I had way too many requests that I couldn't ignore last week when I showed you my photos from Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas Nevada.  So for all you that requested it...here you go!

First, as always, we need to start with a good histogram and well exposed image.  The first photo has very little contrast but a very good starting point.  There is plenty of data to work with, especially from a RAW file, it just needed to be moved around.

The second I thought was a complete goner.  Unfortunately it was overexposed, skies almost gone with cloud cover and a histogram pushed way to far to the right.  Check out the video to see how I created both of these images...enjoy!

The key to making great skies is starting with a little bit of blue and when taking the photo keep your back to the sun.  The sky will be darker in that direction, giving you a starting point.  Then in Lightroom open the HSL panel, go to Luminance, and use the color picker to adjust the blue to your desired brightness.  If you want to tweak it even more you can use the Hue portion of the panel and tweak the blue shade to get it perfect.