Sky Color- Getting it "Right"

[ggriswold]

This may be asking the unanswerable, but thought I would put this out to all of you.
I have several photographs that include large portions of blue sky. The shots are urban landscapes, not nature scenes. I am working with a color managed system...C1 to LR viewing on a Eizo monitor and printing with an Epson 3800 on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta.
As I prepare these photos for final output I am occasionally stumped/ puzzled on determining the right color/sat/hue for the sky. I wonder if anyone has a few methods to make those final adjustments on the rendering of blue skies?
It is likely that several of these shots will be shown together and while I don't expect all of them to match I am concerned that as a group some sky colors will look off in relationship to the others.
What I have considered is take some RBG measurements of the ones that look the most natural/ right and then adjust the others to match or closely match. It seems that you reach a point that blue sky looks too dark or too saturated if you push the sliders around too much.
Thank you in advance for anyone who can share their experience with this.

 

[Jack]

Capture One has a "color balance" tool that allows you to match colors just like you would with a typical WB dropper. I frequently use it to color balance a series of landscapes using a strategic portion of the sky so my skies are consistent across the series.

 

[Bob]

George,
You are fighting an impossible battle.
First, sky color really is different not only by time of day but by location season and other factors. Beijing's sky is definitely a different sort of yellow-grey-blue color.
Setting color balance for just the sky as one might white-balance, has the effect of shifting all the other colors in the image.
I would recommend instead that you primarily worry about each image one by one and make it as good as you can, then work at sorting and grouping your images to provide the best transitions. Short of that, selective color adjustment such as with C1's advanced color editor, might be of use, but might not do to your image what they otherwise creatively deserve.
-bob

 

[Lonnie Utah]

Capture One has a "color balance" tool that allows you to match colors just like you would with a typical WB dropper. I frequently use it to color balance a series of landscapes using a strategic portion of the sky so my skies are consistent across the series.

^^ this and this...

^^ not my image, but a good way to get it "right"....