that it seems a bit pointless.
The exception would, I suppose, be nuclear sunsets or skies that you'd never encounter in real life.
Most of my collection are fairly mundane; interesting cloud formations mostly although I do have quite a few that I took while it was raining. They came in surprisingly useful on some of those air show images that I mentioned.
My reference to judges and strange criteria was wholly based upon what I've read.
I'm not against changing the sky, I just find the ones in the adverts are over the top and don't necessarily improve the photo.
I once replaced a completely blank sky in a photo of Caerphilly Castle, taking great pains to add it in the reflection as well, and replacing the ripples etc. Scored well in a competition because the judge failed to spot that the sun was setting behind the castle on the right, but the shadows showed the sun was high in the sky behind me
I once replaced a completely blank sky in a photo of Caerphilly Castle, taking great pains to add it in the reflection as well, and replacing the ripples etc. Scored well in a competition because the judge failed to spot that the sun was setting behind the castle on the right, but the shadows showed the sun was high in the sky behind me
