Quick steps to fix blown out clouds when beyond real recovery in RAW conversion
- Add a new Layer and fill it with 50% grey
- Select > Filter > Render > Clouds
- Double-click on Layer and move Slider of "Underlying Layer" right until only the blown out areas are affected
- Press and hold "Alt" and split the Slider to feather and further refine the affected areas
- In the same dialog-box, select a highly visible color overlay (e.g. pink) to highlight the affected areas
- Add a mask and paint with black to block the effect where it is not intended
- Double-click on the Layer and switch the color overlay off
- 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