How to Fix Uneven Polarized Skies in Lightroom & Photoshop (VIDEO)
Very few experienced landscape photographers head out in the field without a polarizing filter in their bag. That’s because these affordable accessories can be used to darken pale skies, enhance saturation, and remove unwanted reflections that spoil a shot.
But all these benefits come with a potential cost; namely, harsh transitions, ugly dark blotches in blue skies, and other unwanted artifacts. Today’s nine-minute tutorial with nature photographer Mike Wardynski demonstrates how to fix these distractions in Lightroom and Photoshop.
You may recognize Wardynski by his YouTube handle “Nature Mike,” and here’s his promise for this episode: “Whether you’re dealing with splotchy blues, gradient banding, or awkward vignetting this video has you covered.” This way you can take advantage of your polarizing filter without worrying about the possibility of unsightly drawbacks.
Mike’s goal is all about “neutralizing” the problem sky in his nicely composed landscape photograph for an enhanced look that still appears natural. He says that the easiest method for getting the job done in Lightroom is to use local adjustments in combination with Radial Gradients.
He navigates to the masking panel and scrolls down to Radial Gradient, using the keyboard shortcut Shift M. Then he demonstrates how to blend in a bit of darkness into two portions of the sky. You’ll learn how to feather the effect, adjust exposure, add a warm glow, create a natural gradient, and match color temperature to the rest of the sky.
After completing the very impressive Lightroom transformation, Mike turns his attention Photoshop and illustrates how to achieve the same results with an inviting and even appearance.
There are many more post-processing tricks on Nature Mike’s instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to take a look.
And don’t miss our earlier tutorial featuring another post-processing expert who demonstrates how to customize your Photoshop toolbar by removing features you never use and rearranging the others for a clean and disciplined workflow.
