Blue sky thinking
I’ve taken some Q landscape shots where there is a lack of contrast and colour intensity, especially in the blue sky area. I think maybe I should have used a polariser. Is there a way to sort this in post-processing? Daisy Moore
A polariser remains an A excellent physical filter to keep handy. It gives you a number of benefits, depending on the conditions and how you use it, some of which can’t be replicated in postproduction. What you’re asking about can be mimicked if you’ve shot raw, but I’d still advise you to use an actual filter next time.
When you are in your raw processing software – for example, Lightroom or Camera Raw – look for the HSL Panel (Lightroom) or Color Mixer (Camera Raw), as this is where you can change the saturation and brightness of an individual colour. Obviously in the case of a blue sky it’s the blue channel you want, and a quick tweak with the Luminance and Saturation sliders for that colour can make a lot of difference. Normally, taking the Luminance slider to the left to darken the tones in that channel and the Saturation slider to the right will give the intensity enough of a boost. Make sure when you are using the Saturation slider that you don’t overdo it, though, as it can look over the top stylewise if you push saturation too far.
Once you’ve done this, you could also use the Dehaze slider in the Basic tab because this will further increase the density of the blues, but again, be careful you don’t go too far, because even a small right push of the Dehaze slider is quite aggressive.