Need Help Finding/Creating Slightly Cloudy Dusk Sky

[Moonbeam1 Profile]

Hi all. Just been utilizing program a few days and am in love with it. I have found a couple of effects in the sky category and applied them. I like the results but am unsure at the moment about the artist for whom I am doing this work. I would like to be ready with additional photos for her to choose from.

From a realistic viewpoint however, I am a bit stuck. I am working on a project for the artist, an evironmental artist, who installed a project for a California community. She is in the process of putting together a press release with a shot of the work during daylight hours but wants a smaller, detailed, drop in shot of the piece against a dusk sky with clouds. A photo was taken that depicted this but it did not come out.

I am thinking of at least three ways to accomplish this effect. The first is to purchase a piece of stock photography and use it as an underlay. I tried to do it with a piece of free stock photography but either I did something wrong or free stock photography can not be altered? I had saved it and cropped it in another program but got a pop up mssg that said file could not be saved allowing transparency?

The second way is to create my own sky background at dusk with clouds using SPE. But am sort of lost on how to do it.

The last way would be to ask if anyone has an interest in creating the effect I am looking for?

Any guidance in this matter is appreciated.

Regards,
Phoebe

[admin]

Hi Phoebe,

I think using some stock photography sounds like a great idea. Was the warning about saving without transparency from the other software in which you cropped it? As long as it saved it, you needn't worry as you don't need transparency for unerlaying clouds. You could even load the stock photo directly into SPE as an underlay, then use the Move,Rotate,Scale button to place it, once you've erased the old cloud. There is a video here on how to replace a sky.

Also, don't forget to adjust the lighting in the whole picture, to match the sky. Dusk colors will be darker, redder and more contrasty than a shot taken a mid-day. That can all be achieved with the image treatment tab.

Let me know if you need any more help.

Tony