Sawing at the top of the world

[Mike Buckley]

This scene took place in my neighborhood a couple weeks ago, or rather the man and the tree were in my neighborhood. If you recognize the sky, that's because it's one of the few skies in Photoshop CC's library of skies. I used the photo to try out the new sky replacement tool.

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[gchappel]

The sky replacement tool worked really well, I so no masking defects with normal viewing.
If I know the sky was replaced the light on the tree trimmer doesn't look "quite" right, but I would have never noticed.
Another tool I have not played with yet, but looks powerful.
gary

 

[gnagel]

Very interesting image...the perspective makes him look like he is a hundred feet in the air. Really captures one’s attention. This is a good use of the sky replacement tool.

Glenn

 

[Bart]

A marvellous image, Mike!
The tool worked really well, providing a great backdrop for the subject and neatly integrated without visible artifacts.

As @gchappel noticed, when inspecting the image - what I avoid - it becomes clear the light on the man doesn't fit the position of the sun in the sky.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Gary, Glenn and Bart!

I disagree that the position of the sun in the replaced sky is different than in the original sky. In both skies, the clouds are so heavy that the sun's position is disguised. The shadows on the man's head and right arm indicate that the sun is high in the sky and slightly to his left, and that's certainly possible in the replaced sky at least to my eye.

 

[gchappel]

This image does remind me of an image by Joe McNally- of the fellow changing the lightbulb at the top of the empire state building. I believe it ran in National Geographic.
Joe wrote an article about getting the image. Multiple attempts, often foiled by rain or wind. Broken equipment. Finally getting the shot, but never sure until the film was developed.
We have it much easier now, it is a great time to be a photographer.
gary

 

[gchappel]

I think, at least for me, skies are one of the hardest things to get to look right.
We all look at skies everyday. Whether we are aware of it or not, we have looked at skies a lot.
Especially in color images, I often find the sky fails in many images- mine as well as others. It is just a feeling that I have seen lots of skies, and none ever looked like that.
We also subconsciously know what things look like under different skies. If they don't match with our experience the red flags come out, and something just isn't right.
I never can really be sure what color a tree or flower is- they can be lots of colors. But I know what color the sky is.

In this image, as I said, I am not sure I would have noticed anything. But once told- I suspect the actual sky was a little darker. With that light of a sky I would expect a little more light on the climber- but maybe I am just overthinking this.
This is going to be a powerful tool. I have lots of images that will be better with a different sky.
gary

 

[Mike Buckley]

Especially in color images, I often find the sky fails in many images- mine as well as others. It is just a feeling that I have seen lots of skies, and none ever looked like that.

Years ago in another forum a photographer now deceased who made black-and-white landscapes that were owned by museums made a special point of mentioning that the sky in my photo she was evaluating looked so real. I inferred that she felt that wasn't true with a lot of skies. If I was right about that, I agree with her.

I suspect the actual sky was a little darker.

The actual sky was considerably brighter and had far less tonal range. The image shown below is straight out of the camera except that I increased the exposure by one stop. That's because I was in a tremendous hurry when I captured the image, guessed incorrectly about the exposure, and accidentally underexposed by one stop.

Notice that there is nothing in the sky itself that conveys the position of the sun; only the shadows on the subject convey that information. I think the replaced sky has the same characteristic.

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[Binnur]

I like what you did Mike,very nice conversion.

 

[drr1531]

Nice job creating an interesting image versus the original scene.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you also to Binnur and Dan!