Improve winter skies in Photoshop

1. Check for clipping
In the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) editor, tick Highlight Clipping Warning at the top right of the interface (or press O). The blown-out highlights will appear as patches of red.

2. Make a recovery
Drag the Recovery slider right to 29, restoring a hint of blue to parts of the over-exposed sky. The red highlight clipping warning will disappear. Click Open Image to edit the shot in the Photoshop interface.

3. Create a new layer
Go to the Layers palette and click the Create A New Layer icon. Double-click on the Layer 1 label next to the thumbnail. Name the layer Graduated Filter. Click on the Gradient tool icon in the Tools palette (or press G to use a keyboard shortcut).

4. Perfect presets?
Look at the Options bar. Click on the Gradient Picker's fly-out icon to see a selection of different presets. None of these provide the graduated filter effect you need, but we can soon change that!

5. Edit the gradient
Click on the Edit button in the Options bar. This opens the Gradient Editor. Here you<'ll see the same gradient presets that were visible in the Gradient Picker, but now you can modify them to create your own unique graduated filter effect.

6. Foreground to Transparent
Click on the Foreground to Transparent gradient preset - it's on the top row, second square from the left. This will make the gradient fade from solid black through to 100% transparency, which makes it behave in a similar way to a real graduated filter.

7. Change the colour
To replace the black with a more realistic and photogenic sky-blue tone, click on the Colour Stop icon at the bottom left of the gradient preview bar. Then, in the Stops section, click on the Colour icon to open the Colour Picker window.

8. Select your Colour
Stop Click on the Colour slider to choose from a range of blues. Find a sky-coloured blue by clicking in the main Colour Field window. If you want to use the same blue colour that we've selected, set H to 217%, S to 68% and B to 87%. Click OK.

9. Move the midpoint
By default the gradient mixes colour evenly from solid colour through to transparency. You can extend the range of blue tones through the gradient by dragging the Colour Midpoint icon to the right, so that the Location reads 56%. Click OK once you've finished editing your custom gradient.

10. Draw a gradient
Go to the Options bar and make sure the Linear Gradient icon is selected. Click on the Graduated Filter layer in the Layers palette, then click and hold down the mouse button to draw a linear gradient from the top of the image to the roof of the building.