Tips for getting good sky in landscapes

[Nicole]

I've been thinking about this question since it was raised over in the composition forum by ny156uk when he asked 'white out' skies... how do I fix it? (http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1266)

I thought this article was better suited to the landscape photography area though. It's called "The Importance of Clouds in Landscape Photography" (http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1202/dw1202-1.html). And it answers the question of how do you make the sky expose properly without turning the foreground black, and how do you expose the foreground properly without overexposing the sky. Helpful, huh?

The main suggestions from the article are to:
1. Use a graduated neutral density filter
2. Use fill flash
3. Use photoshop

Just thought I'd share :)

[jiminyClickit]

Nicole,

Good information, great photos. The sepia #6 is remarkable; thanks!

[Nicole]

Jim, isn't that picture great? Though I'm starting to think I have far to little of a life that I scour the internet for such links ;)

[jiminyClickit]

Nicole,

Where is 95% of a life taking place at any one time? If your mind says "I enjoyed that," does it matter where you are or what you're doing? The only secret of life that makes sense: now is all there is. Your choices, and the decision to enjoy or regret the consequences of each, will ultimately determine the quality of your life. You enrich ours every day. I hope you find enjoyment and are rewarded by your finds and the gratitude of those fortunate to share in them.

Or you could go out with friends. It's your decision, enjoy or regret, that makes the life.

[Nicole]

Thanks for those words Jim :) I do enjoy life, but it's always good to hear from others who enjoy the life is now :D I'm so bookmarking your post for future re-reading if I'm having a bad day.

[Rae]

Ooooh! I agree, love #6. The only time there are great sunrises or sunsets or cloud formations is when I'm on the freeway during rush hour. By the time I am able to exit and find a spot, the moment is gone.

[Nicole]

See, the skies conspire against us Rae, though depending on how bad the rush hour traffic is... maybe a camera in the front seat wouldn't be too bad. Note: I'm thinking rush hour traffic like Chicago where the tristate is a parking lot for a few hours a day. Taking a picture while driving is way more dangerous than talking on a cell phone ;)

[Rae]

You are correct. I do believe the skies conspire against us. I drive the Dayton to Cincinnati route (I-75). I rarely run into a tie-up between the two unless there is an accident. The tie-ups occur just north of Cincy; however, I have come to believe that Cincy is the power line capitol of the world. They are everywhere; blocking every possible chance for a good shot. Oh well, I do plan, now that the days are becoming longer, to take the back roads home and see what I come up with that way.

[Booshanky]

It seems that a lot of the time that it's necessary to use GND filters or photoshop it's because you're trying to take a photo while working against the light. Not that there's anything wrong with that, you can get some awesome photos with those tools.

The other option that I don't really see mentioned here is just trying to work with the light that's already there.

<img src="http://www.markmatich.com/images/Desert%2012%2005/IMG_8985.jpg" width="600" />

For the most part that whole picture is exposed well, but it's all because I could choose the direction I wanted to take the picture and the time of day. The clouds really make it though, giving it a sense of depth.

[xxpinballxx]

great link nicole...alot of help for me as a beginner.

[Naurien]

I think I'm resurrecting a long-dead thread, but oh, well. *heh*

As a complete newbie, this is the first problem I've come up against with distressing regularity. However, I'm using a Canon Powershot A560. Is there anything I could use to replicate a 'graduated neutral density filter' effect? A setting would be nice, but then, I'm also not against finding a piece of colored plastic and holding it in front of the camera if I have to, so long as I can fix the moire. :)

So many of the things that I've had questions about -have- been asked in these forums, and many of the answers seem to indicate that people with point-and-shoots are screwed. And a lot of answers are given with three letter acronymns and terms I just haven't quite understood yet. I read the other thread on this in Composition and didn't understand most of those answers either. Sigh.

Trying not to be discouraged,
Jess

[Nicole]

Don't be discouraged Jess :) And don't worry about resurrecting a "long dead" thread (I'm happy you used the search button or I'd have gone searching for it myself ;)).

First, in my opinion, people with point and shoots are not screwed, so I'm sure there are possibilities. You just have to think a little outside the box since most of the extra gear isn't aimed at point and shoots. But no, you're not screwed at all.

My first thought was actually what about holding a square graduated neutral density filter in front of the camera. When you're taking daytime shots the exposures aren't too long, so you should be able to hold it there... otherwise I thought you could rubberband it to the camera since the lenses aren't very big, so you wouldn't see the rubberbands.

Now, if you don't want to do that, but you do have an editing program, well, then you may also be in luck! I was just reading about replicating that filter effect last night. Basically, what you would want to do is to make a gradient layer in photoshop or the gimp, or any other program that does layers, and then set the layer to overlay. That will darken the sky area (works best with a level horizon, but then so do ND filters ;))... This came from the Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers book by Scott Kelby.

PS, about those other threads, if you don't understand, just ask :D People will be happy to explain the terms you don't understand or try to figure out if there's any way to help you.

[edwud]

Take a nice wide angle lens, shoot raw on a tripod, -0.3 or -0.7 exposure compensation setting.

Specifically for good sky photos use a split neutral density graduated filter, not a harsh grad, a proper grad. The can be expensive but they are worth the money if you take enough landscape / sky photographs.

Also, a circular polarizer would be a nice start but not both at the same time (obviously).

Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing you great sky / landscape images

[Liz Caldwell]

My first thought was actually what about holding a square graduated neutral density filter in front of the camera. When you're taking daytime shots the exposures aren't too long, so you should be able to hold it there... otherwise I thought you could rubberband it to the camera since the lenses aren't very big, so you wouldn't see the rubberbands.


PS, about those other threads, if you don't understand, just ask :D People will be happy to explain the terms you don't understand or try to figure out if there's any way to help you.

I'm taking you up on the PS... I don't have a point and shoot, but I would like to know a little more about said filter... in case I'm ever without an slr :)

[Manila_Joe]

Nicole,

Where is 95% of a life taking place at any one time? If your mind says "I enjoyed that," does it matter where you are or what you're doing? The only secret of life that makes sense: now is all there is. Your choices, and the decision to enjoy or regret the consequences of each, will ultimately determine the quality of your life. You enrich ours every day. I hope you find enjoyment and are rewarded by your finds and the gratitude of those fortunate to share in them.

Or you could go out with friends. It's your decision, enjoy or regret, that makes the life.

Cheers to that JC!

[Taallyn]

Nice link, Nicole. I read the filter article they have there too which is also very good. I bookmarked the homepage so I can go back and read more of their stuff later.