Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday, by COAP Online

Dull skies are one of the most common frustrations in aviation photography editing. A great aviation moment can look flat simply because the sky behind it has no separation, no tone, and no shape.

The mistake is trying to fix that with one aggressive move. Heavy Dehaze and big saturation can create crunched-up cloud texture, odd colour shifts, banding, and those horrid halos around the aircraft. In aviation editing, those halos are especially obvious around tails, wings, antennae, and rotor blades.

Step 1: Set the goal for the sky

Before touching any sliders, decide what the sky is meant to do. Most of the time it’s not meant to be the star. It’s meant to support the aircraft. That usually means it could be slightly darker than the aircraft, with gentle structure, and believable colour.

Step 2: Shape light first with a mask

Use a Sky selection mask or a soft linear gradient to work on the sky only. Start with tonal shaping rather than the colour:

• Pull highlights down a touch to bring cloud detail back.
• Darken exposure slightly if the sky is bright and empty.
• Add a small amount of contrast or a gentle curve to create separation.

This is “build contrast, don’t smash it” in practice. The sky should gain depth without looking gritty.

Step 3: Use Dehaze like seasoning

Dehaze can help, but it does multiple things at once. If you use it, keep it subtle and within the sky mask. Watch edges closely. If halos appear, back it off and rely more on tonal shaping instead.

Step 4: Colour last, and target it

If the sky needs life, avoid global saturation. Use HSL to nudge blues and aquas, or use the sky Mask to add a small amount of saturation. Keep an check on realism. Aviation-savvy viewers will notice when blues go purple or cyan.

A dull sky doesn’t need to become dramatic, just enough to be supportive.

If you want to go further, COAP Online drills into a repeatable “sky rescue” workflow using masking, curves, HSL, and edge-safe adjustments. The Merge post goes deeper with exact slider starting points and halo-free techniques for wings, tails, and rotors. Explore COAP Online with a free trial at www.coaponline.com.