Divide sky layers - a photo on Flickriver

Divide sky layers

I already posted this explanation of how to expand the range in clouds but glossed over the shadows layer I extracted from the RAW to use as a transparent mask. This is sort of a before and after and after. Atmospherics happen here when incorporating long distance shots even though Colorado pegs zero humidity on some days and our rainfall is generally not a great deal. The atmospherics often cause a loss of detail especially with distance, contrast and the foothills and mountains recede even farther into the distance. It is difficult blaming these problems on the really expensive Nikkors. I thought of and decided to apply this trick to a scene I was not totally ripped about one day and found I could augment the cloud structures, without jamming the heck out of saturations and even boost the apparent detail on the Rockies in the distance. When I was done, I thought that I had overdone reality a bit. Shockingly, when I later observed the same scene n the chill of a winter's day, I decided that I had not at all overdone the effect but only nearly restored the atmosphere on a perfect day. After all these are not infrared cameras that can dig through atmospherics. Or can they? See this article by Thom Hogan about his use of a Nikon and Infrared photography.

The RAW layer was extracted at 1 1/2 stop exposure boost to kiss the detail in the shadows on the trees after conversion to a transparency. You should be able to see the effect if you examine those areas. In fact the Dodge highlights trick also works well on the shadows layer to further define the tree bark to a point of satisfaction.

In using the RAW combined with cloud enhancement techniques you should make sure and underdo the effect if you want reality instead of ending up with cement sculpted skies often seen in pumped HDRs. I guess that's just not me. I still prefer images that will fit within the color space on Costco's big Noritsu printers for $2.99 12X18s. In this example, I laid out the original in the the background but note it is crucial that bright cloud areas must never gamut upon exposure and then you will have tones on which to expand. Shadows should be captured on your array and RAW file anyway. This technique is not so much of a power technique as a gentle nudge technique. The transparent shadow layer applied to bump the shadows that disappeared, up to a point of detail but that has nothing to do with the atmospherics corrections.

To repeat: extract a layer from the RAW that does include the range the clouds display. You'll first of all want to use the Dodge tool set to highlights and start with 5 or 10%. Select a reasonably large radius but soft pattern that will fit within the cloud detail. Next start brushing the cloud highlights until you notice the change and are satisfied. Then, select the Burn tool set to a similar radius and soft pattern, This time you will need to set the effect to Shadows. At 5 or 10% slowly deepen the shadow areas of the clouds. Continue slowly and switch tools back and forth if necessary. Undo what goes overboard. Easy does it until you are more comfortable with it. Avoid having to start over. What you are accomplishing is expanding the contrast range of the atmosphere. Easy does it, if you are after reality. Note that this technique works equally well on the distant (Rocky) mountains and I find it helps the detail on the foothills in the distance. The effect is shown on the two layers and as I have said, does not exceed reality. The superior quality of this Nikkor and the RAW technique have teamed up to allow me to control lighting heretofore unimaginable.

Taken on: April 23, 2012

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Blue Heron Rookery

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