Can someone Please help me out with this image? Opinions Needed!!

[JRE313]

Here is a picture i got in Dayton Ohio(Museum of the AIr Force).
I need help with the sky. After some sharpening I went to Topaz adjust filter
and clicked on SPICIFY and with one click, it changed the color of the sky.
I need help on what other techniques I could do with the sky. Maybe even changed the clouds to a bunch of other colors even. Please keep in mind that i am nowhere close to completing this image.

Can someone please share with me their work flow on making the clouds really dramatic? What would you do to this image. I need details please. I need to know if you used any filters as well.
I am not concerned about the plane, thats not a problem.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[vipgraphx]

Its hard to say with with out seeing the original exposures or even tonemapped image from photomatix. Not sure what they looked like before so can't give you to much advice on that.

I can say that when using topaz , always duplicate your layer prior to using topaz. Then if you like certain qualities of that image you can mask out or in what you like and dislike.

I will say this till I am fingers are blue. Layer masking is so important to a good HDR and a poor HDR. Filters are awesome and the combination of filters works great. Double tonemapping also will bring in new elements to your final outcome but without masking those layers it will only go so far.

keep it up I see that this photo has some great potential.

 

[slackercruster]

Don't know. But great photo as is!

 

[ann]

for me the clouds are fine, it is the halo's around the plane that kill it, what software did you use?