How should I expose/meter a colourful sky?

[mattcryer]

Hi all,

Whenever I see a richly coloured sky or sunset, I reach straight for my camera. However, I often find the images I take to be diappointing, as they don't reflect the vivid range of colours that I saw.

Do any of you have any tips on how I should take such a shot, and where in the image I should look to meter the shot so as I pick up as many colours in the sky as possible without it being blown out or too dark?

I'm using a Canon 400D (Xti).


Many thanks.

[wulf]

The problem is that the sky tends to be a lot brighter than everything else. One solution is to expose for the sky and sacrifice detail in the foreground:



Another is to use post processing and use layers to work on the sky separately from other areas of the picture:



There are other approaches, such as using graduated neutral density filters, but both of the above will give you some impressive skies without any extra equipment.

Wulf

[mattcryer]

Thanks Wulf,

I've currently been exposing for the sky, as in your first example.

The problem I have is more the difficulty of faithfully capturing the colours I see on my camera. They more often than not seem far less rich and saurated than the image ase it appears to my eyes.

N.b. I'm usually fine with daylight shots. it's more sunset type shots with a range of pinks, reds and oranges that I fail to capture well.

[wulf]

Try underexposing the picture. I normally use full manual mode (necessitated by most of my cheap, old, brilliant lenses anyway) and check the results on the LCD. If it looks too bright or I'm not sure, I'll make one of the three adjustments that reduces the amount of light getting in (faster shutter, lower ISO or narrower aperture) and try again.

If you use one of the more automatic modes, dial down the exposure compensation setting for similar effect.

Wulf

[PhotoNewt]

You can also "play" with the WB in these situations - the AUTO setting on the Canon line is not very good for creative exposure. Use Cloudy, this will make your colors more saturated and warm. You can also try other settings such as fluorescent, the following are to posted to illustrate the differences between the two white balance modes.


Daylight color balance


Fluorescent color balance

Also shoot your images in RAW, this will give you better post processing flexibility.

[Major_Small]

Aside from what Wulf pointed out (which is very good advice, btw), another part of the problem may be your color space or bit depth.

The sun filtering through our atmosphere can fill more than the entire visible electromagnetic spectrum, but a camera can not capture it. Take a look at this post for some information on color spaces, and this page on bit depth. Without a fully color-managed workflow, there's not much you can do though.

[mattcryer]

Thanks for the advice all.

@Wulf - I've progressed somewhat, purely for making the adjustments myself in manual mode. Part of my problem I feel was (when in AV mode) large changes in shutter speed etc every time I tried to meter on a different part of the scene to get a better exposure.

One final question regarding metering:

On my 400d, when looking for the camera to achieve a good balanced exposure, what are the right situations in which to use the various metering options? : Evaluative, partial, and centre-weighted

Thanks

[jacksen]

Maybe you can try bracketing your shots and combine them into HDR. HDR sunsets usually look great when done properly.

[corry]

i have the same camera and same problem.......it seems the pic never matches what i see in real life but perhaps thats just life.......i need to practice and play with exposures more to try and improve.

[MikeM]

Originally Posted by mattcryer

Thanks for the advice all.

@Wulf - I've progressed somewhat, purely for making the adjustments myself in manual mode. Part of my problem I feel was (when in AV mode) large changes in shutter speed etc every time I tried to meter on a different part of the scene to get a better exposure.

One final question regarding metering:

On my 400d, when looking for the camera to achieve a good balanced exposure, what are the right situations in which to use the various metering options? : Evaluative, partial, and centre-weighted

Thanks

When to use which metering mode? When it gives the right results! =]

Evaluative will average out the entire scene. If your whole scene is similarly lit, then this will work fine. If there is a large difference in contrast, this may not yield the best results as you may lose shadows or highlights.

Center-weighted averages the whole scene but puts more emphasis on what is in the center of the frame. Use this if you want an exposure that is more correct for what is in the center of your image.

Partial. I don't have an XTi, but I think this is just one step smaller than center weighted, but not quite spot metering.

The idea is for you to tell the camera what to meter and how to do it instead of letting it guess. A correct exposure may not be the best exposure. It depends on what you are trying to emphasize and what mood you want to give the photograph.