If it were me, I would likely just brute force a clone of the sky that is just above the blown section at an opacity around 50-60% and blend it with a gentle hand.
Personally, I have more issues with the uniforms...but I guess they want you to keep those as is ;-P
Two options, the first tedious, the second not so much:
1.) Copy/flip the sky from the left to the right and blend it in
2.) Smooth/extend the transition to white, then tint the remaining white in the corner a very light blue
The white doesn't bother me that much. I guess I figured that since the field lights are on, it must be extraneous light from the parking lot or whatever... Or, it's a cloud of some sort. (It's in Oregon, right?) Very cool panorama!
I'd sample the darkest part of the sky with the color picker, then I'd lay down a foreground-to-transparent gradient on a new layer. I'd move a copy of this picture on top of the new layer, I'd select for the sky all and turn the selection into a mask so the stadium etc is floating on top of the gradient layer. I'd ten modify the mask with a feathered brush where the lights glow. Finally I'd adjust the opacity of the gradient layer to let a touch of the background image show through this 3-layer sandwich.
I'm lousy at working with skies, so I'd do the brute force copy the whole thing, flip horizontal, and just use the sky on the left on the right as well (cleaning up any extras). But then I figure the sky isn't as important and it would give it more of a balanced feel anyway. :)
I'd sample the darkest part of the sky with the color picker, then I'd lay down a foreground-to-transparent gradient on a new layer. I'd move a copy of this picture on top of the new layer, I'd select for the sky all and turn the selection into a mask so the stadium etc is floating on top of the gradient layer. I'd ten modify the mask with a feathered brush where the lights glow. Finally I'd adjust the opacity of the gradient layer to let a touch of the background image show through this 3-layer sandwich.
What now? :)
Thanks for the detailed advice. I think I can try to work through this. I also like Fritz' idea of flipping the sky and came up with that one as well. I do have a 15x36 copy printed as is and it doesn't super bother me (it's the sunset BTW), but I wondered if it would look better with some color in there.
Here's what ild do: "content aware" away at small regions and fill in some with clone tool, then ild mask in the overall effect. right below the light, i'ld be a tad careful and do a lota cloning from right above the white zone.
In my first attempt I went with some subtle cloning to remove the border posterizing and add some tint to the white but not get greedy. I'll post up what I did for you guys to comment on.
It could just be me but the only other thing I would consider is copying the left stadium light on the right one. The right one shows signs of being blown out (and that you have attempted to recover it making it washed out and darkish in the process).
Not bad, Jason. But you know what I would do to fix it?
Probly sell more prints, too. :P
The OSU fans would definitely buy this by the gross! I remember a high school teacher that had hung a duck by the neck at the top of the door to his classroom. That rivalry is brutal, and has been for decades!
