Sky help

[metoo]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22997911@N07/2243229874/" title="july 2007 by meetooo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2109/2243229874_446811c07e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="july 2007" /></a>

Camera: Canon PowerShot A710 IS
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 10 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire


OK now my question is, how do I get the mountians and the sky to both show up? This bothers me because last summer I was trying ot get some nice shots of my kids with the mountians and sky in the background but I either washed out the sky or the kids came out like shadows. I hope I'm making sense. But I would love to be able to get a nice shot with both the ground and sky. Help me please :)

[windrider86]

Have you tried boosting your saturation level or playing with curves or levels? What program are you using to do your post processing in?

[metoo]

Have you tried boosting your saturation level or playing with curves or levels? What program are you using to do your post processing in?

I use Corell paint shop X (or is it photoshop X?). I was able to fix it somewhat but i would rather get the shot right. Is it even possible? Would using a flash help? I'm usually taking this type of shot middayish so is it just that the lighting is to strong?

[Digidave]

I'm usually taking this type of shot middayish so is it just that the lighting is to strong?

In a nutshell, yes that is correct. The camera sensor can not handle the diversity in brightness like the human eye can. Ways to handle this problem?

1) Use a graduated neutral-density filter. It will be darker on one side of the filter & that will cover the sky to tone it down a bit. Then you would slow down your shutter speed to pick up more light from the dark areas.

2) Use fill-flash. When you take shots of your kids with sun behind them. This helps equalize that bright sun.

3) Wait for a better time of day. When the sun is not so bright. Just coming up or getting ready to go down. You can slow your shutter speed to capture more light in the dark areas without blowing out your sky.

As you can see, the trick is to equalize the brightness between the dark areas & the bright areas of a scene as much as possible.

[Saralonde]

Unfortunately, midday is not a good time to shoot pictures. Early morning and toward dusk result in much nicer lighting which would resolve some of your problems right there. As Digidave mentioned, the filter may help.

If you have to shoot midday, try taking several shots with different exposures - one at the exposure you used, one a bit darker, and one a bit lighter - and combine them, kind of an HDR effect.

Flash would not help. Your subject is too far away.

[netbymatt]

A picture like the one you posted is a perfect candidate for a graduated neutral density filter. Use the darker portion to make the sky appear darker (stoped down) to the camera and you'll be able to use a longer shutter speed to get the hillside brighter.

That filter won't do so well if you're taking pictures of your kids with a bright sky behind them. You'll end up with the top half of your foreground looking rather dark. In that situation you'll want to use a fill flash.

[Sela]

Even just using a polarizing filter to tone down the sky would be useful.

But in tricky situations like this it's pretty simple to adjust it in photoshop or a similar program, especially if you shoot in raw rather than JPEG.

[hpebley3]

There are also post-processing techniques you can use to help salvage these types of shots. If you give me permission, I can do a quick example using your picture.

Cheers.

[Nathan deGargoyle]

You can't just PP the whole image. You have a foreground

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosfpreground.jpg

A middle

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosmiddle.jpg

and a background


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosbackground.jpg

J

[Nathan deGargoyle]

ust using curves I got

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosfpregroundpp.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosmiddlepp.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosbackgroundpp.jpg

And putting them all together gives

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/IanGM/metoosoriginalpp.jpg

It ain't great and I could have spent a lot more ime on the selections but you get the icdea?