Landscape Shots on Overcast Days

[JohnBrainard]

I live in Central NY where it can often be rather overcast, with no sun shining through to light up the ground. I haven't been able to get very many good photos recently. I'm getting anxious to go out and shoot.

Are there any good suggestions I can take with me for shooting on overcast days? Feel free to post examples of your overcast photos. In fact, the more you post, the happier I'll be.

[Matthew James Norman]

Hi JohnBrainard,

I don't think overcast days should prevent you from going out and taking some good photographs, especially if you can capture things such as broody clouds, heavy rainfall, and stormy coloured tones. For instance, here's a photo I took on the beach when it was really quite dull and cloudy. OK, so it's not the best photo, there are plenty of ways to improve it, but I am simply using it as an example:



Get out there, take some good bad-weather photos. Let's see what you can do!

[JohnBrainard]

Thanks Matthew. Your beach looks nice. I'll have to find me a sandy beach to take photos of... actually, on the opposite side of Onondaga Lake, I saw what appeared to be a sandy beach. I'm not sure if it's open to the public. I'll have to bring my bike up there and take a look. Here's one from yesterday's trip to the park.





I took a lot of photos I know would work if the sun was shining, but they just didn't work for me. So, I'm going to have to figure out what subjects work best in this kind of lighting. I like the benches on the pier. This one is simple, I think, but interesting.

Here's the EXIF (I forgot to insert it before uploading to Flickr):
Camera Make: Canon

Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Image Date: 2008:07:23 17:56:02
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 10.0mm
CCD Width: 22.28mm
Exposure Time: 0.0080 s (1/125)
Aperture: f/11.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
Exposure Mode: Auto Bracketing

[PhotoNewt]

Originally Posted by JohnBrainard

...So, I'm going to have to figure out what subjects work best in this kind of lighting. I like the benches on the pier. This one is simple, I think, but interesting...

Hi John.

Looking at your photo the sky is well exposed but the pier is looking dark and could use more exposure to get a better image. This happens because the sky (which makes a large portion of the image) is brighter and the camera meter makes an exposure choice that is biased towards the sky leaving the pier and benches looking dark and dull.

You can improve this in several ways.

1. You should try as much as possible to use a tripod for landscape photography, this will allow the use of the lowest ISO giving cleaner and sharper photos.

2. You can use a graduated neutral density (GND) filter, this filter decreases the light transmission from the sky while leaving the ground as is bringing the exposure values (EV) of both parts closer. This will allow your meter to bring both the sky and the pier into proper exposure for better results.

3. If the filter is not something you want to use, with the camera on the tripod you can take multiple exposures - first at normal exposure, second one stop over and a third at one stop under (you can use the Auto-bracket exposure function on your camera for this) producing three images that when combined can yield a final image with higher dynamic range. You may want to explore more about HDR technique and see if this interest you. Check this article here on DPS to get you started.

Hope this helps.

[JohnBrainard]

PhotoNewt, that was very helpful. I appreciate you taking the time to point out the things I can improve on my photo and offering other suggestions.

I think the problems came down to post-processing as I used a tripod and took multiple exposures. I will look seriously into a GND as blending exposures gets to be a real tedious task sometimes, especially when there's a lot of detail in the horizon line. I've found that using a soft air brush and switching between slight gray and white on the layer mask helps a lot to smooth out the blending, preventing haloing.

Here's an improved (hopefully) version of this photo:



I've played around with HDR. The tools I have available on Linux are somewhat limiting, so I haven't had the greatest results. I do have some that I like, such as these:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkyph...er/2666945535/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkyph...er/2662072449/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkyph...er/2662787182/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkyph...er/2644172535/

[PhotoNewt]

Much better photograph John. Still a little dark for my taste but could be my monitor - I am on my office computer now and the monitor is not too good.

I have always favored taking a well exposed photo on camera to keep post-processing work (manual or digital) to a minimum. I have a 1-stop, 2-stop and 3-stop GND filters on my photo bag - you can combine them to get the sky exposure as close to the ground as possible.

On manual mode I use the spot meter (you can use the partial meter in your camera for this) to take a reading from a neutral area of the ground - in your photo I would chose the wooden deck. Take a note of the shutter speed and then take a reading of the sky (usually a blue area far from the sun) and leaving the aperture constant use the shutter speed to adjust for a normal exposure. Then I count how many stops difference between that reading and the ground to get the EV difference and use this information to select the filters(s) I need to use to even the exposure.

Then I mount the filter(s), set the meter back to evaluative mode, frame the scene, set the exposure and shoot (with mirror lock enabled and using the 10-second self-timer function). Most times I bracket my shot 1-stop above and below to assure the best possible exposure is captured. I always shoot these in RAW so I have even more control to fine tune the exposure afterwards if needed.

[inkista]

HDR with three bracketed shots at ±2EV. qtpsfgui with the Mantiuk tone-mapping. I overdid the broody, and forgot the rule of thirds in the excitement of playing with a friend's 10-22, but you get the idea.

And here's a day the marine layer hung around the beach.

[PhotoNewt]

Hi Inkista. Like your second photo, where did you take this one?

[inkista]

The second one was Scripps Beach, on the north side of the pier.

[JohnBrainard]

PhotoNewt, thanks for the advice on metering for GND filters. I'll keep that in mind. Any suggestions on which GND filters to get? I've been leaning more toward adding a polarizing filter to my bag before any other filters, but I could somehow be convinced to change my mind.

I think the benches are definitely a bit dark. I should have shot the photo from the other side. If the dock is dark, though, I hope you'll check it on your monitor at home. Perhaps I have mine brighter than it should be. I don't have a calibrated monitor, unfortunately.

Inkista, thanks for showing what can be done with Qtpfsgui. I haven't played with the Mantiuk algorithm much. I've been favoring the Reinhardt algorithms more. What I'm really looking forward to, though, is a "Merge to HDR" feature in The Gimp. I could try to get Cinepaint on my machine, but it's not in the Ubuntu repositories anymore. Your photos are nice, especially the second one. I'm a bit partial to big rocks in water in the foreground.

If you don't have your own Ultrawide, you need to get one! My Sigma 10-20mm rarely ever makes it off my camera.