Unatractive Cyan Coloured Sky In Photos

[sylvafern]

I am finding that I am regularly getting an unattractive cyan coloured sky in photos .... I never had this problem until owning my current camera - a Sony H9 full featured camera. I've got a little sony pocket camera and previously have owned an earlier model full feature and an A100 (which I sold, somewhat regretfully now!) but have always taken photos with natural blue colored skies.

I've tried playing around with the settings - white balance, scene modes, etc but I still seem to be regularly getting horrible aqua-cyan colored sky (see unedited example). It doesn't happen all the time, though with some pictures having really nice blue skies.

Does anyone know what might be the problem when taking the photos and what I can do in photoshop to fix the cyan sky. I have spent ages searching for a way to solve the problem and experimenting myself but nothing seems to work (have tried selective colour, colour burn/multiply, replacing the sky (looks fake and not always easy to select area)) etc

Any hints appreciated!! Thanks.

Edited October 2, 2007 by sylvafern

[Kan Win]

Have you tried playing with the "Hue" and/or "Saturation" settings ? if you have these on your camera.

Kan Win

[lawling]

I'll leave it to the expert photographers to advise you on how to prevent this in the first place.

So far as Photoshop is concerned there are various things you could do but the simplest which you might want to try for starters is to select the offending area of sky with the Magic Wand (with a Tolerance of about 25). Then go to Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation and use the sliders to achieve a reasonably desirable affect. Then Ctrl D to deselect.

There are some more elaborate tricks that I can suggest if that isn't satisfactory.

[sylvafern]

I'll leave it to the expert photographers to advise you on how to prevent this in the first place.

So far as Photoshop is concerned there are various things you could do but the simplest which you might want to try for starters is to select the offending area of sky with the Magic Wand (with a Tolerance of about 25). Then go to Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation and use the sliders to achieve a reasonably desirable affect. Then Ctrl D to deselect.

There are some more elaborate tricks that I can suggest if that isn't satisfactory.

Thanks for that - adjusting the hue (in photoshop) works quite well with the photo I attaced in my original post but when I tried it with a different phot there were issues with selecting the correct areas to change. If you do have another tecnique that you think gives better results, please share that as I can be fussy and want my photos perfect. At least changing the hue helps a bit!

I don't think I have hue/saturation settings on my camera but I'll have a check. Would a polarizing filter help as well? At the moment I have no filter on the camera as the design of it means I can only buy Sony accessories and Sony brand filters are very expensive here in NZ where I am at the moment.

Edited October 3, 2007 by sylvafern

[sylvafern]

I am typing this on my mother's PC and have just noticed that the image I attached in my original post looks heaps different than when it is on my ibook .... perhaps the colour issue is not with my camera, but with my computer!!

[Tywais]

I am typing this on my mother's PC and have just noticed that the image I attached in my original post looks heaps different than when it is on my ibook .... perhaps the colour issue is not with my camera, but with my computer!!

On my LCD screen the sky definitely is cyan. Try printing it on a color printer and see if it looks the same.

[percy2]

Keep the sun behind you.

Wait one more month

Cheers

[Tywais]

I did a quick experiment in PhotoShop and found this technique works quite well and easy.

1. Select "Replace Color" under "Image Adjustments"

2. Pick the color (the sky in this case) with the mouse.

3. Adjust the Fuzziness control until the sky is predominant and the rest of the image is darkened out.

4. Then adjust the Hue and Saturation to set the sky color to what you want.

Only takes a minute or two to do it this way rather then using the Lasso.

Modified image below.

[Tywais]

Just tried a 2nd technique which seemed to work even better.

1. Select "Selective Color" from "Image Adjustments"

2. Under "Colors" select "Cyan"

3. Adjust the CYMK sliders to get the best effect.

[lawling]

If you do have another tecnique that you think gives better results, please share that as I can be fussy and want my photos perfect.

Since you seem to have found ways of correcting the sky in the photo you posted here is something you might try in other cases especially where the sky looks washed out.

Incidentally, I am referring here to Elements - maybe there will be some differences in CS, etc.

Choose the Gradient Tool and from the Gradient Picker select Foreground to Transparent (the second option)

From the toolbox choose the Eyedropper and click on the darkest most realistic area of sky.

Open the Color Picker and move diagonally to a slightly darker colour. Set this as the Foreground colour.

Then Gradient Tool again. Change from Normal to Multiply. Ensure that Transparency is ticked and set Opacity to about 50%.

Hold down mouse and draw from top down - finishing just before the horizon.

Voila. You should now have a nice blue sky.

It's not as complicated as it sounds but obviously you might want to practise a few times for best results.

[rafval]

one method would be to go to image/ adjustments/ hue/saturation and in the edit box select cyan then adjust the hue slider

[percy2]

You could always try a polarizing filter.

Also take a look at this http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

Cheers

[sylvafern]

Thanks very much for the ideas - Tywais's idea of choosing replace color and adjusting the fuzziness, etc worked pretty well. I had played around with this before but didn't get a good result but by fiddling with the sliders it was better this time. Using selective colour hadn't worked too well for me with this photo and I still didn't get a result as good as the one Twyais uploaded, but when I played around a bit more and changed from realtive to absolute I could get a better colour. As someone else had suggested in an earlier topic I had about making blue sky bluer, I made a layer mask first and then used a white bruch over the rest of the picture (i.e. everything but the sky) to return it to the original colour. Thanks lawling for your idea too - I haven't tried it yet but will do.

[PadThaiGuy]

A photo with clouds and blue sky will benefit from a polarizer.

[rafval]

Thanks for that - adjusting the hue (in photoshop) works quite well with the photo I attaced in my original post but when I tried it with a different phot there were issues with selecting the correct areas to change. If you do have another tecnique that you think gives better results, please share that as I can be fussy and want my photos perfect. At least changing the hue helps a bit!

I don't think I have hue/saturation settings on my camera but I'll have a check. Would a polarizing filter help as well? At the moment I have no filter on the camera as the design of it means I can only buy Sony accessories and Sony brand filters are very expensive here in NZ where I am at the moment.

I would guess that you dont need to select any area as the cyan will be out thru out the photo, just adjust the cyan. Polarizers can work well in NZ.

[percy2]

Try again now.

Cheers