Original photo
Original photo underexposed by 1 1/3 EV
Original photo overexposed by 1 1/3 EV
Image of the work in progress in Photoshop. The top layer is the overexposed image, while the bottom layer is the underexposed image. Removed large chunks of the sky from the overexposed image, so that the underexposed image peeks through by using the select tool to draw rectangles then hitting the delete key.
Image of the work in progress in Photoshop. Used the eraser tool to remove smaller parts of the sky from the overexposed image, so that the underexposed image peeks through.
Update: I went home and noticed I had a bunch of notes about the creation of this image that I forgot to share. So here we go. After removing large amounts of the sky through brute force with the selection tool, it was time for more delicate work. I varied my eraser brush size from 10-50px. I set the opacity to 100% (to match the amount I removed with the selection tool). I varied the flow between 20-100%. Hardness was set to 100%. For an explanation of what these parameters do, go here. Now I was left with a very thin boundary between the sky and buildings. Modifying this boundary was very difficult. I had to work slowly, often having to undo my mistakes, but eventually I finished. During this tedious stage, I continuously adjusted the four parameters until I was happy with the results: Brush size: 30-80px Opacity: 50-100% Flow: 50-75% Hardness: 50-100% It was very time-consuming and I wonder if it was really worth it. But I know that being able to modify parts of an image is very important in photography, so I'll continue practicing this technique while researching alternative methods. Having a tablet PC was very helpful, because I used the stylus to draw directly on the screen. For other types of computers, a Wacom tablet would work just as well.
My final image still looks too fake for me. I spent a lot of time using the eraser tool. I need to find a faster way to do this!
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