Making changes to the sky

[shmazo]

I have tried many approaches to the sky in this photo. I don't actually mind it the way it is, but I would like to see if there is a way to reduce the amount of haze and also to get rid of the large cloud in the top left, but still have it look natural. I have also experimented with moving the one "lone cloud" a bit to the right to balance more with the sailboat. Also hard to do and make it look natural.

I have tried lots of combinations of patching and cloning. Also tried making layers of various blues and trying blending and opacity etc.

Then I stumbled upon this fine website - so thought I would ask...

[TimeTraveler]

Welcome shmazo

I just duplicated the layer and set the blending mode to soft light, then cropped it.

[mistermonday]

Hi Shmazo. My approach would be:

Convert the image to LAB mode. Use a level adj to boost the contrast of the L channel to taste. Apply a generous amount of Smart Sharpen or Unsharp mask to the L channel - this will reduce the haze effect.
Duplicate that layer and use the patch tool to select a rectangular area from the top down approx 1.7 inches and all the way across the image. Drag the patch to clone from the sky just below that 1.7 inches. This will cover the little white cloud but leave an even area and get rid of the cloud at the top left. Now add a layer mask to that layer and with a soft brush at 30% opacity bring back that bright little cloud and smooth out any harsh transition you might have at the edge of the patch.
Flatten the image and convert back to RGB.
Regards, Murray

[Quantum3Studio]

You stumble uppon the right site bro. Welcome

[chillin]

I used gradients & a healing brush

[Flashtones]

hehe, it's a bit heavy-handed, but the blue is so pretty.

A few layers set to multiply, masks and curves to darken edges.

[eur0ed]

airbrushed the cloud out, isolated the shore line duplicated layer > pin light, curves then saturation.