“Fixing” Blown-Out Clouds in Photoshop

Quick steps to fix blown out clouds when beyond real recovery in RAW conversion

  1. Add a new Layer and fill it with 50% grey
  2. Select > Filter > Render > Clouds
  3. Double-click on Layer and move Slider of "Underlying Layer" right until only the blown out areas are affected
  4. Press and hold "Alt" and split the Slider to feather and further refine the affected areas
  5. In the same dialog-box, select a highly visible color overlay (e.g. pink) to highlight the affected areas
  6. Add a mask and paint with black to block the effect where it is not intended
  7. Double-click on the Layer and switch the color overlay off
  8. Refine as needed by adding blur and/or adjusting the contrast and opacity of the Layer

 

First seen in a Video Tutorial by Blake Rudis of f.64 Academy

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