Looking for tips on how to fix lens flare

[BrendaC]

My niece's in-laws, against her advice, took family pictures at 1:00 P.M. on a bright sunny day at the beach. The pictures are horrible, bright and washed out. I used levels and I can get the people looking o.k. My question is can I select the sky and make it blue? And some of the pictures have a big "ball" of sun flare. Is that fixable? I thought about the clone tool but it's not really in a good spot for it. I know it's hard without seeing it so maybe later tonite I'll try to post an image or two. I've never posted anything before. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Brenda

[Juergen D]

Brenda,

Once the sky is selected, open a new, blank layer and, with the selection active, apply a blue gradient. Change the opacity of that layer as needed.
I have some True Blue Sky Gradients in my PSE3, of which I don't remember if they came with the program or if I downloaded them from somewhere. But, you can easily make your own.

Juergen

PS: When you post a picture, we'll hopefully be able to give some advice how to deal with the sun flare.